Help Ideas for an Incredible with Poor Reception Most of the Day?

[kpantz]

So I work in a location where the phone is without a signal about 35%-40% of the time. Naturally, my battery suffers terribly and I often need to charge it sometime during the work day to ensure it makes it until bedtime.

Due to firewall/security issues, my phone is my only way to get to my Gmail. I also spend a lot of time on the move, from meeting to meeting, so it's advantageous to leverage my Exchange sync. Typically, I'm able to get emails right away, as the signal drops in and out frequently as opposed to being completely unavailable for long stretches of time.

I guess what I'm looking for is a way to reduce consumption without reducing connectivity. I'm already shutting off GPS. I'm leaving Wifi on for now, as I've got rules on things like Tasker and Setting Profiles that rely on finding specific access points.

What I've really been thinking about is having a Tasker setup that turns the Mobile Data Network on and off periodically (say, 1 minute on and 10 minutes off). Does that sound like a viable option? I've heard folks say turning the data network off can cause sync issues, but I'm hoping that turning it back on periodically will solve/prevent all that.

Anyone have experience with something like this? Any other ideas for power savings, especially as it may be relevant to a low-signal environment? I also make sure I'm on auto-brightness and am more aggressive about screen timeouts.

TIA!

 

[taylor6400]

no suggestions for you...but im in the same boat. But mine is just the phone radio causing battery drain. I turn off wifi, 3G, GPS lower screen brightness and my battery bareley lasts until i go to bed during the week. I work in a steel building, reception is bad. I have email access on my desktop computer, so all i need my phone for is calls and texts. Sometimes calls wont come through, but usually they ring and i can get outside to answer it. If i answer in my office i will drop it every time. Texts come and go through ok, but sometimes delayed. But the signal searching kills my battery...as i type my signal strength is -93dBm...usually ranges from -100 to -90 in my office. And its not an issue with Inc reception as all my phones have had the same issue at my desk. Its annoying.

 

[gruss]

Review other carriers to see if they work better? If you truly need access to your emails on your phone ask the company to put in a repeater? Not sure what else you can do other than turning off mobile network occasionally.

 

[A.Nonymous]

Call it an iPhone 5 and say it's supposed to work that way?

They only suggestion I've got is to turn off the mobile network and turn it back on just to check e-mail. I know it's not a good solution, but it's the best idea I've got.

 

[kpantz]

Review other carriers to see if they work better? If you truly need access to your emails on your phone ask the company to put in a repeater? Not sure what else you can do other than turning off mobile network occasionally.

That's a no go, because we've apparently got some sort of sweetheart deal with AT&T. I need VZW because my entire family is on it and it works much better where I live. Plus, they have the DInc.

Call it an iPhone 5 and say it's supposed to work that way?

They only suggestion I've got is to turn off the mobile network and turn it back on just to check e-mail. I know it's not a good solution, but it's the best idea I've got.

LOL.

I've been considering the on/off thing, as I mentioned. Anyone see ill effects from doing that? Does everything sync up well and continue to sync normally when you turn it back on?

 

[breynolds007]

Have you tried turning off the "Enable always-on mobile data" under Wireless & Networks-->Mobile Network Settings. I believe that if you have this on, it's constantly checking for signal and even says it may use more power on some devices.

I actually mine had turned mine off for a couple days just to see what happened and it did seem to use less battery and I didn't notice it affecting anything until I opened Pandora and it would cause it to stop running every 5-10 mins until I hit a button. However, I still got my gmail and other notifications like normal. If you're in a really poor signal area and this is on I would assume it's killing the battery. Maybe worth a shot...

On a side note, you know it's only signal related? You're not having apps draining it or the issue where your phone is staying awake the whole time, my wife's was doing that and she couldn't figure out why she couldn't get through a whole day on her battery. Deleting some unused apps and factory reset easily fixed the issue.

 

[bsfbb724]

turning off the mobile data always on will help your battery life...if you set it, for example, to sync everything every hour on the same time frame, you will maximize energy consumption by having the mobile network on for a two minute span, then off for the next 58...as for syncing issues, with the network not always on, you can simply manually sync when needed...this way if you are running busy, and you dont have time to check email anyway, its no problem...if you have free time to play with your Dinc, you manually sync with no issues...or lastly, you could buy the extra 2150 extended battery from me for 45 bucks and almost double your battery life (sorry for the shameless plug...)

 

[rapidsandroid]

Verizon offers a booster.

 

[kpantz]

Verizon offers a booster.

Do they have a belt clip for it? LOL.

I work in a huge office and am rarely at my desk. There are pockets of employees who are more stationary that are looking to justify a departmental purchase for that particular workroom, but nothing's gonna work site-wide.

Thanks for the suggestion, though!

Of course, now I'm learning that Tasker can't turn mobile network on/off with CDMA phones. Grr...