Wifi and battery

This might sound crazy for some; I've never seen mention of this on CB before, but I don't haunt the Storm forums either. Maybe someone agrees with me.
I'm seeing improved battery life by using Wifi. I work in a hospital that has wifi available. They also use a VZW network extender so there is solid signal throughout the building. I use meterberry to track battery usage. I keep GPS turned to 911 only, always. I have a 2600 battery. If I keep wifi on I lose about 1.5 to 2% per hour with light usage. If I turn wifi off I lose 5% or a little more per hour. My theory is that the wifi radio uses less power than the CDMA radio does, so when I'm connected to BIS using wifi I get better battery life.
I'm just seeing if anyone can confirm this, or would be willing to try.
Thanks.

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Skyboxer, I don't think this is crazy at all. I have been saying this for months! I get much better battery life by using the wi-fi at work than the cell network. I have done nothing but "unofficial" testing but if you want I will try and keep track with some dates and numbers and see if we can compare notes, so to speak.

I work in a one level high school campus that covers a lot of ground that is totally wireless. We have pretty good coverage with several different wireless networks I can use. I always join the same one everyday. I don't know if that would make a difference as to my battery usage as I roam around the building. I mean, I get a signal wherever I go, so I guess I can't say my phone works any harder in one place or another.

I will make a conscious effort to keep track of the total drop in batt life by hour and post just for the halibut, knowing that every wireless situation is DIFFERENT. If you would like...

OK, maybe I just am not understanding this clearly, but if you turn off the CDMA, how do you receive a phone call??

Originally Posted by Itstakenovermylife

OK, maybe I just am not understanding this clearly, but if you turn off the CDMA, how do you receive a phone call??

No, you don't turn off the CDMA. Did someone say that?
That's not possible.
Good catch there. I musta read right over that comment.
wi-fi overrides the CDMA for data.

EDIT: I just re-read Skyboxer's original post. No, I think you misunderstood is all. wi-fi, if it is on will be used first for data and CDMA will be used for voice. So essentially, we will get calls with 3G and data, BBM and surf with wi-fi at the same time.
Make sense?

Originally Posted by jaydee5799

No, you don't turn off the CDMA. Did someone say that?
That's not possible.
Good catch there. I musta read right over that comment.
wi-fi overrides the CDMA for data.

EDIT: I just re-read Skyboxer's original post. No, I think you misunderstood is all. wi-fi, if it is on will be used first for data and CDMA will be used for voice. So essentially, we will get calls with 3G and data, BBM and surf with wi-fi at the same time.
Make sense?

JayDee is absolutely right, Wi-Fi takes precedence over the CDMA radio when it is connected to a network; thus, Skyboxer's commnents that being connected to Wi-Fi is a battery saver, it makes total sense that it would be.

Even with 5 bars, a Wi-Fi connection is much cheaper on battery usage than CDMA and is usually much faster. If I send an email that goes out over CDMA with 3 to 5 bars it takes 30 to 40 seconds for the message to be sent. If I'm connected to a Wi-Fi network it is gone in less than 10 seconds, usually less than 5.

I'm not totally sure but I think the reason has to do with packet size among other things. I think the packet size on Wi-Fi is substantiall larger than that used by CDMA. Also remember that CDMA is designed to carry voice not data; thus, it is tuned to voice transmissions.

This goes against my line of thinking but makes great sense! Now the question is how much does wifi drain the battery during the day if your out and about? Would it be worth turning the wifi on and off depending on availability of a wifi network?

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Originally Posted by suertetres

This goes against my line of thinking but makes great sense! Now the question is how much does wifi drain the battery during the day if your out and about? Would it be worth turning the wifi on and off depending on availability of a wifi network?

Another good question. While I don't have any hard data to answer it with, I can say that I just leave my wifi on 24/7(which would mean it's frequently out of range) and never seem to use more or less battery one way or the other(on/off). I have it set to toggle via a hot key with Q/L, but seldom use it, just leave it on. My battery life is very good on the 5/975 and even possibly a tad better using the 6/280 OS. I'm usually down to 60%/50% by days end. Have the 1700 seidio batt.

Originally Posted by suertetres

This goes against my line of thinking but makes great sense! Now the question is how much does wifi drain the battery during the day if your out and about? Would it be worth turning the wifi on and off depending on availability of a wifi network?

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To do or not to do, that is the question....

It really would depend on how quickly your battery is depleting during the day. If you are not able to comfortably get through a day without some charging, then certainly turning it off would save a little; however, turning off GPS would save much more as GPS is kown to be a power hog.

On the other hand, if you are getting good battery life, don't turn off anything that you may have use for during the day. My personal feeling is that I don't want to turn an incredible device like my baby Bold into a dumb phone; hence, I purchased the extended battery. You have to make your own decision based on how your phone is working for you and perhaps if you are willing/able to invest in an extended battery for about $50.00.

YMMV.

How much bulk does the extended battery add? That maybe the route I go. I carried the Bold 9700 prior and the battery life seemed double that of my 9650.

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Don't discount the news from a lot of folks that battery life is way better on 5/975 or 6/280. The difference is pretty amazing.

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Originally Posted by suertetres

How much bulk does the extended battery add? That maybe the route I go. I carried the Bold 9700 prior and the battery life seemed double that of my 9650.

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The 1700 mAh battery adds NO bulk...same size as OEM. The 2600 is a tad larger in size. Battery management is crucial with this device and there are several threads dealing with this.

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Originally Posted by jaydee5799

No, you don't turn off the CDMA. Did someone say that?
That's not possible.
Good catch there. I musta read right over that comment.
wi-fi overrides the CDMA for data.

EDIT: I just re-read Skyboxer's original post. No, I think you misunderstood is all. wi-fi, if it is on will be used first for data and CDMA will be used for voice. So essentially, we will get calls with 3G and data, BBM and surf with wi-fi at the same time.
Make sense?

Gotchya!! My bad.

Can we not assume that the Wifi will take the place of the Data Channels for the phone?
I think that is how a Blackberry works.

I said I think.

I agree with BoDeb. Why turn your device into the devices we had years ago. Back then we were all wishing we had a Flash, Wifi, GPS, Thin form factor etc . . . turn it all on and let the 9650 do what it was designed to do :D

I went the other route and picked up an extra OEM battery off Amazon for like $10.

It's so small I don't even know it's in my pocket. Now I have about 2800 mAh's of power which is even more than a $50 extended battery will give you. And no fat extended cover to bulge my pockets.

Yeah, even with a bad signal the CDMA radio is idle due to wi-fi taking precedence for sending data.

Originally Posted by expidia

I agree with BoDeb. Why turn your device into the devices we had years ago. Back then we were all wishing we had a Flash, Wifi, GPS, Thin form factor etc . . . turn it all on and let the 9650 do what it was designed to do :D

I went the other route and picked up an extra OEM battery off Amazon for like $10.

It's so small I don't even know it's in my pocket. Now I have about 2800 mAh's of power which is even more than a $50 extended battery will give you. And no fat extended cover to bulge my pockets.

As I noted above I did the same thing for a while but got tired of changing batteries and having to charge 2 batteries. With the 2600 I don't have to deal with that. Simply a matter of personal preference.

The 2600 adds very little additional bulk and my berry fits in the OEM case.

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Originally Posted by Culex316

Yeah, even with a bad signal the CDMA radio is idle due to wi-fi taking precedence for sending data.

Not true. You forgot about the voice. The CDMA radio is never idle.

Thanks for the reports. I feel people should be made aware of this. I've read "turn off wifi" as a battery saver suggestion before and I wonder how many people are actually harming their battery life by doing this.
OS6 seems to be more aggressive at putting BIS on wifi when its available also.


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i've posted this in other threads also. According to blackberry, in OS5, the browser will NOT automatically switch to wifi if it is on:

KB23699-Simplified browser selection in BlackBerry Device Software 6.0

so OS6 is a step in the right direction in that regard. not sure about any other apps as i would think the app itself would need logic to determine how to route the traffic.

Also, i would think your battery will drain faster if wifi is on but not connected to a wifi connection. for that reason, i have addonis, which will automatically turn off wifi if not connected.

Originally Posted by pcwilliams

i've posted this in other threads also. According to blackberry, in OS5, the browser will NOT automatically switch to wifi if it is on:

KB23699-Simplified browser selection in BlackBerry Device Software 6.0

so OS6 is a step in the right direction in that regard. not sure about any other apps as i would think the app itself would need logic to determine how to route the traffic.

Also, i would think your battery will drain faster if wifi is on but not connected to a wifi connection. for that reason, i have addonis, which will automatically turn off wifi if not connected.

Many, many of us have BatteryEx which does the same thing. And the app is skinnable, which we theme-mavens love.
But it only stands to reason that if you are going to be in an area with no wi-fi, you turn off your wi-fi. I think everyone would agree with that. If I am going out shopping for the day, I turn mine off. If I am simply going between work and home, both areas replete with wi-fi connections, I leave it on.

I posted this when I received my Bold in June.

Numerous times.

One reason is that "chatty" email (BIS and BES, if appropriate) operate over Wi-Fi. So do data-intensive apps like WSJ.

Originally Posted by lindros2

I posted this when I received my Bold in June.

Numerous times.

One reason is that "chatty" email (BIS and BES, if appropriate) operate over Wi-Fi. So do data-intensive apps like WSJ.

Awesome! I'll be sure to read your posts and see what comments were made there also.


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