Data connection - Battery impact, and auto disconnect questions

[[sammich]]

I have a Sprint 6700 and I was wondering if the PowerVision data connection really hurts my battery life. I have a few programs that need to update information but I don't want to have my data connection always on. I was wondering if it impacts battery life alot. And does it go idle when not used?

If not, is there a program that automatically disconnects the connection if it isn't used? I've tried the GBSoft tweak, but that doesn't work well for me.

Thanks in advance!