[fuuup]

I spend a lot of time in a hospital and at various places, the phone will switch into 1x mode, or full on roaming in 1x mode. It drains my battery like nothing else.

How do each of these modes compare to each other as far as power consuption?

Is it the switching modes that causes the power drain? If so, would it be better to force roaming 1x while in the hospital?

It drains the battery about, I'd say a good 5 times faster than normal.