Help Bad signal = drained battery ?

[someguyatx]

Hey guys I have been lurking here since I got my Moment this spring and luckily I don't have many of the common issues. I have the 2.1 OS sprint version and my battery lasts between 18-36 hours based on usage.

Last weekend I went out to the country and while roaming the battery life was cut in half. The data roaming option was checked but I didn't use the phone a lot. I have also noticed that while at work I only get between 0-2 bars and the battery drops a lot faster than at home.

I use K9 mail (checks every 30 minutes) and Handcent messaging. The wifi, bluetooth, and gps are usually off. Background data is checked but Auto sync is unchecked. I also generally use ATK after facebook or other apps for the kill feature but I also kill atk at the same time.

Is this phone just a dog when it gets a bad signal? What else should I turn on or off short of rooting the phone? Can I create a custom profile that activates when the signal drops beyond a certain amount?

 

[edp]

Besides putting it into airplane mode idk what else would help that much when u have bad reception.

 

[someguyatx]

I still want to receive calls and don't see the point of airplane mode when I can just turn off the phone. My blackberry never did this.

 

[jeffreymo]

I find this to be true. My daughter recently spent a month in the hospital, and I had an awful signal while there. With close to no usage, my battery would die within 6 hours, while it will usually last me 12-15 hours if I have a decent signal. You also mention using K9 mail. I ended up removing that app due to the amount of battery drain I would get everytime I opened it (4 times would drop my battery below 15%). Instead, I just forwarded all mail from that account to my gmail account, and problem solved.

 

[HeadlessPonch]

The battery on any phone will drain quickly when it's hunting for a signal.
I use SMODA Widget to turn off my data connection, which does help in bad reception areas. You can still make calls and send basic text messages (no pics or anything like that).

 

[someguyatx]

jeffreymo I saw no difference in battery usage after switching to K9 and I find it to be a much better mail client than the built in one since I prefer my yahoo email as primary. I have it set to check yahoo every 30 minutes and gmail every 6 hours and don't get any errors when switching back and forth to wifi.

HeadlessPonch thanks I will have to check that widget out never heard of it.

 

[someguyatx]

So I downloaded that SMODA widget and it works but I don't really have a reason to use it normally. Will report back after use in a poor coverage area with no charger.

 

[LaFlavor]

In my experience with this phone, signal strength is, by far, the biggest influence in battery life. On weekends, at home I can expect 14 hours or so, minimum. During the week, the phone has trouble finding a signal at my office, so I'm generally limited to 6-8 hours.

This is compounded by the fact that the antenna on this phone seems to be little more than decorative. I've had other phones, and none of them had issue with a signal in this building. Both of the moments I've had do. I can go from 6 bars to no signal and back again in seconds.

 

[tennispro4ever]

i have the same problem when i'm at my job. Just go into the wireless & networks settings and make sure two things are turned off. click on mobile network and make sure you turn off (enable always on mobile data). Also make sure when your not using your data connection just turn off the internet connection. This way you will still get all of your calls, text messages, ext. It has worked wonders for me without missing important calls or text messages. Hope this helps.

 

[LaFlavor]

i have the same problem when i'm at my job. Just go into the wireless & networks settings and make sure two things are turned off. click on mobile network and make sure you turn off (enable always on mobile data). Also make sure when your not using your data connection just turn off the internet connection. This way you will still get all of your calls, text messages, ext. It has worked wonders for me without missing important calls or text messages. Hope this helps.

I actually get around the issue by just bringing the power cord and leaving it plugged in all day.

The problem is that this shouldn't be an issue. Other phones here have no issues, including other smart phones. Why would I pay the extra $40 per month for the data plan, if I'm just going to turn the data off for 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a week?

 

[someguyatx]

I like getting personal email on my phone during the day so turning off the data doesn't work. I currently have a charger at work, one at home, one in each car and the usb cable. Thanks to a little motorola adapter I found at Fry's to convert Mini usb to Micro I was able to use all of my old blackberry chargers. I know a guy with a droid X and his battery life seems to be the same if not worse than the moment.

If I could only figure out a way to kill the mp3 store, instant messaging, football, moxier mail etc.. for good without rooting I don't feel like reloading everything on my phone right now.

 

[someguyatx]

So I tried the SMODA widget this morning when I got to work and my battery is still at 80-90% 18 hours after being unplugged.

At home i get a great signal so it was in normal mode and I hardly used the phone at all. Generally just being in the office will kill it by lunch time. Unfortunately my email doesn't work but I still get texts just fine.

 

[LunchBB]

I have the same problem after using K9. Before, I woke up in the morning and the battery will still be about 90% full. Now it shows about 40% left. I am sure it's K9 problem. Anybody has a fix? I am switching to "Poll" to never to see if there will be a change.

 

[someguyatx]

In k9 mail I have set it for fetch mail every 30 minutes on my main account and every 6 hours on my secondary account

I also have unchecked under Display setting animation, show account size, count search results, and message previews

hope that helps

 

[LunchBB]

I have 4 gmail accounts. So now I just set Poll to never and have it pushed automatically. Will test to report the result.

 

[BamaInArk]

I see this on my phone too when I'm in the country and roaming. Before I got the Moment(my first smart phone) I would see this with other Sprint phones as well. I think the issue was/is has to do with digital vs analog signal. A digital signal uses less power however if you're roaming and/or in a non Sprint area it uses more power since it's probably not digital signal. Although I have seen digital roaming.

 

[ned23]

Yes, the phone is a battery sucker and will drain within 4-6 hours if there is no signal. I basically kept it plugged in all day at work because my building has poor reception.

 

[LunchBB]

ned23, would WIFI calling be helpful in your situation?

 

[someguyatx]

My only solution to the problem was to purchase 4 of these Blackberry USB Cable Micro USB 1.0m and I just plug it in a lot. There are usb ports everywhere now and this is easier to carry than a charger. I use one at work to charge from my pc, one in the living room to charge from the extra usb port on the cable box, another on the printer in my office, and one in the car. I also keep a charger at home, work, and in both cars.

 

[LunchBB]

I like these retractable micro USB cables.

Amazon.com: Universal Retractable USB Data Cable with Micro USB Plug (For Palm, BlackBerry, Motorola, LG, Samsung, Nokia and More): Cell Phones & Accessories

Those are dirty cheap at ebay too.

I have been using the New Trent IMP500. It works great! compact and light weight. It's good when flying or on the road that I won't have access to USB outlet or AC outlet

 

[240phil]

I had some pretty good success with those cheap stick on signal boosters.

Part of my problem is I keep my phone in my pocket most of the time. Well, wearing dress pants all day, they get staticy. The static "blocks" the signal and the phone has to work extra hard to fight through the static. Those little signal booster things help disperse the static from the phone, thus increasing the signal.
It wasn't a "OMG this is awesome" upgrade, but it was noticeable. Worth the couple of bucks IMO

 

[someguyatx]

240phil I also had some good luck with one of those years ago on a Nokia phone, so I just ordered one from amazon for $2. I probably just bought a tiny vial of snake oil but if it helps my signal at work even a tad its worth it. My normal signal strength here is -96 to -106 dBm

 

[240phil]

wow. yeah, that's a pretty bad signal.

I thought my 92 ish was bad.

hey man, if the snake oil does anything it is worth the two bucks.

they also sell signal repeaters that would probably boost your signal significantly... I'll see if I can find a link for one...

I've never used one, but I have thought about trying one out for my office.

I also wondered if sticking one on the car would help at all with the GPS issues... but I think the signals are different enough that the repeater wouldn't do anything for gps.

 

[someguyatx]

Overall cell signals are bad here so they installed a signal booster in the building right a few months ago but it was recently relocated last Friday. I was fluctuating but typically in the 80's before it moved. I will let you know if the metal sticker helps anything when it arrives. It certainly cant hurt.

 

[someguyatx]

So I installed the $2 antenna sticker over the weekend and today my worst signal is -101dBm so there was small improvement. The quality of the sticker did not even seem very good so I will lookout for something larger and better