Talk-Thru

Troubleshooting Talk-Thru problems.

Set up a Bluetooth Hands-Free pairing.

Your phone may need to be told that your Mac is now a Bluetooth Hands-Free device. If your phone does not explicitly have this option in its Bluetooth settings, follow the instructions below to reset your phone's Bluetooth pairing:

  1. Remove your phone from the Bluetooth Phones tab of the BluePhoneElite 2 preferences.
  2. Remove your phone from the Bluetooth tab of the OS X System Preferences.
  3. Remove your computer from the Bluetooth device list on your phone.
  4. Launch BluePhoneElite 2 if it is not already running.
    Your phone will not find the Hands-Free service if BluePhoneElite 2 is not running!
  5. From your phone's Bluetooth settings, initiate a pairing with the computer.
    Both devices will ask for a PIN; enter any number as long as it is the same on both.
  6. Enable any option your phone offers to use your computer as a Hands-Free device.
  7. Do NOT enable any option your computer offers to use your phone as a headset.
  8. Add your phone to BluePhoneElite 2 using the Bluetooth Phones tab of the preferences.

Unable to connect Talk-Thru or Talk-Thru connects but there is no audio.

Reset your phone's Bluetooth pairing.

See Set up a Bluetooth Hands-Free pairing.

Check your Bluetooth USB adapter compatibility.

If you are using a Bluetooth USB adapter instead of Apple's built-in Bluetooth, the adapter may not support the Bluetooth Hands-Free profile. Check with the adapter's manufacturer for compatibility information. Some manufacturers offer firmware updates that you can download to fix this issue.

Additional troubleshooting.

  1. Turn off any Bluetooth headsets; they may prevent Talk-Thru from connecting to your phone.
  2. Remove any unused devices from the Bluetooth device list on your phone.
  3. Some phones may need to be restarted occasionally. To do this, power your phone off, wait 3 seconds and then power it back on.
  4. Restart your computer.
  5. If you are still encountering problems, use the web site to contact customer support: http://mirasoftware.com/BPE2

Phone reconnects when using Talk-Thru.

See What is Concurrent Talk-Thru and SMS?

Phone reboots when using Talk-Thru.

Nokia S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1

Follow the Set up a Bluetooth Hands-Free pairing instructions to ensure that your device is configured correctly.

It may also help to upgrade your phone's firmware from Nokia's web site1.

  1. PC may be required. Firmware versions vary by location.

Sony Ericsson UIQ 3rd Edition

Open the Bluetooth settings on your phone and turn Off the Enable Power Save option.

All other devices

Use the web site to contact customer support: http://mirasoftware.com/BPE2

Computer freezes or kernel panic when using Talk-Thru.

Bluetooth pairing has become corrupted.

See Set up a Bluetooth Hands-Free pairing.

Device driver incompatibility.

Remove any 3rd party peripherals from your computer.
It may also help to uninstall any 3rd party drivers or software that customizes other applications.

Audio is distorted, choppy, or echoes when using Talk-Thru.

Distortion

Bluetooth audio is compressed before it is transmitted. This compression causes the audio signal to become distorted. Many people attribute this distortion to their Bluetooth headset and are surprised to find that the audio quality does not improve when using their computer's microphone and speakers. BluePhoneElite 2 does not have any control over the quality of the Bluetooth audio; the compression used is determined by the Bluetooth devices.

Choppy

Stuttering sound or 'broken-up' sound is caused when pieces of the audio stream are not played at the right time. This typically happens when there is interference to the Bluetooth audio connection, but it can also happen if the computer is heavily tasked. Bluetooth interference can be caused by other Bluetooth connections (Bluetooth mice, Bluetooth file transfers, etc.), surrounding 2.4GHz appliances (Wi-Fi and Airport networks, cordless phones, etc.) or excessive movement of the Bluetooth devices.

Echos

On many Mac laptops, the microphone is placed next to the left speaker. When both the mic and speaker are active, all of the audio that the speaker plays is sent back into the microphone, creating echoes. To help combat this, the left speaker is disabled when using Talk-Thru on a laptop. I have also attempted to implement echo-cancellation and other post-processing audio tricks, but these are beyond my areas of expertise. The recommended alternative is to use an external microphone and/or speaker until the issue can be dealt with further.