Under Settings/Wireless and Network/Mobile Networks/Network Mode there are the following options... GSM/WCDMA (Auto Mode), GSM Only, WCDMA Only. Ive seen posts about othere phones getting there battery drained from Auto Toggling. Using GSM only takes away 4G and gives you the E icon, which if you usually have good 4G I would assume you wouldnt need, as I have never seen an E on my screen until now. Using WCDMA only leaves us with 4G but what negative effect does cutting out the EDGE network have if any, and could choosing WCDMA only save us battery? Just thought I would put this out there so someone knowlegable about this could elaborate on. Thanks.
With the tweaks team avid had done, battery calibration, and the under volting, wouldn't the effects of switching this be negligible?
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA Premium App
It is completely negligible. I'm running on 3G/4G (WCDMA only) all the time, because I don't like waiting for my connection to switch over from Edge and use 4G. I can last over a day of with low usage, slightly under a day with moderate, and 18 hours of very heavy use.
Sent from my awesome SGS4G
What rom are you using?
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App
Well the reason why battery consumption increases while ur device is not locked on any specific n/w type like GSM only or WCDMA only is that when u have set your device to auto mode, your device scans for better network either 2G or 3G in terms of signal or quality in both idle & connected mode. While in the phase of scanning other network the device transmits at its maximum power thus consuming more battery. Now depending upon how the network coverage is & how are InterRAT reselection / handover parameters are, your device will keep on reselecting between 2G / 3G, which requires signalling thus more battery consumption.
If you feel that 3G coverage is good enough that u wont get out of coverage or drop calls then keep it locked to WCDMA only or vice versa
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
fshami said:
Well the reason why battery consumption increases while ur device is not locked on any specific n/w type like GSM only or WCDMA only is that when u have set your device to auto mode, your device scans for better network either 2G or 3G in terms of signal or quality in both idle & connected mode. While in the phase of scanning other network the device transmits at its maximum power thus consuming more battery. Now depending upon how the network coverage is & how are InterRAT reselection / handover parameters are, your device will keep on reselecting between 2G / 3G, which requires signalling thus more battery consumption.
If you feel that 3G coverage is good enough that u wont get out of coverage or drop calls then keep it locked to WCDMA only or vice versa
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for elaborating
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App
Increase my Thanks meter, press the thanks button :-D
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Related
is there any way that you can disable 3g mobile data while keeping on the 4g data(like you can with the evo 4g)?
the reason i ask is this... i use my phone to tether to the computer in my room, and it seems that i get a weak 4g signal there, so its constantly going back and forth between 4g and 3g. I'd prefer to keep the phone only on a 4g signal, even if weaker. is there a way to do this ?
Try the app lte onoff from the market. I believe there's an option for lte only.
Which selection would it be? thanks in advance
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App
I need this too.
On the thunderbolt if you used one of those phone info apps you had the options for CDMA only, CDMA/LTE auto and LTE only.
I have to use LTE only when I want to tether in my office because if I leave it on auto my phone will constantly switch between 4 and 3g and it rapes my battery.
If you use those same apps on the charge they show a bunch of gsm options and wcdma and such. Far as I can tell none of them do anything either. The built in options on the phone allow you to use CDMA only or CDMA/LTE auto but not LTE only. Definitely hope someone can work up a fix soon as it's a key issue for me (I own two tablets that I like to tether).
It's been good to me but does it work for you?
I remember doing this for a few other phones with good results.
Now I'm doing it with my Sensation and it looks like its working... but I want more people to test it. Test battery drain and data speeds.
Anyways,
Type *#*#4636#*#* in dialer > Phone info > Change WCDMA to GSM auto (PRL) and that is it. You should see the battery drain less on stand by.
post results here... and a thanks would also be good.
if you only use 2g,you can set like that
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
Yes, it does save battery. Same as going into Mobile Network settings.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App
GSM Auto (PRL): gives me 4G speeds
GSM only:gives me edge speeds
GSM Auto (PRL) isn't in the mobile network settings.
gsm auto prl will save the user a bit more power because it wont force the phone to continuasly hunt for a stronger signal
And just in case you guys want to play with some settings:
WCDMA preferred - The GSM phone is capable of using both 2G and 3G data communication and when signal strength is low 3G is favored more.
GSM only - The GSM phone is capable of using only 2G data communication. When the 2G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
WCDMA only - The GSM phone is capable of using only 3G data communication. When the 3G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
GSM auto (PRL) - The GSM phone is capable of using both 2G and 3G data communication and when signal strength is low 2G is favored more. This one is a bit confusing to me since PRL is associated mostly with CDMA technology and not GSM technology.
CDMA auto (PRL) - The CDMA phone is capable of using both 2G and 3G data communication and when signal strength is low 2G is favored more.
CDMA only - The CDMA phone is capable of using only 2G data communication. When the 2G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
EvDo only - The CDMA phone is capable of using only 3G data communication. When the 3G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
GSM/CDMA auto (PRL) - Some phones are equipped with both GSM and CDMA capabilities. This setting appears to just have the phone attempt to stay connected to the data communication type that works the best. (Maybe the Samsung Galaxy S will take advantage of this???)
Unknown - If none of the above fit or the phone is acting weird as far as connecting to the carrier, you will see your preferred network type is set to this
leyvatron said:
GSM Auto (PRL): gives me 4G speeds
GSM only:gives me edge speeds
GSM Auto (PRL) isn't in the mobile network settings.
gsm auto prl will save the user a bit more power because it wont force the phone to continuasly hunt for a stronger signal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what's the downside? Edge speed more often? If there was no downside why wouldn't it be the default?
I find gsm auto gives slightly slower speeds in a speedtest than wcdma only... (only two settings I use) and that's it.
Sent from one of my phones..... If only I could remember which one....
Is there a way to turn off 4g, and use the slower but less battery taxing 2g network?
TIA
There is an option for that in CM7 but I have not seen it in the Sense roms.
try the juicedefender app, it has options that limit the radio
Dumb question on my part but isnt that what the GSM\CDMA Option in wireless network/mobile network for and essentially do?
Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using XDA App
yes there is, you can choose between gsm/wcdma dual mode and gsm or wcdma only
ITS at work told me today that Telstra are switching off the 2100 network tomorrow (31 Aug) and that my phone might not get data connection afterwards - has anyone else heard about this and know if it is true or not?
I find all the frequencies plus 2g, 3g hsdpa, edge nextg stuff confusing...
I've not heard this before. I, too, am fairly ignorant when it comes to mobile networks.
90% plus of my data usage is over Wi-Fi, but I'd be very miffed if I had no data connection at work done I rely on my Exchange account staying synched.
Of course, all we have to do is wait and see what happens tomorrow.
Sent from my Desire S
BillGoss said:
I've not heard this before. I, too, am fairly ignorant when it comes to mobile networks.
90% plus of my data usage is over Wi-Fi, but I'd be very miffed if I had no data connection at work done I rely on my Exchange account staying synched.
Of course, all we have to do is wait and see what happens tomorrow.
Sent from my Desire S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, cross fingers and let's see. Reading a bit about it on whirlpool and it may be that we drop from HSDPA on 21,000 to the slower Edge on 850, hope not!
EDIT - the little signal indicator in the notification bar has changed from 'H' to 'E' for me over lunchtime... wonder if thats it. Browsing does seem a fair bit slower
E stands for Edge (2 /2.5 G) ...
Whereas., H stands for HSPDA (3/3.5G).
Try selecting WDCMA only in your Settings > Mobile Network Settings >Mobile Network mode.
This should give you only a 3G signal., if available. . Or else no network at all!
You can try switching back to GSM /WDCMA auto and be able to see the network back again.. In this mode it will select the best available option.
Sent from my HTC Desire S
Thanks for the tip. If I set my phone to WCDMA Only, I get no connection., So I've left out I WCDMA Preferred.
By the way, I don't have those setting options, but I can get there by entering *#*#4636#*#* in the phone disaster and selecting Phone Information.
Sent from my Nexus 7
Weird, I use the same shortcut to get to that menu and tried wcdma only, my data signal indicator is now 3g (sometimes H).
No idea what frequency it is using but I'm getting data and presumably it must be better than E, edge. I'm in metro Melbourne btw
Sent from my Desire S using xda premium
BillGoss said:
Thanks for the tip. If I set my phone to WCDMA Only, I get no connection., So I've left out I WCDMA Preferred.
By the way, I don't have those setting options, but I can get there by entering *#*#4636#*#* in the phone disaster and selecting Phone Information.
Sent from my Nexus 7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On CM10 (and I know you are running that ) you have a toggle called 2g/3g and in the settings you can change the network modes.
I have set them to 2g/3g only, because normally I'm in a WI-FI area and there 3g is useless.
Sent from my Desire S using xda app-developers app
Edit the screenshot wasn't working
I guess, the 2G/3G toggle option is the same as GSM only or WCDMA only option.
Edit : Ok, the pic in the above post just loaded... It's the same way of doing things, a bit differently though !
---------- Post added at 01:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:17 AM ----------
sadsac said:
Weird, I use the same shortcut to get to that menu and tried wcdma only, my data signal indicator is now 3g (sometimes H).
No idea what frequency it is using but I'm getting data and presumably it must be better than E, edge. I'm in metro Melbourne btw
Sent from my Desire S using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course, H is a lot better than E...
In fact, H is (just) better than 3G as well.
And as far as you are getting H/3G, leave the frequency to the network Radio Engineers to handle
Sent from my Desire S.
Hello, this sounds interesting to me. In fact, I do not have an active 3G data plan or 4G and I am currently using 2G. However, when I set the airplane mode off and the phone starts to pick up 2G signal from cell towers, it also pick up the 3G signal too. In fact, I can see on the signal strength bar a 3G or H+ icon that are constantly changing with some up and down arrow signs that indicate that my phone might be downloading and uploading data. Can anyone explains this phenomenon? For sure, I can not access to the Internet without Wifi.
Dan Law 001 said:
Hello, this sounds interesting to me. In fact, I do not have an active 3G data plan or 4G and I am currently using 2G. However, when I set the airplane mode off and the phone starts to pick up 2G signal from cell towers, it also pick up the 3G signal too. In fact, I can see on the signal strength bar a 3G or H+ icon that are constantly changing with some up and down arrow signs that indicate that my phone might be downloading and uploading data. Can anyone explains this phenomenon? For sure, I can not access to the Internet without Wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to settings-mobile networks and there will be option for mode
if the mode selected if gsm/wcdma - then ur phone will pick up 3g signal if it's available in the area irrespective of ur plan..this means ur carrier has activated 3g services..u can deactivate by selecting mode: gsm only!(2g mode)
wcdma mode is 3g only!
hope this is helped!
If you truly can't have 3g on your plan, phones will communicate with towers due to the requirements to have a phone be able to call 911 even if it is not activated at all.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
this has happened to me before as well
Maybe it's just scanning the available networks or something? Do you have data connection disabled at your device?
What is this thing about a 3G data plan?
A data plan is a data plan. Your speed depends on your phone hardware and what your provider had installed in your area...
At least that's how it works here in Norway, they can and do limit our download speeds after a certain amount of data is transferred as I assume they do elsewhere, but even when I pass that threshold my phone reports using 3G...
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda premium
Hr Kristian said:
What is this thing about a 3G data plan?
A data plan is a data plan. Your speed depends on your phone hardware and what your provider had installed in your area...
At least that's how it works here in Norway, they can and do limit our download speeds after a certain amount of data is transferred as I assume they do elsewhere, but even when I pass that threshold my phone reports using 3G...
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the situation is not same everywhere...
like in India and more countries, 2g and 3g services have different rates and are users can opt whether they want a 3g plan or 2g plan....although speed is more in 3g!