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I have a wireless dongle, and it is definetly interfering with my bluetooth mouse. I know this because, when I disconnect the wireless dongle, then the bluetooth mouse works without any problems.

I dont need the wifi stick to connect with any wifi. It is just there because some softwares need the MAC address of the stick. Is there any way, I can zero the transmitting power of the wireless card? In my opinion, if there is lesser powered transmission or reception, or even no transmission or reception, then I can very well reduce the RF in the range.

Strangely, sudo rfkill block wifi just removes the interface, but it does not kill the wifi signals. Apparently, the RF signals are still there, even after blocking the wifi.

I ran the iw phy and found out that the wifi stick doesnt support 5GH Band. Only the 2.4 Ghz are listed. What could be the possible solutions for this problem?

infoclogged
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    If it's just the MAC address you need, does removing the stick and using an approach like [my answer at “Can I create a virtual ethernet interface named eth0?”](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/86720/can-i-create-a-virtual-ethernet-interface-named-eth0/86735#86735) work? – derobert Aug 25 '17 at 15:45
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    As @derobert says. It does not make sense keeping a wifi stick connected just for the MAC, it can and should be spoofed easily. – Rui F Ribeiro Aug 25 '17 at 16:50
  • @RuiFRibeiro the installed software did not work with the virtual mac. I tried the solution mentioned by derobert and I could see a new interface with identical mac as the stick. But, I think the software is smart enough to distinguish between a real mac and a virtual one. – infoclogged Aug 25 '17 at 20:27

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You didn't tell us which software you are using that needs a MAC, and why you think it is a MAC that it needs, but assuming that software is looking for a WLAN interface with wlan extensions, and not a just a MAC:

You can use the mac80211_hwsim kernel module to create an arbitrary number of "virtual wifi radios", which you can use as WLAN client, WLAN access point (talking to the client), or just assign a MAC to. These interfaces should be indistinguishable from a real WLAN stick, so you should be able to completely remove your stick by using them.

dirkt
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  • The provided asked for the MAC address of the WIFI dongle and then sent the license key. I think the name of the software is not interesting in this context, but its propreitary scientific tool. Probably, I will use a long long usb cable to just increase the distance between the bluetooth and the usb stick. Would that help, or it wud be waste to try? – infoclogged Aug 26 '17 at 08:43
  • If it's sending the license key and waiting for an answer, it needs some kind of network connection, or it won't work. So "having a MAC" is not really the issue. In that case, it doesn't really matter if you use WLAN or LAN, so the first thing I'd try is to connect it via LAN to some router and find out if that works. – dirkt Aug 26 '17 at 09:33
  • Of course you can try to reduce interference, with long cables, or metal pieces between WLAN and bluetooth antennas, or whatever. It really depends on the kind of interference that causes the problem. Another thing you can do is to narrow down the channel width for your **access point** (home router), ie. switch from 802.11n to 802.11g etc. You can't reduce that on the laptop alone. Bluetooth and WLAN use the same spectrum, but different modulation, so if you restrict WLAN to some channels, chances are BT can use the remaining spectrum. – dirkt Aug 26 '17 at 09:36
  • But why access point? I mean, I wrote that I need the stick for licensing related things and not communication. Can the channel width be reduced for this wifi stick? How? – infoclogged Aug 26 '17 at 10:12
  • What about aluminium foil? Would that be a solution too? – infoclogged Aug 26 '17 at 10:13
  • You said "sent the license key", so I assume you meant "the software contacts some server on the internet with the license key". If that's not what happens, then please explain *what* exactly happens with the software, and *how you know this*. It's a bit tiring to play guessing games about what your software does. Some of the options are (1) needs to contact server, (2) needs a particular MAC address (easy to fake) in *some* network interface, (3) needs a particular MAC address on a *wlan* interface (might be possible to fake with `mac80211_hwsim`. – dirkt Aug 26 '17 at 13:16
  • You need to restrict channels on the AP, because the AP can talk with another WLAN client on the complete spectrum, and then you still get interference. Yes, aluminium foil also works; anything the blocks EM radiation, i.e anything metallic. – dirkt Aug 26 '17 at 13:18