JBL Flip 5 - Why does Bluetooth still suck so badly?

It’s 2023. Why is Bluetooth such a huge PITA still?

I got a JBL Flip 5 to use with my various standing solutions (all of which revolve around a laptop at the moment). It sounds okay, especially for the price, when it works. But it just doesn’t work, at least not reliably.

Using the MacBook Pro 14" as a source, with the Flip 5 sitting about 12" below the laptop on the keyboard tray of the Tripodsy, it plays fine occasionally, but then it starts cutting out (especially, but not only, when I touch the Logitech M557 mouse I also have connected via Bluetooth. Constantly. It’s unlistenable.

Switched it off and connected the laptop to a ~5 year old Bose Revolve+ SoundLink sitting in exactly the same spot and it's rock solid, never skips a note, no matter how much mouse (or NuPhy Halo 75 keyboard) Bluetooth activity there is.

I downloaded the JBL Portable app and verified: “Software is up to date ... Current software: 0.5.6.0.”

Reading some Amazon reviews, I’m not alone in experiencing this:

• Keeps cutting in and out. ... keeps cutting in and out, this is the second unit and still the same problem. It happens with my android and wives iphone. My old jambox works with no problem. [Aston F. on March 30, 2022]
• My music cuts in and out ... the music cuts in and out like a skipping CD! [Amazon Customer on April 21, 2021]
• Cuts In and Out! Unenjoyable! The speaker started to cut in and out! Which is irritating for us! [Katt Wenborn on November 30, 2020]
• Sound cuts off every minute. Sound keeps cutting o  [sic] [Maria Catalina on July 22, 2020 ]
• Clicking sound, cuts out ... it started making a clicking sound, and cutting out on Zoom meetings. I went online and found this is a frequent problem ... [Theresa Desmond on August 3, 2020]
• After Two and a Half Months, Sound is Cutting Out - Don't Waste Your Money on Overpriced Junk! ... It keeps cutting out while i'm using it and to say that I'm disappointed would be a HUGE understatement! [D. A. Mawson on November 21, 2021]
• Defective even though it was new The sound kept cutting out  [mae catherine on August 18, 2021]
• DO NOT BUY Sound cuts out every 4-5 seconds  [Tom Delor on December 27, 2021]
• failed with mac mini returning the item. it sounds nice when paired to my phone but it cuts out every second when connecting to my mac mini.  [Ben C on August 8, 2019]
• Was okay, until I hooked up to my Macbook Pro ... I connected it to my Macbook Pro (2021) ... it just constantly wouldn't play smoothly. Never had this happen with another speaker. Every time I moved screens or did anything on my Mac, it would crack and stop playing for a split second and it was horrible.  [austin22 on June 29, 2022]

... etc.

Guess it’s going back.