To be honest (and I could be wrong so feel free to correct me if I am) I don't see much of a reason to use it, but that's not saying that I don't. Occasionally at home if my laptop is out of reach and I'm feeling the need to browse the web a bit I may link my droid up with my wireless network at home... but for the most part seeing as how the verizon 3G network is easily available and quite fast I very rarely find myself using the wifi.
It's definitely a lot faster than 3G in most cases, and it generally uses less power than 3G because the transmitter in your phone doesn't have to send a signal as far. When you use wifi, it only has to transmit a few hundred feet at most to the wifi router, instead of a mile or more to the cell phone tower.
I have my phone set up to automatically connect to my home network when it's in range. I like it because the phone will automatically switch to 3G when it loses the wifi signal, so I can come and go without having to worry about manually switching between the two.
There are also programs such as Locale (available in the Market) which will allow you to automatically enable/disable various features on your phone depending on where you are. If it detects you're at home, it can turn on the wifi and turn off the GPS. It will set the phone to silent mode at certain times or depending on where you are. Etc...
Last edited by Dan_Droid; November 21st, 2009 at 05:25 PM.
I use the phone as a streaming internet radio player for a couple of hours a day, and connect through wifi at home and work (although 3G works just as well) just to keep the data usage manageable. If I walk out of wifi range, it jumps over to 3g automatically, so there's no downside that I can think of.
Sadly, I haven't used wifi once! I have waited years for VZW to implement wifi in their blackberry's because I thought I would use it all the time. I was wrong, the 3g is more than fine! Plus wifi is a big battery drainer.
Sadly, I haven't used wifi once! I have waited years for VZW to implement wifi in their blackberry's because I thought I would use it all the time. I was wrong, the 3g is more than fine! Plus wifi is a big battery drainer.
3G is fine when you're out and about, but Wifi is better if you are at home or at work and very close to a wifi router (for example, I'm sitting about 3 feet from my wifi router).
The reason wifi is better is because a) it's much faster, and b) your phone doesn't have to use as much battery power to transmit 3 feet as it does to transmit 5,000+ feet to the nearest cell phone tower.
So yeah, while 3G is great if you are driving around, and wifi is a bigger battery drainer than having no wifi (or 3g) at all, it is still better to use wifi if you are near a wifi access point.
Last edited by Dan_Droid; November 21st, 2009 at 10:23 PM.
The question I was responding to was "can I use wifi to make a phone call?", not "does Google Voice use minutes on my phone?". Please try to read at least the last few posts in the thread first before responding.
Last edited by Dan_Droid; November 22nd, 2009 at 01:10 AM.
The question I was responding to was "can I use Google Voice via wifi?", not "does Google Voice use minutes on my phone?". Please try to read at least the last few posts in the thread first before responding.
I know what you were replying to. Google voice cannot currently act as a voip service, calls go over the cell network even if you're connected to wifi when the call is initiated.
The Motorola Droid - the first ever Verizon Android Phone - exploded onto the mobile market with an incredibly successful ad campaign that brough Android to the masses. With a huge and vibrant touchscreen, solid metal body, full QWERTY keyboard, 5M... Read More
why and when to use wifi?
