Bluetooth behavior changed

[Tony Chick]

In my den I have an Echo Dot connected via Bluetooth to my Onkyo 646 receiver & its been working great for months. The Dot uses its internal speaker then when I switch the receiver to Bluetooth mode they pair up, the blue ring lights up and the Dot's ID appears in the receivers window. When I turn the receiver off, the Dot disconnects and goes back to local mode. Perfect! until a week or two ago. Now, the Dot never disconnects until I explicitly tell it to "disconnect my speaker", an extra step I didn't need before. Luckily they still automatically connect when the receiver turns on and I don't need to tell it to "connect my speaker".

There have been no firmware updates on the Onkyo and no settings have changed on either side. Any idea why the Dot will no longer disconnect on its own?

[asianrocker]

That's weird. It should disconnect once you turn off your BT device.

[Tony Chick]

Yup, always has but now it doesn't 

[Alpha Bitch]

Unplug the DOT for 5 minutes.  Reconnect.  BT working correctly now?

[Jeff29]

Bluetooth audio support access control is definitely very broken:

How it should work assuming you're already configured, paired, and connected to Bluetooth audio:

Bluetooth audio device powered off or verbal command "Alexa Disconnect"

Actual results (verbal command):
1.  Alexa disconnects from your Bluetooth audio and switches to the internal speaker.
Erroneous results:
2.  Alexa automatically re-connects switching from the internal speak back to Bluetooth audio.

Actual results (Bluetooth audio powered down):
1.  All audio is lost
Expected results (Bluetooth audio powered down):
1.  Audio automatically reverts to the internal speaker

Expected by the user within any functional UI of this type, once paired with Bluetooth audio support, Alexa should be able to:
a)  Automatically connect when the device becomes available
b)  Manually disconnect and stay disconnected, reverting to the internal speaker
c)  Automatically disconnect when the device is no longer available reverting to the internal speaker.
d)  Manually re-connect (via verbal command and the Alexa App) to a given Bluetooth audio option.  Remember you may have more than one--users expect to connect Bluetooth stereos, speakers, and headsets.  Imagine if you had to unpair and forget all your devices switching your phone just from headsets to your stereo or vice-versa.

I don't know if there's a verbal command to unpair.  I do know Amazon Echo devices will unpair and forget following the Bluetooth spec via the Alexa App.  Unpairing is ancillary to this problem as will be explained, below.

I opened Ticket #012853375 because the disconnect command works but then automatically re-connects.
https://www.amazonforum.com/forums/echo-alexa/echo-devices/2246-speaker-selection-doesnt-work-bluetooth-not

This is a significant problem for Amazon Echo devices because if you want to disconnect from the Bluetooth audio connection:

• You cannot use the voice command "Alexa disconnect" which works and Alexa announces the external audio disconnected on the internal speaker but then automatically re-connects and you're stuck back where you're started.
• The Alexa App will also disconnect (as it should) but then the device still automatically re-connects leaving you unable to select the internal speaker.
• If you use the Alexa App to disconnect then take the additional step to forget the pairing the device will switch to the internal speaker leaving you nothing but bad options (e.g. Alexa, a device powered by a multimillion-dollar cloud AI must then be manually re-paired every time you want to use your external Bluetooth audio).

If you happen to have a separate remote controlling your Bluetooth device (remember not all Bluetooth devices have a remote) you can issue the verbal command "Alexa Connect" and then quickly turn off your Bluetooth device and hope you time it right [meaning if you get it wrong you will have no sound as Alexa will still be sending it via Bluetooth] but this is a clear indication no one understands how Amazon Echo devices should work with Bluetooth audio.

This option also completely trashes any reasonable option to select speakers for people who purchase the AmazonBasics Bluetooth 4.0 Audio Receiver  to use an existing audio receiver or amplifier.

AmazonBasics Bluetooth 4.0 Audio Receiver -- https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Bluetooth-4-0-Audio-Receiver/dp/B00I59VBH4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1508880078&sr=8-2&keywords=amazon+bluetooth+receiver

Please help:  If this problem affects you please contact Amazon Technical support for Echo and open a Ticket referencing my ticket.  Any Echo technical support tier 1 representative can access the "Echo & Alexa > Echo Devices" forum.

Details for my ticket ("Echo & Alexa > Echo Devices" forum):  https://www.amazonforum.com/forums/echo-alexa/echo-devices/2246-speaker-selection-doesnt-work-bluetooth-not

If you don't know how to contact the Amazon Echo support team please use the following link and look for the "Contact" button on the bottom left (you will likely have to scroll down).

If you contact Amazon about this you have my thanks!

[Jeff29]

OK, this time I'm actually including the link:

If you don't know how to contact the Amazon Echo support team please use the following link and look for the "Contact" button on the bottom left (you will likely have to scroll down):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-2?ie=UTF8&nodeId=202011860&qid=1509080883&sr=1-2

[asianrocker]

My only complaint and I believe is a real problem is that even though my BT connect automatically, it has no sound so I have to turn BT on/off to make it work right.

Now for your long post. Good luck with that. How BT work is to connect automatically especially if you setup that way.

You actually can set it up to not connect automatically like the WiFi.

All you have to do is turn off your BT. So it won't pair. No need to forget your device. Turn off your BT if you are not using it. If you keep your BT on and just use unpair command then yeah it will keep on pairing. I mean that is BT 101 for you.

[Jeff29]

All you have to do is turn off your BT. So it won't pair. No need to forget your device. Turn off your BT if you are not using it. If you keep your BT on and just use unpair command then yeah it will keep on pairing. I mean that is BT 101 for you.

Are you sure you meant to say this?  Sure, Bluetooth won't pair when it's off.  But, it won't pair when it's on, either, unless you force pairing mode.  The 1st post covered that turning off Bluetooth is what causes and exposes the problem.  My post covers that turning off Bluetooth not only doesn't work but it's idiotic.  Who wants to have to unplug the power to their device every time they want it off?  And as only part of the solution at-that (meaning there's still another step before it's actually off).