1. man44a's Avatar
    I work in a hospital and like to carry my phone to work. I spend several days in the operating room each week. During this time my phone is without a signal. My current phone continues trying to find a signal and drains the battery fast.
    What can I do to prevent this with a Blackberry?
    Is turning it off my only option?
    11-18-08 05:30 AM
  2. Ash_786's Avatar
    Menu - Manage Connections - Mobile Network, Uncheck to disable the radio.
    11-18-08 05:44 AM
  3. kasw3670's Avatar
    i'd of thought the person being operated on is slightly more important than a missed call or email ;-) location has absolutely nothing to do with battery drain. just switch your phone off.
    11-18-08 05:45 AM
  4. teal's Avatar
    I have found the BB (Curve) battery to be quite strong if that is a proper term. Note also that the Blackberry batteries do not have a memory issue meaning you do not have to let them run down before charging. I charge mine every evening for instance.
    11-18-08 05:47 AM
  5. ag5bpilot's Avatar
    location has absolutely nothing to do with battery drain.
    Actually, it does.

    Cell phones use variable strength radio transmitters. The stronger the signal is from a cell site, the lower the power that is required to talk to that cell site. Conversely, in areas of weak (or no) reception, the phone needs to transmit at a higher power to communicate.

    This is done primarily to prevent a phone's signal from bleeding over into adjacent cells, but it also tends to reduce battery consumption when you have a good signal.

    The flip side is if you have no signal (which happens when you're beneath Manhattan in the subway, for example), the phone draws down its battery much faster.

    In my current phone (a Moto Razr), I have a 2+ year old battery, which is on its last legs. The effect of being in a no-signal area, and the additional power being consumed, is quite obvious. The two 20-30 minute underground subway rides I take each day draw down my battery like you wouldn't believe. If I shut the phone off when I'm in the subway, I get home at the end of the day with a decent amount of power left. If I don't, the battery is either close to discharged, or is already telling me it's out of power.

    Mike
    11-18-08 06:47 AM
  6. kasw3670's Avatar
    i happily stand corrected. thanks for that info.....
    11-18-08 07:40 AM
  7. bry005's Avatar
    airplane mode?
    11-18-08 08:52 AM
  8. MichaelMurdock's Avatar
    I have the same issue I work in midtown on the 50+ fl of my bldg and get no reception (weird huh?). So i have to keep a spare charger at my desk because my phone is dead by 5pm.
    11-18-08 08:57 AM
  9. tadem's Avatar
    is there is an options on BB that you can suspend radio lets say for 10/30/60min ???
    11-18-08 10:36 AM
  10. jaykav99's Avatar
    i'd of thought the person being operated on is slightly more important than a missed call or email ;-) location has absolutely nothing to do with battery drain. just switch your phone off.
    Damn corvette drivin doctors lol
    11-18-08 10:38 AM
  11. ghosthound's Avatar
    this will be my first BB but what do the chargers look like? Is it a brick with a removeable cord like an apple product or jawbone?

    I really like how the jawbone charger is a brick with a removeable usb cord. That way, i can just charge it VIA usb. Similar to the ipod. Is this how blackberry's are as well?
    11-18-08 10:48 AM
  12. paulmike3's Avatar
    If I recall, Standby mode uses less power, and you still get notifications according to your profiles.

    I've had a miniscule amount of battery left, and putting it in Standby made the battery last several hours.
    11-18-08 11:00 AM
  13. Libuff's Avatar
    I work in a hospital and like to carry my phone to work. I spend several days in the operating room each week. During this time my phone is without a signal. My current phone continues trying to find a signal and drains the battery fast.
    What can I do to prevent this with a Blackberry?
    Is turning it off my only option?
    ok seriously... the FCC reccomends shutting down phones within Intensive Care Units and the Operating Rooms... PLEASE for the sake of your patients.. leave ur phone in your locker...

    while there has been no link to aircraft being brought down by a phone, or a cardiac monitor bugging from such digital devices, why take the chance, you ARE dealing with REAL lives.

    i work as a paramedic and on occasion work on the transport team.. my BB is used as my primary communications device to receive calls (assignmetns for work)... when i'm in the NICU/SICU/PICU, etc... or in any OR or Ambulatory Care center, the phone is OFF or in Airplane mode...
    Last edited by libuff; 11-18-08 at 11:07 AM.
    11-18-08 11:04 AM
  14. man44a's Avatar
    I work as a physician. The phones do not interfere with equipment.

    The warnings are outdated. Almost everyone, doctors, nurses, techs, have and use phones daily. Many hospitals are actually switching to phones to double as a pager service.
    11-20-08 08:33 PM
  15. blondarb's Avatar
    Cell phones are generally safe in the the hospital... from a couple of "recent" articles:

    "CONCLUSION: Critical care equipment is vulnerable to EMI by new-generation wireless telecommunication technologies with median distances of about 3 cm. The policy to keep mobile phones '1 meter' from the critical care bedside in combination with easily accessed areas of unrestricted use still seems warranted." Crit Care. 2007;11(5):165.

    "CONCLUSIONS: From our experiment on our ventilators with the communication systems used in our province, we conclude that mobile communication devices such as cellular phones and 2-way radios are safe and cause no interference unless operated at very close distances of less than 1 meter." J Crit Care. 2007 Jun;22(2):137-41.

    I have ran across other articles as well, just can't find them easily right now.
    12-23-08 09:16 AM
  16. OptiPrime's Avatar
    It does sound like standby mode is your best option b/c it will help conserve battery but you will also get notifications as they come.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    12-23-08 09:25 AM
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