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Can someone explain wifi to me?

K

K-Rizzle

Android Enthusiast
My thoughts on wifi were that it's for people who don't have unlimited data plans, to save $ on data usage and reduce the risk of going over your data plan usage...am I correct?

Or is it a battery saver?

I have all of my wifi off, I don't want my phone searching for wifi, I feel like it will kill the battery faster.

But will using wifi when available, instead of the network, save the battery instead? I'm just a bit confused, only been a smart phone owner for 4 days now, lol.
 
So will it drain my battery? Is it something worth having on all the time?

At home, I just use my PC for going online, when I'm out and about, I guess it could come in handy, but I don't want to lose battery power especially when I'm out and about.
 
Well it will use battery but if you are using the web browser on the phone it is faster then 3G... so when home or with WiFi access you can turn it on and off as needed. Personally for me I just leave it off, 3g is ok for what I do.
 
I have mine on at all times.

At home it's connected and at work it's connected to a WIFI network. Other times it's just on searching. If I'm at a place with an open connection, I'll connect it, otherwise it's just on.

I can get 14-18 hours on a battery charge with it and GPS on at all times, not to mention all the mail, Facebook, Twitter, Weather updating all the time.
 
I live in a spotty coverage area and have between 0-1 bars on wireless coverage. For this reason, I turn mobile off and use wi-fi at home. The downside is that I miss SMS messages when mobile is off, so I usually just toggle between them using shortcuts on one of my home screens.

And, like another poster said, wifi is going to be faster than 3G.
 
But when both mobile and wifi are on, and i'm browsing the web or using skype, witch connection is it going through?
 
Will22 said:
But when both mobile and wifi are on, and i'm browsing the web or using skype, witch connection is it going through?
Click to expand...

Well I think apps like skype, facebook, and twitter use the mobile network. Regular browsing and e-mailing uses the wifi. I could be wrong though.
 
Get an app like WeFi Connect. Keep a shortcut on your home page, and when you want to connect to the internet, tap the WeFi icon. Wefi will then open up, and in the upper left hand corner, you tap the "light switch" to turn WiFi on. The difference between this and other Wifi On/Off widgets/apps, is that WeFi will then automatically connect to an available WiFi hotspot.

There is no reason to leave WiFi ON all the time, as A) you aren't always near an open hot spot, and B) you aren't always surfing the web, or needing high speed access.

So, with WeFi, when you are at home, turn it on and off as you need it. It take about 5 seconds to connect to your home WiFi. Or if you are in a coffee shop, or wherever, and you need that temporary WiFi, then click it on - then click it back off when you're done.

As for speed, I'm at home and I'll run a quick Speed Test ("Speed Test" app):

WiFi: 715kB/s Dwn ; 105.7kB/s Up
EVDO: 124.1kB/s Dwn ; 85.5kB/s Up

Obviously that is a HUGE difference in speed. WiFi is almost 6x faster. You will notice that in almost anything you are doing - YouTube, web surfing, apps downloading, etc.

So, YES, use WiFi when available, but there is no reason to keep it on all the time. Like a light switch, turn the light on when you need it and off when you dont.
 
Might be restating some things, but here is my experience:

Wi-Fi takes precedence over the Mobile Network in applications such as the browser, youtube etc...
Applications like Market Place require that the Mobile Network be turned on.

Both use battery, and as BrainR recommended, either shortcut the widget to turn Mobile and Wi-Fi On/Off to a homescreen.

Also as BrainR stated, using Wi-Fi will allow the connection to be faster, simple rules of networking.

Sometimes it depends on what applications you are looking at running, and personal preference.
 
A lot depends on what your needs are and how often/where you use your phone.

Wefi, for me, is useless because I use wifi on my home network. I don't need wefi to automatically connect me. However if you don't feel like fighting through the settings menu to find the wifi network you want to connect to. If you travel a lot to places that have wifi available then perhaps wefi may be for you.

As already stated, wifi is significantly faster then 2G or 3G (i.e. mobile internet).

As far as battery life. Wifi will use less battery life. When you are using 3G you phone is CONSTANTLY looking and searching for 3G signal (that is not close) to connect to. With wifi you are a lot closer. I just read up on this a few weeks ago but cannot find a link to where I read it. Wifi = Use less battery life.
 
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