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[Q] Low Signal

I have a huge battery drain, and i think that is because i have low signal (look at the picture).
I tried to recalibrate battery for two times, and use it for 2-3 days, but it's alway the same.
I get maybe 7h with normal use. 50% of the time with 3G/EDGE, 50% with WIFI. screen time 1h, and turned off Auto sync.
Can someone help me? I need my phone whole day, not 7h. :S
EDIT: I'm using stock 4.0.4 with matr1x kernel

Bump?

Can't really help you as cell reception is based on the quality of the carrier. I normally experience -95 dBm and I believe it is a cause for such high drain too.
The only thing I could recommend is try flashing a different radio and see if you get a better signal?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA

BetterBatteryStats can let you know if it's not the radio. To test if it is the radio, try switching to 2G only.

Well, it was 3G-s fault. I switched to 2G and now there is no battery drain.
BUT, i still don't know why is there no 3G network in my house.
I have SGSII on my shelf, with the same carrier and it has 3G.

There is 3G at your house. It is just weak, much like me. A few too many concrete walls where i'm at.
Cell signals are done through waves which have to penetrate through walls and other solid objects, this vastly weakens the signal. Once you hit the ~-100dB mark your phone will start throwing more power into it's antenna to compensate, much further and it ditches 3G and goes to 2G assuming it has better coverage. Around the 100dB mark it tends to stay with 3G if data is on though which can start chewing through battery. It would be able to play around with the parameters but i don't see this happening anytime soon.
Compare the dB reading on your SGS2 and Nexus S. If it's much worse on the Nexus S, try flashing a different radio.

I have the same problem, i just switch back to 2g when i get back home and at night. for some reason, 2g networks tend to always have stronger reception

Lte

I just had the coolest thing happen, I woke up and turned my phone on only to find I have lte at my house now! Has this happened to anyone else in the Atlanta area?

Jealous. I wish they'd work on my area. Upstate sc

gunnyman said:
Jealous. I wish they'd work on my area. Upstate sc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your day will come, and when it does.
You will be prepared
Sent from my HTC One

Be prepared to get worse battery life than before. LTE really chews battery life alive. I turn off mobile data when I'm not using it just to get better battery though.

im on LTE and get 24 hours easy...and id consider myself at least a moderate user.

I havent noticed bad battery life when I was using it before but its never been constant so I guess Ill find out soon haha

Ottawa - Canada
Where LTE covered pretty much everywhere. I've used LTE on my device and I get at the most 6hours of usage.
I consider myself very heavy user. Download, online music, browsing, IM+ etc... Switching LTE off and going only on 4G I get an extra 12hours worth of juice but the speed is more then what I need 4G speed here is an average of 8mpbs UP and DOWN. That translate to 800K per second in transfer rate. Just as fast as you regular high speed at home. So no there's no need for LTE personally. It just kills your battery off in no time.

I've consistently gotten over 24 hours with light usage on LTE. Obviously reception and level of usage will make a big difference. But for many people the battery life on LTE is plenty good enough to use all day, then charge when you sleep.

LTE destroys battery, but that's what 3g is for
Hail Cobra!

Shaddy-Z. said:
Be prepared to get worse battery life than before. LTE really chews battery life alive. I turn off mobile data when I'm not using it just to get better battery though.
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Click to collapse
I haven't noticed a significant drain on the battery going from HSPA+ to LTE.
I don't use wifi because of the bugs so i'm always using data.

I easily get 18+ hrs with heavy usage, including 3+ hrs screen time on LTE, so not real sure what you are expecting from the battery. It's a high-end Smartphone, use it for what its meant to be used for.
Based on some of the responses, the logic is like buying a Ferrari and only driving it 55 in the slow lane cuz you're worried about not getting good gas mileage.... Com'on people, use the damn phone!
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Justjusten said:
I just had the coolest thing happen, I woke up and turned my phone on only to find I have lte at my house now! Has this happened to anyone else in the Atlanta area?
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Click to collapse
Yes, I never got a LTE signal at my house which is roughly 50 miles from Atlanta, but recently I've started getting a very good LTE signal at home.
I also don't see any of these battery drain issues everyone talks about. I'm on LTE for about 16 hours a day before I plug my phone in at night, and I always have some juice left. This has changed to be even better recently since I tend to need wifi more using AOKP and it's inconsistent mobile data. But my good battery life was consistent with stock and other Sense ROMs using only LTE.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

Justjusten said:
I just had the coolest thing happen, I woke up and turned my phone on only to find I have lte at my house now! Has this happened to anyone else in the Atlanta area?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lmfao, me too. I'm in hiram. I now have lte all the way from Atlanta to Paulding county. In fact, I have had constant lte since. I was sitting at the bowling alley, which I use to struggle just to get any signal, and I had two bars, lte.
Really haven't noticed much of a difference in battery drain either. Now I do use wifi at the house but still, been pretty impressed actually.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

When you get throttled what are typical speeds?? Out of nowhere my speeds went from 16-24mb down and 7-11mb up to about 3-6mb down and 1-2mb up. Checked my usage (unlimited) and i've only used 200+mb so far. Whats up with that?

I suspect that the people complaining about LTE battery drain also have their brightness turned way up, like at full. I know, b/c I'm one of those people. Almost any phone is going to last you an entire day, of even heavy use, if the brightness is down to 10%. Even in the laptop world, the battery life differential going from 10% brightness to 100% screen brightness is double, real world use.

[Q] AT&T and T-Mobile battery life differences?

I've been using both AT&T and T-Mobile (StraightTalk and T-Mobile) contract free for several months now and regardless of what my signal is on the two, I always seem to get worse battery life with StraightTalk/AT&T. Has anyone else played around with using both in the same places for an extended period of time and had the same results?
I'm trying to decide which I'm going to go with and so far even though I get LTE service in less areas with T-Mobile, I'm almost tempted to stick with them just because 1) when I do have LTE service, it's a ton faster then AT&T and 2) I get much less battery drain on T-Mobile then I do with AT&T.
Even in places where I had worse reception with T-Mobile (which less face it, is very often), I still get less battery drain then when I switch to AT&T and have a much better signal. Not sure if I'm hallucinating or if anyone else has experienced the same.
For example, at the hotel I'm currently at, while on T-Mobile my signal isn't quite as good as it is with AT&T but it takes several HOURS before my battery % drops below 90%. On AT&T I have a much better signal but yet I'll be within the low 80s after 3 or so hours.
Has anyone else tried this and if so have you noticed the same thing?

battery life is dependent on how you personally use the phone, how you set it up, and, most importantly, the quality of your phone/data connection. the quality of your phone/data connection could make or brake your battery life, by 1 or 2 screen on hours. thats a huge difference.

simms22 said:
battery life is dependent on how you personally use the phone, how you set it up, and, most importantly, the quality of your phone/data connection. the quality of your phone/data connection could make or brake your battery life, by 1 or 2 screen on hours. thats a huge difference.
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Click to collapse
Oh I realize all of that. When home and not on travel I pretty much utilize my phone at two locations. Home and Work. In both locations I used each network for about 2 weeks checking cell signals etc and using the phone the same way the entire time. During this time I've noticed one constant, my phone with AT&T always drains the battery much faster. To be honest I thought I was crazy but I double checked and ran for another couple of weeks..this time basically logging battery life with usage and connection quality. AT&T on average had a better signal but also drained the battery faster...usage was about the same through the test. So I did the same thing while basically sitting in a hotel for a few days and just letting the phone sit as I was mainly using a separate phone on Sprint. Same thing..the time I had the phone sitting there with AT&T it had almost a perfect signal but the phone drained quite a bit faster then T-Mobile with practically no utilization. Obviously I rebooted prior to each.
I realize this doesn't make any sense at all but it's something I'm noticing.

I just found your post, and I'm experiencing the exact same issue. To quote a post I just made on reddit:
I've been a T-mobile prepaid customer (the $30 5gb plan) since I've had the N5, and recently I decided to switch to Straight Talk for the better coverage (I got the AT&T compatible SIM). I've been using the Straight Talk SIM for the past week, and I've notice two very odd things:
1. Battery life is significantly worse on Straight Talk. Unfortunately I don't have any before and after screen shots, but to provide context, a typical day of usage on T-mobile would leave me with ~50% battery life at the end of the day. Now, with Straight Talk and that same usage, I'm down to 10-20%.
2. With Straight Talk, I consistently have 4-5 bars of LTE, but oftentimes when I try and load a web page, there can be about a 5 second delay before the page starts loading. Even when running the Speed Test app, when it's testing the download speed, it will sometimes completely stop mid-download for a few seconds.
Have you found any solution to the battery issue you cited in your post?

I knew I wasn't nuts!
http://bgr.com/2014/08/06/best-smartphone-battery-life-t-mobile/

ParadingLunatic said:
I knew I wasn't nuts!
http://bgr.com/2014/08/06/best-smartphone-battery-life-t-mobile/
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Click to collapse
again, it still fits right in, its the data/phone signal quality that decides the battery life, as i wrote earlier. lowered quality = lowered battery life, period.

[Q] disable mobile signal while on wifi

Hi all
Im trying to find a way to make my nexus 5 automatically disable my 3g connection when i connect to my home WiFi, as i have horrendous 3g signal in my home and i think its affecting battery life.
Any ideas?
Thanks

You can always shut it off manually. I personally use Llama, to automate it everything
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

You can turn it off manually. I believe it stops you from sending pictures and receiving pictures through text though.
As for battery life, I don't think it would change anything since it's using WiFi for data as a Primary.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

if you are in WiFi, battery drain shouldnt be a problem.. all data will be routed via wifi and only voice and SMS/MMS would come via cell tower...
i suggest wakelock detector to see whats using the most battery

As suggested... If WiFi is on, a week signal won't drain your battery. WiFi off, then of course it will.
Sent from my N5, N7, Moto X, G Tab 3 or S2.....

This actually happens automatically. However doing it yourself does seem to be a quick fix for some WiFi related issues. Tasker or Llama if you think it will help.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

As mentioned: mobile DATA is turned off when wifi is connected.
You don't want to turn off the mobile radio entirely, as then you cannot receive phone calls or texts.
If you're in a low signal area, you'll have a small hit to battery life from this, but it's not anywhere near as bad as not using wifi.

but changing the radio to Edge or 3G when on WiFi should be better for battery life right?
I use the smart radio setting in cataclysm and I think it actually helps a little (indoors I get 2 bars of LTE on average vs 4 on 3G).
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

raul90 said:
but changing the radio to Edge or 3G when on WiFi should be better for battery life right?
I use the smart radio setting in cataclysm and I think it actually helps a little (indoors I get 2 bars of LTE on average vs 4 on 3G).
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
No, as it's not using the data services. It's only maintaining base voice capability.

raul90 said:
but changing the radio to Edge or 3G when on WiFi should be better for battery life right?
I use the smart radio setting in cataclysm and I think it actually helps a little (indoors I get 2 bars of LTE on average vs 4 on 3G).
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
I'm not sure what others are talking about but from personal experience changing from 3g to 2g whilst on wifi did help battery life. People in this thread appear to forget the fact that even without data enabled, poor 3g/LTE signal will still drain more battery compared with having a strong 2G/3G signal as your phone's radio requires more power to maintain connection for base functionality (calls, texts).

daniel.kusy said:
I'm not sure what others are talking about but from personal experience changing from 3g to 2g whilst on wifi did help battery life. People in this thread appear to forget the fact that even without data enabled, poor 3g/LTE signal will still drain more battery compared with having a strong 2G/3G signal as your phone's radio requires more power to maintain connection for base functionality (calls, texts).
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Click to collapse
If the phone is on WiFi, battery life is not affected much by whatever you switch your connection to. On data, then sure...signal issues are a big factor.
Switching from this to that to this while WiFi is on is really a lot of trouble for maybe a slight difference in battery life. ?
Sent from my N5, N7, Moto X, G Tab 3 or S2.....

kj2112 said:
If the phone is on WiFi, battery life is not affected much by whatever you switch your connection to. On data, then sure...signal issues are a big factor.
Switching from this to that to this while WiFi is on is really a lot of trouble for maybe a slight difference in battery life. ?
Sent from my N5, N7, Moto X, G Tab 3 or S2.....
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Click to collapse
I completely agree with you on the fact that with data enabled on a poor 3G connection, your battery's gonna drain pretty quickly. After doing more research I found that changing from 3G to 2G can reduce power usage of the radio quite considerably (apparently up to 50% when in voice/sms mode only). Now as great as that all sounds, that's only around 50% power usage of the radio and I have no idea how much battery the radio actually uses during idle.. Looking at google's specifications it seems like the radio uses a pretty insignificant amount of battery when in idle (300 hours or so) so a 50% saving in idle radio probably wouldn't make nearly as much difference as say a more contributing factor to battery drain like screen on time or cpu usage. So yeah, I guess I gotta agree with kj2112 here, It's pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things if you're actually using your phone with wifi connected.
Interesting source if anyone was curious and wanted to learn more about radio affecting battery life: http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in_q.php?qid=362

daniel.kusy said:
I completely agree with you on the fact that with data enabled on a poor 3G connection, your battery's gonna drain pretty quickly. After doing more research I found that changing from 3G to 2G can reduce power usage of the radio quite considerably (apparently up to 50% when in voice/sms mode only). Now as great as that all sounds, that's only around 50% power usage of the radio and I have no idea how much battery the radio actually uses during idle.. Looking at google's specifications it seems like the radio uses a pretty insignificant amount of battery when in idle (300 hours or so) so a 50% saving in idle radio probably wouldn't make nearly as much difference as say a more contributing factor to battery drain like screen on time or cpu usage. So yeah, I guess I gotta agree with kj2112 here, It's pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things if you're actually using your phone with wifi connected.
Interesting source if anyone was curious and wanted to learn more about radio affecting battery life: http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in_q.php?qid=362
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Click to collapse
If it did make a big difference on WiFi....I'd have terrible battery life at home. There is no 2g on my carrier and my signal at home is horrible. But, I get over 24 hours and 6 plus screen hours always, whether at home (on WiFi always...and usually one bar of radio inside) or at work on LTE.
So for me, the weak signal does next to nothing to my battery.....while on WiFi. WiFi off, I get half those times at home.
Sent from my N5, N7, Moto X, G Tab 3 or S2.....

kj2112 said:
If it did make a big difference on WiFi....I'd have terrible battery life at home. There is no 2g on my carrier and my signal at home is horrible. But, I get over 24 hours and 6 plus screen hours always, whether at home (on WiFi always...and usually one bar of radio inside) or at work on LTE.
So for me, the weak signal does next to nothing to my battery.....while on WiFi. WiFi off, I get half those times at home.
Sent from my N5, N7, Moto X, G Tab 3 or S2.....
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Click to collapse
I'm not doubting you there, I pretty much summarised why in my previous post. When the radio is idling (connected to wifi) it's using a very small amount of power. Hence why it doesn't make much of a difference reducing an already very small power draw.

The i9505 could have a hardware problem for 3G rasp

hello,
I'm not sure if this applies to everyone or if it's just me/my configuration.
I've been struggling and doing tests for years to understand why the heck my battery life was good on WiFi but awful on data...I tried every single combination and battery stats but I could not find any thing.
So in the last months my carrier added LTE coverage to my area and I was able to achieve 4H of screen time with no WiFi on and that's impressive! Also the phone stayed cool.
Today I put back another SiM I had from another carrier that only has 3G coverage and the battery has been awful
... going down like crazy even on standby and the phone gets so hot I can't even touch it sometimes. Things that I didn't experience in the last months!
The signal strength is actually better for 3G than LTE so it's that.
That's why I'm thinking maybe there's an hardware reason and I was never able to realize all of this until I had wide LTE coverage.
What do you think?