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Help Silly Wifi Question...Please Help :-)
- Thread starter izzy35
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- htc droid incredible
But what if I'm in a new area with new networks?? I then have to manually go into the settings, correct?? Or is there a way for the "available networks" to automatically show up?
And another Wifi-3G clarification quesiton....hope u don't mind.
I know that the more things u turn off, the better it is for battery life. So if i'm in an area where I get good Wifi coverage so I turn it on, is it better for the battery to TURN OFF the mobile network, or being that it automatically uses Wifi first and disconnects 3g, is this not necassary??
iowabowtech
root@android:/ #
In the WiFi Settings, you can select to be notified when an open network is available. On that same settings screen, if you press the phone's menu button, an advanced option tab comes up to set Wifi sleep policy. I set mine to never sleep and it works great. IMO, this works the best if you are regularly in/out of wireless network range.
I leave both Wifi and network on all the time. No need to turn anything off, Wifi will take over when it can as mentioned.
So wifi being on, even if i'm not in a wifi area, doesn't drain battery?? Wouldn't it be constantly searching, therefore killing battery??
And I had the "notify me when networks available" checked off, but I don't get notified unless I go into the status bar.
What does that do??
iowabowtech
root@android:/ #
You would think it would be constantly searching but I've tried turning Wifi off and then turning it on only when I know I have it available and IMO there was no appreciable battery savings. Probably because I'm around Wifi enough that I forget to turn it back on enough times which offsets the potential savings. Believe me, I've tried everything and tweaked everything and in my experience, it's best for ME to leave both on.
I'm pretty sure I get a default notification when I get near an open network. That's the notifier set at Sounds And Display > Notification Sound.
As for the Wifi sleep policy...I did this because the default setting on my phone was to sleep "after 15 mins". When I was out of range of Wifi for that time, it would disable Wifi and I would then have to remember to turn it back on once again when I got near a wireless network. Too much to remember and all the while, it was burning battery much faster using 3G. So this is why I ended up leaving it on all the time and setting the sleep policy to "Never". I've had much better battery life ever since.
Here is the quintessential thread on Wifi/sleep policy and related topics IMO:
http://androidforums.com/htc-incredible/89454-wifi-always-battery.html
Wow, it's my thread 
Iowabowtech pretty much has it I think. If you are around wifi frequently, leave wifi on and make sure you set it to never sleep in the advanced settings.
No need to turn off Mobile Network (which really is all data, not just 3G data as some people indicated). You can see the mobile network icon go away as soon as wifi is connected.
As discovered in the other thread, this is a great app
Y5 - Battery Saver - Android app on AppBrain
Iowabowtech is saying that he just leaves wifi always on and it doesn't seem to matter, but I've found that y5 works pretty well to turn off/on wifi when I'm near a known network, so I use it. I haven't tested if there's much of a difference just leaving wifi on 24/7.
This setup has been great for me. At home and work, I have wifi, so I get fast speeds all day along. Also, if I don't touch the phone at all, it uses almost no battery at all, yet wifi is always connect. I think, if I had wifi off, that'd definitely not be the case, especially at home where I have poor signal.
Iowabowtech pretty much has it I think. If you are around wifi frequently, leave wifi on and make sure you set it to never sleep in the advanced settings.
No need to turn off Mobile Network (which really is all data, not just 3G data as some people indicated). You can see the mobile network icon go away as soon as wifi is connected.
As discovered in the other thread, this is a great app
Y5 - Battery Saver - Android app on AppBrain
Iowabowtech is saying that he just leaves wifi always on and it doesn't seem to matter, but I've found that y5 works pretty well to turn off/on wifi when I'm near a known network, so I use it. I haven't tested if there's much of a difference just leaving wifi on 24/7.
This setup has been great for me. At home and work, I have wifi, so I get fast speeds all day along. Also, if I don't touch the phone at all, it uses almost no battery at all, yet wifi is always connect. I think, if I had wifi off, that'd definitely not be the case, especially at home where I have poor signal.
Nope. I can make receive calls and send receive sms while mobile network is off. I'm not saying that people should turn it off though. I do sometimes because I want to. I've checked it more than once. Now, I don't think anyone ever intended to say it was limited to 3G (i.e. highest speed) data.
Ok so I have a few things to say...LOL
1) I turned on Wifi while home last night, and I LOVED the fact that I could surf the web while on the phone!!! Something u definitely cannot do if you're using the 3G Mobile Network.
2) While trying to compare battery life while using Wifi, I must've turned off Mobile Network (i don't remember doing it but it was in fact, off)...So I went to bed, woke up this A.M. and saw that I only had 1 email. I usually wake up to 5-10 emails a day. Found it strange, so checked my settings and that's when I realized that i had apparently turned off Mobile Network, while having wifi on. Being that it wasn't done purposely, I toggled it back on. I saw the "wifi" disappear for a second, 3G blink for a bit, then the wifi picked back up and I had full coverage again. 2 seconds later, about 9 emails came through at once. So this made me think that although the speed and battery is MUCH better when on wifi, it seems a little more glitchy with pushing the GMAIL....OR, having Mobile Network off, somehow stopped the syncing?? But if wifi was on, why wouldn't it sync?? And if all this is the case, how did the 1 email get through??
I don't know, but I figured it was worth mentioning....As whatever we find usually can help the next person.
1) I turned on Wifi while home last night, and I LOVED the fact that I could surf the web while on the phone!!! Something u definitely cannot do if you're using the 3G Mobile Network.
2) While trying to compare battery life while using Wifi, I must've turned off Mobile Network (i don't remember doing it but it was in fact, off)...So I went to bed, woke up this A.M. and saw that I only had 1 email. I usually wake up to 5-10 emails a day. Found it strange, so checked my settings and that's when I realized that i had apparently turned off Mobile Network, while having wifi on. Being that it wasn't done purposely, I toggled it back on. I saw the "wifi" disappear for a second, 3G blink for a bit, then the wifi picked back up and I had full coverage again. 2 seconds later, about 9 emails came through at once. So this made me think that although the speed and battery is MUCH better when on wifi, it seems a little more glitchy with pushing the GMAIL....OR, having Mobile Network off, somehow stopped the syncing?? But if wifi was on, why wouldn't it sync?? And if all this is the case, how did the 1 email get through??
I don't know, but I figured it was worth mentioning....As whatever we find usually can help the next person.
Well, I have noticed that email pushed to Gmail seems to arrive a little slower on my phone when I am on wifi internet but I have no idea why since email is inherently an internet thing. Maybe Google pushes email to the Gmail client in some "different way" through the 3G connection? The funny thing is the Gmail on my PC (which accesses internet through the same router and modem) seems to get emails before my phone does when I'm on wifi only. For me, they do come through but they come through later.
I was trying to indicate that Mobile Network is data, not just 3G Data as many people frequently write.
Also, I don't think either voice calls or SMS is technically considered to be data. You can't get email/browse web/etc with mobile network off, right?
As far as I know, if you turn off mobile network, you are turning off "the internet".
Izzy35,
I leave mobile network on when I'm connected to wifi and I don't really think it hurts the battery at all. In fact, when connected to wifi, the mobile network icon goes away, so I figure it must be disabled (or at least partially disabled) at that point anyhow.
As far as being on the phone while on the internet, I heard a new AT&T commercial yesterday pushing that, but, who really does that? Are you talking to someone on speaker while surfing websites or going on Yelp to find a restaurant or something like that?
I leave mobile network on when I'm connected to wifi and I don't really think it hurts the battery at all. In fact, when connected to wifi, the mobile network icon goes away, so I figure it must be disabled (or at least partially disabled) at that point anyhow.
As far as being on the phone while on the internet, I heard a new AT&T commercial yesterday pushing that, but, who really does that? Are you talking to someone on speaker while surfing websites or going on Yelp to find a restaurant or something like that?
I turned mine off by accident. I didn't know i did it...LOL
For one, I use a bluetooth 99.9% of the time, even when I'm just sitting on my sofa. I hate holding the phone to my ear; gets sweaty, may need BOTH hands, etc~~LOL!! Only VERIZON doesn't do that....or at least one of the few that doesn't!! It's more than just being on a voice call while surfing the web. Many people use their phone for business so if being on the phone disables the ability to receive emails, it's a problem. So if on wifi, ure emails will still come through while on the phone...And maybe one day I may need that restaurant review while chatting.
Ok, that makes much more sense. I didn't think about BT either. I think the AT&T commercials talk about/show people trying to do stuff like the restaurant lookup thing while on the phone and I figure that's pretty tricky to do anyhow.
My brother is a businessman who uses a blackberry so has BBM (blackberry chat). It works on data. So again, if on the phone, it doesn't work. So he misses emails and bbm's when on the phone. So when he's on a business call halfway around the world for like 2 hours, he loses precious time when he doesn't get the emails and bbm's when they're actually sent. It's one of his HUUUUUGE gripes with Verizon. So he's kind of forced to go with AtT...
Ok, we are together. Language and semantics can be tricky sometimes. You are correct that if I turn off both wifi and mobile network I do not get email, web, etc.
Yeah, that is a problem for world travelers and Verizon. It has to do with Verizon being CDMA rather than GSM. That probably has something to do with the phone/internet multitasking capability too.
Question, do YOU, keep wifi and ure Mobile Network on all the time? or just when u know u have a wifi network available? do u use that Y5 application?
Just curious..
I just started using Y5 yesterday so it is still experimental for me at this point. Sometimes I turn mobile network off when I'm on wifi, sometimes I don't.. it has been a matter of trying to see if it saves power.. so far I can't tell it makes very much difference on power consumption so I'm probably going to start just leaving it on all the time, esp. since, as I said, push email tends to come in slower for some reason without it being on. Looks like you've pretty much come to the same conclusion.
Addendum: I just re-read your question and I take it you are asking what i am doing when I am away from my wifi signal... I tend to leave Mobile Network on because I like my internet connected apps (Weather Channel for instance) to update automatically.
And eventhough you're away from a wifi signal, you still leave that on as well??
For instance, I spend a lot of time in my car, obviously not picking up a signal when driving through 20 different neighborhoods, so at that point should I turn of wifi or will it not matter either way?? Just looking to see what other's are doing...always helps
Well, i was turning wifi off manually in that situation but now I'm trying that Y5 program so it is supposed to turn it off automatically when not in range of a remembered wifi connection.
Trans_pits
Lurker
I'm pretty new to the Apps world, I was wondering if we could use our phone internet as a internet source for the home PC, if so what step do I need to take,
Q,
thanks
Q,
thanks
This is not an area I am really experienced with but here is what I *think* I know about it. First, this is called "tethering." There is wired tethering with the usb cable and there is wireless tethering where your phone acts as a wifi connection point for your PC. I think only wired tether is available without having your phone rooted (super user access to the OS). Wired tethering can be done with apps that are available on the market or I believe there is a native setup to do it and you should be able to find a thread on these forums for that (do some searches).
If I have any of that info wrong then someone with actual tethering experience can correct me as I've not had a reason to use tethering yet. I have a laptop but I always have only used it where I had internet already available to it.
Trans_pits
Lurker
Thanks a lot, i will do some more search on that =)