Database Info

Which uses more power, Wi-Fi or 3G?

This may sound like a bit of noob question but please hear me out. This is my first Android device and I'm coming from a iPhone 3G. I am having much worse battery life than I expected, even compared to a 2 year old battery in my iPhone. With the iPhone it was possible to disable 3G and just use EDGE to increase battery life, but EDGE is unacceptable for me. I also found that turning on WiFi seemed to increase battery life rather than running on 3G all the time, since I am always near WiFi. It seems like running two radios would use more power than running 1 but that was not my experience. I rationalized that by assuming the 3G radio had to broadcast its signal a much longer distance than the WiFi and therefor used more energy. So the more the iPhone used the lower power WiFi radio for data the better. Are my assumptions correct? Which radio uses more power? With my iPhone I left 3G and WiFi on all the time and never thought twice about it, at the end of the day I would have about half a battery left, with this Captivate I can barely make it through a day. I saw a suggestion in another thread to adjust the advanced WiFi setting to never disconnect WiFi to improve battery life, that person seems to make the same assumptions I have. Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you.

wifi uses less power then 3G does. When you turn on wifi and there is a network that you can connect to 3G will turn off.

Glad my assumptions were correct. So it would make sense then that if you were at a place where you knew you couldn't get WiFi it would save power to turn it off so it would stop searching. Do you agree that going into WiFi Settings -> Advanced -> WiFi Sleep policy and change "when screen turns off" to "Never" would help? So that all background data goes over wifi and not 3G?

nbarsotti said:
Glad my assumptions were correct. So it would make sense then that if you were at a place where you knew you couldn't get WiFi it would save power to turn it off so it would stop searching. Do you agree that going into WiFi Settings -> Advanced -> WiFi Sleep policy and change "when screen turns off" to "Never" would help? So that all background data goes over wifi and not 3G?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, I have no "advanced" option under "WiFi Settings".

Push the menu button while in thet WiFi settings page and go to advanced.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

WiFi always being on wastes even more battery. Phone calls and texts still have to go through 3G.

kitsuneracer said:
Push the menu button while in thet WiFi settings page and go to advanced.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DOH!
Thank you!
That is the only inconsistency with android - when to look for more menus via the menu key.

spyz88 said:
WiFi always being on wastes even more battery. Phone calls and texts still have to go through 3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it also depends how much data you are using. If you are streaming music or video - the battery should last longer with WiFi doing it - even if 3G is on.
If you are not doing much data, then the act of having 3G and WiFi on is counterproductive.

spyz88 said:
WiFi always being on wastes even more battery. Phone calls and texts still have to go through 3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why? couldnt it just use regular edge for phone calls and text?

[Q] 4G mobile network still connected when Wifi is ON?!

So my phone just started showing this behavior like a day or two ago. It's doing it right now. Both my Wifi and 4G icons appear in the notification bar. The 4G icon isn't showing activity (the download and upload arrows are dimmed), BUT if I go to my "Phone Info" app, and go to Phone Information it shows:
GSM service: In service
GPRS service: Connected
Network Type: HSDPA
Before whenever I was on Wifi only the Wifi icon would show up, and Phone Info would show GPRS Service as : Disconnected, i.e. normal behavior. Now it appears there is a conflict somewhere and the 4G network is showing as connected even when wifi is on.
Now, I did make some changes recently:
1) Temp-rooted and pm disabled a bunch of bloatware - this was like 4 or 5 days ago and I didn't have the problem at all so I'm not sure if it's related.
2) I unchecked Wireless Settings > Mobile Networks > "Enable always on mobile data" - Thought it might save battery when in sleep mode.
I think the problem started after #2. I've since checked that option back on, restarted, airplane mode, battery pull etc., but it's still exhibiting the same behavior. I've never seen this happen on any of my past Android devices (a lot). If I go to the Quick Settings it shoes Mobile Network is OFF but it IS checked. It's really confusing. When you turn Wifi on, Mobile network should disconnect, but according to phone Info, mine is on and I've been getting "network issue, try again" in the Market, and "Network Communication issues" in the Speedtest app so clearly something is being affected.
This has been my ONLY problem with my Sensation thus far, and the fact that it JUST started doing this makes me wonder what I could have done to affect it.
Thoughts?
EDIT: Every once in awhile the 4G icon WILL disappear leaving only Wifi on, and Phone info shows GPRS service: Disconnected, but eventually the 4G/2G icon comes back and Phone info shows GPRS service: Connected, so it keeps trying/turning itself on even though my Wifi is connected. WTF!

If you're on a t mo device it's because of the my device app. Open and close it or end the process in system panel and it should fix the problem.

I believe this is somewhat normal...
I have voice only plan and disabled data through the *#*#INFO#*#* menus. The only way I can get data is through Wifi, which I always have enabled, regardless when I go to About Phone -> Network, I see mobile network type HSDPA.
It seems like voice is going through the 3G/4G but not any data. Not sure why you do get the 4G popping up, I sure don't.

Sdobron said:
If you're on a t mo device it's because of the my device app. Open and close it or end the process in system panel and it should fix the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I tracked down the second package name for "My Account" (one is for My Account, one is for My device), disabled and rebooted. So far so good; Wifi is connected, no 4G icon, and Phone info shows GPRS service: Disconnected as it should. I had already disabled one package but not the other. I can live w/o the My account feature for a bit and I'll keep an eye out to see if the problem returns.

bigmase521 said:
Thanks! I tracked down the second package name for "My Account" (one is for My Account, one is for My device), disabled and rebooted. So far so good; Wifi is connected, no 4G icon, and Phone info shows GPRS service: Disconnected as it should. I had already disabled one package but not the other. I can live w/o the My account feature for a bit and I'll keep an eye out to see if the problem returns.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You phone will always connect to data whn using Tmobile apps such as my account app. Its because they need network data, not web data, to get their info like your usage, and billing. If you manually shut of data and turn wifi on and try to open the my account app, it will give you error.
Just because you turn Wifi on, it doesnt make the data shut off. It just connects to WIFI because its a stronger signal. It will still access the 4G data for netork required information. You can manually shut off mobile data and then turn on wifi if you want.

^This is true, I'm manually switching 4G off when connected to WiFi.

dubie76 said:
You phone will always connect to data whn using Tmobile apps such as my account app. Its because they need network data, not web data, to get their info like your usage, and billing. If you manually shut of data and turn wifi on and try to open the my account app, it will give you error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I realize this, however I was never trying to use the T-mobile apps.
dubie76 said:
Just because you turn Wifi on, it doesnt make the data shut off. It just connects to WIFI because its a stronger signal. It will still access the 4G data for netork required information. You can manually shut off mobile data and then turn on wifi if you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course it does. What would be the point in having BOTH Wifi and 4g/3g/EDGE data on at the same time, all the time? That would be a HUGE drain on your battery if it were constantly using both radios and connected to/searching for both networks. When you turn Wifi on, the mobile data radio gets turned off. When you de-activate Wifi, mobile data turns back on. This is why you get much better battery life on Wifi because the 4g/3g radio gets turned off. Plus, both can't be connected at the same time or else there would be routing problems i.e., it would get confused as to which connection to use.
This is exactly what happened to my phone in that that both WERE on at the same time and it was causing no traffic to get in/out and I couldn't figure out why. Disabling the two t-mobile My Account packages solved it so it seems like
one was trying to connect in the background and couldn't but then froze the radio state. I'm not gonna re-enable the app to confirm but IIRC when you're on Wifi and fire up the My Account app, it either prompts you to turn off wifi, or it just disables wifi temporarily and fires up the mobile radio in the background, and re-enables when you're done.

Sdobron said:
If you're on a t mo device it's because of the my device app. Open and close it or end the process in system panel and it should fix the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. If you keep the T-Mobile my account app running it will do that cause It needs the 4G/Data connection.

xamadeix said:
Yep. If you keep the T-Mobile my account app running it will do that cause It needs the 4G/Data connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, but what I'm saying is that I wasn't running the app. It does run as a service though so I'm wondering if it was trying to connect on it's own in the background, though I'm not sure why. I haven't seen this behavior on any other devices including my Sensation before I disabled one of the My Account apps, but I'm almost positive at this point it was the culprit. Could be because I had only disabled one of them and not both. After I disabled the second, the problem went away.

Do you have WiFi sleep disabled?
If not, phone may revert to regular data until you start communicating and wake up your WiFi.
Just a thought.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk

PaulGiz said:
Do you have WiFi sleep disabled?
If not, phone may revert to regular data until you start communicating and wake up your WiFi.
Just a thought.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, sleep policy is set to "Never" and wifi sticks fine. Still happened even with screen on so wifi was def. awake. I fixed it by disabling the T-Mo My Account apps so I'm cool but maybe it can help someone else if they have the same problem. It's really weird, never seen it happen before. I wish I took a video of it before I disabled the apps. Thanks guys.

bigmase521 said:
Right, but what I'm saying is that I wasn't running the app. It does run as a service though so I'm wondering if it was trying to connect on it's own in the background, though I'm not sure why. I haven't seen this behavior on any other devices including my Sensation before I disabled one of the My Account apps, but I'm almost positive at this point it was the culprit. Could be because I had only disabled one of them and not both. After I disabled the second, the problem went away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's poor coding in the app. Nothing you're doing wrong.

Wifi auto connect to AT&T public wifi - how to disable this?

I have the T-mobile LG G2 D801. Every time I am near an AT&T wifi hotspot, my phone "knows" my location and automatically turn on the wifi and connect to it, even skipping the usual web login agreement. This is the first time I have seen this feature on a none-AT&T phone. Has anyone else notice this?
Very interesting ability but how does my phone knows I am near the AT&T wifi when my wifi is already set to off?
How do I disable this feature (none-rooted phone).

I haven't noticed this on mine; I'll have to watch for it. There is a "scanning always available" setting in the Advanced Wi-Fi settings, it is enabled on my phone.

diamond12 said:
I haven't noticed this on mine; I'll have to watch for it. There is a "scanning always available" setting in the Advanced Wi-Fi settings, it is enabled on my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this feature was turned off and my phone still automatically detects I am near a Starbucks and connect to the wifi there.

Do you have snapdragon battery guru installed?

Swizzle82 said:
Do you have snapdragon battery guru installed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not

I ask because it manages your wifi and can turn it on automatically good app though. Idk what your issue might be then, I've never had an issue like that.

My wifi disconnects and phone uses my data when should not

My m8 at some times usually during the night will disconnect my wifi and use my mobile data, which it should not do because in the power settings I have the sleep mode set to off and I have all power saver crap removed with viperone 1.8 I"am just on a limited data plan that I need all of my data for and wasting my mobile data sucks especially when I have wifi to use and pay for home internet that it should be using. Does anyone know why it could be doing this and a fix ? My computer never disconnects from the wifi and I use it many of the same times that the phone disconnects from my wifi, so that leads me to believe its somewhere in the phone and not my wifi. Also I have had a couple other m8's do the exact same thing. I would like to find a fix other than turning my mobile data off. And I do use a lot of data as I have a large number of email addresses added to my phone and have my k9 set to check for new emails every 10 minutes because I rely on it for personal and business use. Anyone have any idea ?

Here is my settings showing sleep mode off and power saving mode off also.

In "wifi advanced settings" do you have the "auto switch to mobile data when wifi is weak" checked off?

qskile said:
In "wifi advanced settings" do you have the "auto switch to mobile data when wifi is weak" checked off?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No its unchecked but under wifi optimization I have minimize battery usage when wifi is on ? Not sure if that could have an effect but shouldnt because mobile data would use more battery than wifi and that would have the opposite effect to turn wifi off for mobile data which would use more battery power.

Roefastford said:
No its unchecked but under wifi optimization I have minimize battery usage when wifi is on ? Not sure if that could have an effect but shouldnt because mobile data would use more battery than wifi and that would have the opposite effect to turn wifi off for mobile data which would use more battery power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought I remembered under venom tweaks somewhere that is has the regular PowerSave mode which has the option to disable data when the screen is off for an exteneded period of time. MAybe its turned on???? Not running the ROM right now otherwise I could look myself. Check it out:good:

mademan420 said:
I thought I remembered under venom tweaks somewhere that is has the regular PowerSave mode which has the option to disable data when the screen is off for an exteneded period of time. MAybe its turned on???? Not running the ROM right now otherwise I could look myself. Check it out:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always set it up to remove the power save mode garbage in the venom aroma installer so 100% that is not the issue.

Roefastford said:
My m8 at some times usually during the night will disconnect my wifi and use my mobile data, which it should not do because in the power settings I have the sleep mode set to off and I have all power saver crap removed with viperone 1.8 I"am just on a limited data plan that I need all of my data for and wasting my mobile data sucks especially when I have wifi to use and pay for home internet that it should be using. Does anyone know why it could be doing this and a fix ? My computer never disconnects from the wifi and I use it many of the same times that the phone disconnects from my wifi, so that leads me to believe its somewhere in the phone and not my wifi. Also I have had a couple other m8's do the exact same thing. I would like to find a fix other than turning my mobile data off. And I do use a lot of data as I have a large number of email addresses added to my phone and have my k9 set to check for new emails every 10 minutes because I rely on it for personal and business use. Anyone have any idea ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Wi-Fi > Advanced > Uncheck "Wi-Fi optimization"
Had the same problem and this fixed it. Haven't noticed any difference in battery life checked vs. unchecked.

bigblueshock said:
Try Wi-Fi > Advanced > Uncheck "Wi-Fi optimization"
Had the same problem and this fixed it. Haven't noticed any difference in battery life checked vs. unchecked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was the only thing I had not tried so early last night I tried unchecking it and so far so good I think you may be right on that, thanks.

bigblueshock said:
Try Wi-Fi > Advanced > Uncheck "Wi-Fi optimization"
Had the same problem and this fixed it. Haven't noticed any difference in battery life checked vs. unchecked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine is still doing it, so I changed the wifi frequency band from automatic to 5 ghz and rebooted and it connected but some apps could not access data so I changed it to 2.4 ghz only and rebooted it worked ok but its doing it again this time I had to toggle airplane mode to get the wifi back on. I have to toggle airplane mode quite often actually and usually it shows change of sim detected. And some times my mobile data will disconnect and its a ***** to get working again. Maybe I will try going to a verizon corporate store and getting a new nano sim card for it. A verizon dealer could not get a new nano sim to activate before and they ended up getting my old nano sim reactivated which I thought once a sim has been deactivated that they cant reactivate it but apparently they can. I really dont know what else to try other than a new sim card. Anyone ?

Any chance you could temporarily try a different wireless router? Some of these new phones are finicky with some wireless routers... Could be a miscommunication between the phone and router somehow.
Don't really have an explanation, one of my old HTC devices had issues connecting to a specific wireless router, where apple products did not have the problem, and vice versa with a different router.

bigblueshock said:
Any chance you could temporarily try a different wireless router? Some of these new phones are finicky with some wireless routers... Could be a miscommunication between the phone and router somehow.
Don't really have an explanation, one of my old HTC devices had issues connecting to a specific wireless router, where apple products did not have the problem, and vice versa with a different router.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having been the case with at least 3 m8's I honestly do not think its the router because It happened with my old moden and router and also with my motorola surfboard SBG6580 modem / wireless router combination that I switched to a couple months ago. And it will also do the same on my girlfriends modem and wireless router. I think there is something in the m8 that is the problem and one other of the m8's was an at&t version. I"am not 100% sure but it may have all been while using viperone, as there really is not much choices for daily driver custom roms especially since elegancia closed its doors. Dont get me wrong tranquil one m8 is not bad and cleanrom is ok but they are no way as easy to customize as viperone is. Years ago I use to like cleanrom for its DE which was barebones the way I like it, good clean and fast. I just dont trust any of the other roms to be bug free enough to be a daily driver. I have just had too many issues in the past with cm dont get me started on them lol, omg was nothing but fix after fix that you had to do nothing like being a Guinea pig lol.

Wi-Fi not connect after phone is woken from sleep mode
Both my wife and I was having the issue with Wi-Fi. I tried everything ,turning off optimization, setting for 2.4ghz,and every other thing listed. Nothing helped until I flashed the firmware from the digitalhigh thread, took 30 sec and fixed Wi-Fi for good on my wife's m8 and mine. I lost nothing in the process except that very annoying Wi-Fi issue. I was then able to set any options like, Wi-Fi optimization and Auto band detect, everything working great!
Here is link to that firmware...
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=95832962473400175
Just downloaded and save to SD card root and rename to "0P6BIMG.zip" and boot to hoot to install.

General leaving WiFi and then onto network issue

Now let me start off with this happens when I was on Verizon and now on ATT and with several different Samsung phones. I have an S22 Ultra now.
Really not into rooting anymore but might get back into it to run better roms and take over Android Auto. I hate AA it's too pushy taking over everything. I stopped using it. I'm old fashioned and not taking calls on my truck I would rather use the bluetooth headset.
Sorry...
Ok onto the issue. So you sitting in the house hotel whatever on WiFi you leave and then phone goes to the network automatically. I have no internet just sits and try's. I can fix this by rebooting the phone or go into airplane mode and out. Then all good to go.
Makes me to never use WiFi on my phone ever. Kinda annoying.
I'm I going nuts or is this an issue across the board?
.

Reset your network settings.

Why go through the trouble of resetting your network?
Go into Settings -> Apps -> Andoid Auto
DISABLE THE DAMN THING. I HATE ANDROID AUTO. It's what I did.

HyperChick said:
Why go through the trouble of resetting your network?
Go into Settings -> Apps -> Andoid Auto
DISABLE THE DAMN THING. I HATE ANDROID AUTO. It's what I did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This has nothing to do with Android auto. I was asking about going from wifi to cell network and no internet.
and resetting network settings is an option like @pjaysnowden said.
Thanks

ok so I reset my network settings and will report back after a few days. I was having issues with my bluetooth devices disconnecting all the time and that seems to be better now. So we will see.

Ok well resetting the network and losing all my saved wifi data was a waste of time as I have found resetting the network data never fixes anything.
So still if I'm on Wifi and then leave the wifi then the phone goes to cellular automatically I have no internet unless I power down and back on or airplane mode on and off.
This all started on several different phones and with ATT or Verizon when this 5G crap rolled out.
If I force the phone on 4g all fixed does not do this. Very Strange.
My fix never get on Wifi. LOL
.

Sorry if this was mentioned before, have you tried messing with the "Intelligent Wi-Fi" Settings?
Settings -> Connections -> Wi-Fi
Tap the 3 Dots in the (upper-right and select Intelligent Wi-Fi.
Make your adjustments accordingly

HyperChick said:
Sorry if this was mentioned before, have you tried messing with the "Intelligent Wi-Fi" Settings?
Settings -> Connections -> Wi-Fi
Tap the 3 Dots in the (upper-right and select Intelligent Wi-Fi.
Make your adjustments accordingly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't see much in there that would help with cellular network internet connecting when moving off wifi? I did look though.
I'm not having issues with wifi at all. It's the cellular network when going off the wifi.

Ok I just forced the phone off of 5G and use 4G LTE only on ATT. Network is faster and no longer have the leaving wifi issue. As for Android Auto. I removed it form my phone altogether. It's not worth the hassle. It also it not ready for prime time. LOL
5G is not ready for prime time yet... It suxs

Hi, is this happening to you with a specific wifi network or is the same with all of them? Is your WiFi signal strong when this happens?

Marcelocohenarg said:
Hi, is this happening to you with a specific wifi network or is the same with all of them? Is your WiFi signal strong when this happens?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No this happens no matter what wifi network I'm on. Really a PITA. I switched over to 4G and have not had this issue. Like I said. Did this on Verizon and ATT and different phones. I using the S22 Ultra now.
Thanks