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WiFi Seriously draining batery!

First and foremost let me say that I love this phone. But I am having an issue with serious battery drain that's occurring when I have WiFi on. I need to use WiFi Calling in my house,and it worked flawlessly on my previous mytouch 4g, running under the same conditions. In fact, my wife now has that phone and it works great, we actually manage to save a ton of battery with wifi calling turned on.
So when I got the Sensation I hoped for more of the same, great battery life when at home due to wifi calling. However, that is not the case, when I have wifi on, with or without wifi calling enabled, my battery drains at a rate of about +-10% an hour! And thats with out even touching it! Without wifi on, 2-4% per hour battery drain.
Speeds when I do things over wifi are blazing fast, and the signal is full bars, so I know the phone is not searching for the wifi. With wifi, and minimal use, I max out at 5-6 hours! Not sure what to do, as not using wifi is really not an option.
One other thing, coming from the mytouch 4g, a highly underrated phone imo, I do see some lag that wasnt present in the "lesser" phone. In particular, the USA Today app, for example, on the Mytouch scrolling was smooth as butter, not so much on the sensation, I also see it in the Android market when I look at my apps, same app list on both phones, mytouch scroll is smooth as can be, Sensation is very jittery.
Maybe someone has some thoughts, or is having similar issues, cause I am so jealous of all the "OMG my battery lasted 6 months" posts!
Thanks in advance!

Because the phone comes stock with the WiFi sleep policy set to never. In my opinion that's a stupid decision on HTC's part. Easy fix though. Go into Wireless settings and clock on WiFi settings. Then click the menu key and click advanced. You will see the WiFi sleep policy menu. Just change it to "Never When Plugged in" or after 15 minutes. If you change it to Never when plugged in then the WiFi will go into sleep mode when ever you turn your display off.

Ive had it set to the 15 minute setting, but I thought that the wifi calling would block wifi from sleeping. Once when looking at the battery screen, I zoomed either on wifi or wifi calling, and it said something to that effect.

mlish420 said:
Ive had it set to the 15 minute setting, but I thought that the wifi calling would block wifi from sleeping. Once when looking at the battery screen, I zoomed either on wifi or wifi calling, and it said something to that effect.
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Sorry, I forgot you said you use WiFI calling. That might have something to do with it. I always keep mine of so it doesn't matter if my WiFi sleeps right away.

Wifi can't sleep!
I don't know if i should start a new thread but this was the closest to my problem I could find.
Basically I'm having the same WiFi battery drain issues, and I tried to do the usual Wifi Sleep 'after 15 mins' or 'Never When Plugged in' options in the advanced menu but it always reverts to just 'Never' after a few minutes.
On my power graph it shows that I have had continuous wifi on despite changing the settings. So its not just the option returning to default when i open the menu either.
I'm really confused here, is there something forcing my wifi to be on all the time?
Any help is much appreciated.

Make sure wi-fi best performance is not checked. That will drain battery faster also

[Q] WiFi Sleep Policy

My WiFI Sleep Policy is set to default (After 15 min) however the WiFi is always on. The icon is there when I turn my screen on. Checked the battery usage graph also, and WiFi is always on (as long as I don't turn if off manually).
I have a stock ROM, the latest European stock ROM.
Is this a bug? What does 'After 15 min' actually mean?

I believe it means the wifi will turn off 15 minutes after the screen goes off, and then back on with screen on.

I thought so too, but mine isn't doint that.

teomor said:
I thought so too, but mine isn't doint that.
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Click to collapse
I know there was a recommendation to set "Never" as the sleep policy. I can't find that post unfortunately. I know on my Desire with CM7 it resulted in better battery life, counter intuitive but......

I know. I've had it set to Never on my Desire. But now I'm seeing longer standby with the current setting (After 15 min) on my Sensation compared to the Desire. Although I suspect it isn't working and it's actually never turning off.

teomor said:
I know. I've had it set to Never on my Desire. But now I'm seeing longer standby with the current setting (After 15 min) on my Sensation compared to the Desire. Although I suspect it isn't working and it's actually never turning off.
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Click to collapse
Lol, same upgrade here. TBH I've left it at Never and not tried the other policies.
I use WiFi when at home, I'm on a 3G data plan ( I'm guessing WiFi sleeping means I wouldn't get updated Gmail. Or does it revert back to 3G ?

WiFi sleeping means going back to 3G, yes.

teomor said:
WiFi sleeping means going back to 3G, yes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, might just try it and see.

Does anyone think that instead of going to sleep after 15 minutes of the screen being turned off (regardless of whether there are background apps that have active internet connections), the WiFi actually starts sleeping after 15 minutes of idle time? I think this would be a better efficiency algorithm, so, as long as you have apps that constantly use the internet, keep WiFi connected, but when no apps are doing auto-sync or any background data, only turn on WiFi when manually using the apps..

Applications can be programmed to call for a WiFi lock. If any active application does so, WiFi won't shut off when the phone is asleep.

gol_n_dal said:
I know there was a recommendation to set "Never" as the sleep policy. I can't find that post unfortunately. I know on my Desire with CM7 it resulted in better battery life, counter intuitive but......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I remember that old tips thread. It was set your wifi sleep policy to never. Install spare parts+ or pro and set end button behaviour to sleep. And something to do with Market app. Settings->notifications-> uncheck the box. For some reason market notifications were not allowing your phone to go to sleep properly or some garbage like that. Its worth a shot.

ICS Wifi stays on while on sleep

Hi guy, my wifi won't turn off when my Xoom is on sleep. I have set the settings of 'keep wifi on during sleep' both to 'NEVER' and 'ONLY WHEN PLUGGED' but nothing happens. Wifi stays on and keeps draining my battery life. I am running rooted with the latest version of nightly 62 and I've been having this issue since 55. I have reinstalled, flashed, factory reset, wiped my Xoom.
Is anyone else having this issue? What should I do?

From my experience, wifi stays on for a little while longer after device sleeps. However, some apps in background may trigger wifi back on again. So I turn off wifi when i go to bed. Actually i notice wifi itself will not drain much battery, 1-2% for 10hr. It's the host apps sucking the juice.
I am not an expert though.

OK i've also checked it out and as you said wifi turns off after some time. My main problem now is that my battery life won't last more than 3-4 hours on wifi.
I have posted my battery stats with use of web browsing and watching pictures on gallery...

jimgeroul said:
My main problem now is that my battery life won't last more than 3-4 hours on wifi.
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Click to collapse
What do you mean "no more than 3-4 hours"? In your battery chart, you can get more than that even starting from 75% battery.

What I wanted to say is that I think my battery won't last more than 4 hours with wifi on and some serious usage.. from my stats as I can see I've been using it 5 hours but I only had screen on and browsing the web. I think there will be a huge difference if I am watching a movie or playing a game.. I don't have the time to check it now but I will post my results in some days..
According to my previous battery graph do you see any problem or something less from what your Xoom battery holds? Does this battery drain seems normal to you?

jimgeroul said:
Hi guy, my wifi won't turn off when my Xoom is on sleep. I have set the settings of 'keep wifi on during sleep' both to 'NEVER' and 'ONLY WHEN PLUGGED' but nothing happens. Wifi stays on and keeps draining my battery life. I am running rooted with the latest version of nightly 62 and I've been having this issue since 55. I have reinstalled, flashed, factory reset, wiped my Xoom.
Is anyone else having this issue? What should I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you'll find it will stay on for about 15 minutes. There is some setting in a system database (using a sqlite editor) that can be changed to bring this down. I doubt Wifi is what's draining your battery. Are you synching email via activesync or running other stuff in the background?

I am only using my yahoo mail from the EMail app. I don't know if it uses activesync. I have set it to check emails every 30minutes.

wifi not turning off
Edit: I found the wifi sleep option in ICS. Google sure did a great job of hiding it. See attached picture for anyone else having wifi staying on during sleep issues.

So there are three options
Keep WiFi on during sleep
1) Always
2) Only when plugged in
3) Never
What option to set if i want Wifi to turn of after some time of when phone sleeps. Previously i had set the option to 15 minutes but that option is not available in ICS and i m having a hard time understanding how these options work on my sensation.
Can anyone explain what each of these options do ?

lazers378 said:
So there are three options
Keep WiFi on during sleep
1) Always
2) Only when plugged in
3) Never
What option to set if i want Wifi to turn of after some time of when phone sleeps. Previously i had set the option to 15 minutes but that option is not available in ICS and i m having a hard time understanding how these options work on my sensation.
Can anyone explain what each of these options do ?
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Click to collapse
My guess:
1) Always: WIFI always on no matter awake or asleep
2) Only when plugged in: WIFI always on only when plugged to power
3) Never: WIFI will be off if asleep (my current setting)

That was it
invidious07 said:
Edit: I found the wifi sleep option in ICS. Google sure did a great job of hiding it. See attached picture for anyone else having wifi staying on during sleep issues.
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Click to collapse
Thanks, I had not seen the option to turn wifi off during sleep.
--Doug

Bear in mind that (irritatingly) applications can seemingly change this setting.

cspiby said:
Bear in mind that (irritatingly) applications can seemingly change this setting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For an app to change wifi sleep policy, it needs the WRITE_SETTINGS permission.

[Q] [ICS] Disable wifi when screen goes off ?

Hi everyone
I just flashed Android Revolution ICS Rom and I'm quite happy with that so far ! The only thing I cannot find is how to automatically disable the wifi antenna when the screen goes off...
Any help would be much appreciated

You can try in wifi setting and set wifi sleep policy to "screen off" out you can get Auto Airport Mode by Dan
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

baseballfanz said:
You can try in wifi setting and set wifi sleep policy to "screen off" out you can get Auto Airport Mode by Dan
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
It was there in HC but can't find it in ICS...

salv-ice said:
It was there in HC but can't find it in ICS...
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Click to collapse
Well I just took a look. Guess they changed it a round a little
In Settings under the WiFi, click on More and there's an "Airplane Mode" try that.
Or try Auto Airplane Mode (this is what I use and it work great)
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.blogspot.donkun3.autoairplane&feature=search_result

hit menu (3 dots in top right) when you are in the wifi menu hit andvanced then hit "Keep wifi on during sleep" and change to only when plugged in or never

mrevankyle said:
hit menu (3 dots in top right) when you are in the wifi menu hit andvanced then hit "Keep wifi on during sleep" and change to only when plugged in or never
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow... wouldn't have found it by myself
Thanks a lot !

I'm noticing the native setting for disableing wifi when sleeping is working poorly. It takes a while to turn it off and then when it restarts the service does not seminar to be able to obtain the IP address and I have to manually turn wifi off and then on again for it to obtain an address. Very strange because the auto airplane app has no such issues.

I have just found out that:
(under GB) "Advanced > Wifi Sleep Policy > when screen turns off"
is NOT the same as
(under ICS) "Advanced > Keep Wi-fi on during sleep > never (increase data usage)"
It is supposedly to be the same thing but it is not.
As osho741 observed, it takes a very long time to turn off and most of the time it just does not.
I think this is one of ICS bug.

a1adin said:
I have just found out that:
(under GB) "Advanced > Wifi Sleep Policy > when screen turns off"
is NOT the same as
(under ICS) "Advanced > Keep Wi-fi on during sleep > never (increase data usage)"
It is supposedly to be the same thing but it is not.
As osho741 observed, it takes a very long time to turn off and most of the time it just does not.
I think this is one of ICS bug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does turn off fine here after around 10 minutes but it takes at least 30 seconds to activate and connect.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2

Is there any specific reason youd want to turn off the wifi during sleep? In my experience it doesnt drain enough battery to bother turning it off.
In my case with wifi on and a few apps running that uses wifi all the time, the tablet drains around 15-20% over 12h while sleeping.
That gives at least 2.5 days batterylife if you keep it sleeping... I cant imagine you would have to have it turned on (sleeping) longer than that. In that case you could just shut it down completely when youre not using it

you should give juice defender a try. it revolves around battery optimization, but it isn't a task killer, it just lets you make whatever setting you want concerning turning off services like wifi, bluetooth, etc.. its highly customizable, so you can set it to turn the wifi off entirely while its asleep, or to keep it off, while turning on in whatever time increment you set, long enough.
i have mine set so that the wifi turns off and stays off entirely when its in sleep mode, but if i have a online radio app like pandora or 8tracks running, then they override the sleep settings, and keep the wifi on when the screen is off.or, when i use certain apps that don't need internet to run, like kindle or certain games, the wifi automatically turns off and remains off until i close the apps.
i really like it and i think its made a huge difference in battery. Before if used it, my transformer would drain 15-20% percent overnight with the wifi left on. now, it drains maybe 2-4%.

Turning off wifi during sleep makes a huge difference.
It really saves a lot of battery for me.
And juice defender, while it might help, but on my phone, it causes a lot of wakelocks.
You can check this with bbs.

Wifi will sometimes connect only when I turn the screen on

Hi, everyone.
I've noticed that, sometimes, my phone will only connect to a Wifi network after I turn the screen on, regardless of how long I've been inside the range of a particular acces point. For example, when I get home and I go to check my phone after I've been in there for a long time, I see the Wifi connecting right after turning the screen on. This isn't normal, is it? How can I fix this? I have it set to always active if that matters.
Thanks.

Most likely the phone is in deep sleep and doesn't scan for the WiFi network until you wake it. The alternative would be the phone waking itself to check, possibly "WiFi Always Scanning" would accomplish that.

bblzd said:
Most likely the phone is in deep sleep and doesn't scan for the WiFi network until you wake it. The alternative would be the phone waking itself to check, possibly "WiFi Always Scanning" would accomplish that.
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Click to collapse
Thank you, bblzd.
How long does it usually take for the phone to go into deep sleep? beacuse this has happened for example if I get out of the office for a while (a few minutes) and then go back in. I'll try the always scanning suggestion, but would it have a considerable impact in battery usage?

Adrianrff said:
Thank you, bblzd.
How long does it usually take for the phone to go into deep sleep? beacuse this has happened for example if I get out of the office for a while (a few minutes) and then go back in. I'll try the always scanning suggestion, but would it have a considerable impact in battery usage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should enter deep sleep as soon as the screen turns off, unless there is something using the CPU then it will stay awake or wake itself as needed.
Always scanning does use a significant amount of battery compared to if you were disabling the WiFi. However if you leave your WiFi on all the time anyways it shouldn't make any difference.

bblzd said:
It should enter deep sleep as soon as the screen turns off, unless there is something using the CPU then it will stay awake or wake itself as needed.
Always scanning does use a significant amount of battery compared to if you were disabling the WiFi. However if you leave your WiFi on all the time anyways it shouldn't make any difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright, I don't usually turn wifi off, so I'll try that.
Thanks again.

Didn't work, unfortunately.

Anyone else? I seem to be the only one experiencing this, can't find a single post about this online.
Any suggestions? I've tried rebooting into safe mode, turning data off, turning airplane mode on and enabling wifi, wiping cache partition, nothing helps. Still thee same behaviour.