USB 3.0* Radio Frequency Interference on 2.4 GHz Devices (2012)

I ran into this a few weeks ago with a USB 3.0 thumb drive interrupting my Wi-Fi network communication on my PC.<p>I fixed this by putting the USB 3.0 thumb drive through the washing machine in my pants pocket. After being washed, the thumb drive no longer works, but my wi-fi is working great now, thanks to the washing machine. Problem gone.

This is definitely a known issue on 2012&#x2F;14 the Mac Minis (USB 3.0). <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;support.apple.com&#x2F;en-us&#x2F;HT203729" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;support.apple.com&#x2F;en-us&#x2F;HT203729</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;forums.macrumors.com&#x2F;threads&#x2F;usb-3-causing-interference-with-bluetooth.1696604&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;forums.macrumors.com&#x2F;threads&#x2F;usb-3-causing-interfere...</a><p>Apple&#x27;s article mentions USB 3 devices, but the issue is very much with Mac Mini&#x27;s ports. Moving the devices further away doesn&#x27;t help much.<p>I have a pair of cheap Bluetooth earbuds. They have a range of about 30 feet with when paired with an iPhone and about 4 feet when paired with the Mini. Apple&#x27;s Magic Mouse needs to be within about 4 feet to work as well.

If I have my USB external drive plugged into the port next to the little USB dongle for my wireless logitech mouse, the mouse doesn&#x27;t work properly. I have to shift one of the USB connectors to the other side of the laptop.

I was having issues with my wireless mouse getting flaky when my phone is on my desk; I thought it might be WiFi or Bluetooth signals from the phone, but this makes me wonder if it&#x27;s because I plug in to charge over USB.

Note that this also pertains to USB-C. This has been a personal nightmare on the new MacBook Pros.

I just saw somebody mention (on an amazon review for an Aukey charger) that their USB-C car charger was interfering with TPMS system on their car. That&#x27;s a little scary. Hopefully they&#x27;ll get it ironed out soon.<p>I realize TPMS is not 2.4gz but thought that was relevant to interference concerns

Logitech Unifying products (which also work at ~2.4GHz) have been affected by this for a long time too.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;support.logitech.com&#x2F;en_my&#x2F;article&#x2F;38032?product=a0qi00000069vCQAAY" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;support.logitech.com&#x2F;en_my&#x2F;article&#x2F;38032?product=a0qi...</a>

Main points:<p>1. Do not place USB ports near antennas, or RF parts 2. USB allows for rather large deviation from base frequency, use a drifting frequency source to spread the emission spectrum 3. Use shielding where possible

This was a big issue for me on my Intel NUC, the wireless keyboard&#x27;s receiver dongle was plugged into a USB3 port and received lots of interference. Installing it into a 1-ft USB extension cable solved the problem completely.

I bought a USB 3.0 Ethernet to USB adapter and it seems since then my Logitech wireless mouse has troubling hold a mouse down. I&#x27;ve been trying to nail down the issue. Maybe the interference is the cause. What do you think?

What is the meaning of the asterisk in &quot;3.0*&quot;?

I had concerns about RFI when purchasing my LimeSDR[1] USB version. Perhaps adding more shielding on the back side of the ports and around the unit itself is in order? I imagine that aluminum could help and it is fairly easy to put in place.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;myriadrf.org&#x2F;projects&#x2F;limesdr&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;myriadrf.org&#x2F;projects&#x2F;limesdr&#x2F;</a>

I wonder if this why my new Logitec mouse works poorly in the default wireless mode but is OK in the Bluetooth mode.

So does this mean that USB 3.0 will be banned from use on airplanes as well?

Had this with a 3.0 USB-C to USB-A hub I bought a while ago for the Macbook Pro. It was really a lil&#x27; portable Wi-Fi jamming device.<p>Advice: buy USB 3.0 accessories with good shielded cables.

It&#x27;s been 5 years and no one has managed to turn a USB controller into a WiFi adapter (nor a WiFi adapter into a USB sniffer), so I&#x27;m guessing the signals are only near enough to intefere and not anything beyond that.<p>...That would actually be rather fun to see, like <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.erikyyy.de&#x2F;tempest&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.erikyyy.de&#x2F;tempest&#x2F;</a>

This is from 2012 and old news in the Vive community where we try to use USB2.0 to avoid these and other issues. There&#x27;s a few 3.0 chipsets&#x2F;configs&#x2F;layouts&#x2F;whatever that cause serious 2.4ghz interference and that can affect motion controller latency, wifi internet connections, etc.<p>Of all the frequencies to interfere with...

This explains why my short stint with an XPS 13 and it&#x27;s dock was nothing but headaches.

Thanks for posting this! Whenever I plug my backup hard drive into my laptop (it connects over USB 3), my wifi connection drops. I guess I&#x27;ll have to try switching to 5GHz during backups…

I once had a similar problem with a Mini-DP to DVI adapter.<p>I bought a cheap 3rd party one, when I used it I could not use WiFi. When I replaced the cheap one with an Apple one everything worked perfectly.

Had an issue with my previous Macbook Air and a USB3 external drive where the wifi would completely stop working when I plugged the drive in. Sounds like it might be related to this.

I started getting interference on my wireless keyboard + USB hard drive when using my USB-C hub … I&#x27;d been blaming it on the hub for this whole time. Thanks for sharing!

5Ghz wifi for all the things!

same weird issue with logitech mouth and usb C port

It&#x27;s great to see RFI problem that impact the profits of big firms. Most RFI is generated because firms cut corners and lazy&#x2F;crony regulators fail to enforce FCC part 15 rules.

Yep, this bit me hard with my NVidia Shield TV. Plug in the portable USB HDD and the remote stopped worked.<p>Thankfully Kodi streams from SMB shares extremely well.