For those in 4G areas: Do you leave 4G always on?

[Sprockethead]

Well... do you?

 

[JunBringer]

I'd say it depends on your range of travel, cause I don't think the 4G markets are big enough that people won't drive in and out of them every day or so.

 

[sagedil]

LOL. Raleigh is supposed to be a big 4G market. Get 4G maybe 10% of the time.

No, for now and who knows how long, 4G stays off unless I am not moving and have 4G.

 

[JunBringer]

I see 4G (as somebody on here recently posted) as more of a novelty than a constantly used feature/reason to buy the EVO.

 

[sagedil]

Thank you. I have been saying that since day one and believeve it even stronger now that I have used my Evo for two weeks.

 

[JunBringer]

Honestly 3G has been plenty fast enough for me, so I'm not all that bothered about it.

 

[evotitans]

Ive used 4G mainly for emailing large files...or for quick browsing when im in a stable area.

Aside from that its just a great option to have, nothing really more.

 

[XOS THW]

Living in the suburbs of Chicago, we have 4G in the area, but only outside of everywhere that I am inside. So no, I have 4G turned off because why do I want to stand in the middle of the street or drive down a highway using the 4G. There is no point.
Note: there are a few rare cases where the 4G works in a place such as a restaurant.

 

[THEFORCE]

No, I can watch my battery die with 4g on...I keep WiFi on at home though

 

[photostu]

agreed with Sagedil, live in RTP area and 4G is very spotty, doesn't work inside any buildings I've been in it seems (house, work, supermarkets, etc). Have never seen 6Mbps when connected either.
Its kind of a let down to live in a 4G area and not get the damn service inside anywhere (+ paying extra $10 for it, yes I know about cap removal)

So, it stays off to avoid the dreaded 4G scanning....

 

[sagedil]

But I do expect, within 6 months, it will be much better, at least for us.

 

[JunBringer]

I don't see why they'd invest in tech that doesn't go into buildings. That's a fail.

 

[Rigmaster]

I don't see why they'd invest in tech that doesn't go into buildings. That's a fail.

It's the spectrum's shortfall. Why still use it? Phones are mobility devices that are used as much outside and just inside bldgs so it still makes sense. Wimax needs more towers to see noteworthy saturation and coverage.

 

[JunBringer]

So if they put up more hardware it'll go indoors?

 

[Rigmaster]

So if they put up more hardware it'll go indoors?

Not necessarily. Basically, the 2500Mhz spectrum has shorter wavelength, thus it can stopped by objects more than longer wavelength spectrum. To some degree, distance from source matters. More towers just means less distance.

Similar to sound waves when a car with loud music approaches, you can hear the booming low end frequency before you see the car. It's not until the car gets reasonably close that you hear the mid-range and high-end frquencies. Inside the car, the sensation may seem a little different with your ears being more sensitive to the mid- and high-frencencies because a certain portion of the low-end escapes the car due to it's shear length. It's an oversimplification, but approximates what happens with cell transmission.

Also similarly if the car windows are closed, you may never hear the mid- or high-end frequencies, but you will still hear the low-end. Wimax's shortcoming is that it's doesn't have the length to deeply penetrate buildings and obstacles.

 

[louielouie]

I live in Atlanta and we have pretty good 4G coverage in the metro area which is about a 50 mi radius.

 

[Quizshow]

Mine is mostly off, but I did test it out this weekend while running all over town. I had 4g service 90% of the day and 8 hours of battery life with the 4g on the whole day during doing moderate use(texting, web, app installs). Kept wifi off.

 

[Sprockethead]

How about now with the new radios and battery tweaks?

 

[Berner]

I use 4G as "mobile wifi" for the (admittedly few) times that I can't get normal wifi and that I need/want higher connection speeds, e.g., internet radio at the ballpark, or streaming video on the L. Its a great option to have, but its not my primary data option.

 

[bvbull200]

I said I leave it on all of the time, though it is really about 90% of the time. Battery life has never been much of an issue for me and I'm in great 4g coverage, so I figure I might as well take advantage of it. It sure beats opening YouTube, then realizing you can use 4g, going back and hitting the toggle, then going back in to YouTube. If I have 4g coverage, I get it, if not, then I don't. Much easier that way.

 

[archercc]

I see 4G (as somebody on here recently posted) as more of a novelty than a constantly used feature/reason to buy the EVO.

Depends on use. I turn it off and on depending on what I need. 90% of the time 3g is fine but when I am doing heavy browsing or tethering (which I do often) I will switch to 4g.

 

[archercc]

I don't see why they'd invest in tech that doesn't go into buildings. That's a fail.

Mine works indoors, just not in the basement of massive stone buildings.

 

[Brent Pierce]

Does anyone know if 4G drains battery even when not it use, if wifi is ON. I have Locale turn my wifi on throughout the day when I am at certain locations. If I leave 4G ON, will it be worse on my battery during wifi spots? I don't want 4G to constantly be scanning when wifi is ON.

 

[Headcase_Fargone]

Considering I can only get a 4G signal when I'm standing outside in Houston that would be a big "No." Sprint's data network has been my number 1 complaint since switching to the Evo though.

 

[bossxii]

I toggle it when I'm using the hotspot/wifi tethering app. I recently moved and can say the data speeds are much better now, even inside my house with 1 bar I have seen near 4mb down. I tethered to a mac mini, while sitting the evo in the window sill (2 bars of 4g) and did a speed test that went to 5.3mb. That is the fastest I've seen, and it is repeatable as I've tested it over the past week since moving in, pretty happy with that sort of speed. However since it eats the battery up I won't be using it for home internet when cable 15mb down is avail for 35/mo here in KC.

I probably won't leave the 4g radio on full time even if the coverage was 3 bars all the time, simply don't use data enough vs battery life of running two radios. I use it when I need it, turn it off otherwise, it's to easy with the Android OS to have an icon to push and a few seconds to start up to use it otherwise.