wifi saves battery?

**Thundaar2000** · #1 (**permalink**) 03-04-2011, 10:32 AM

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In the Sprint newsletter, they said WiFi uses less battery so you should use it whenever you can. In the coffee shop, at the gym to listen to music, etc.
Is this true?? Or is this just to get us to use less of their bandwidth?

**rainfreak** · #2 (**permalink**) 03-04-2011, 10:34 AM

I would bet it is to use less of their bandwidth and to offer faster speeds in all of their markets that don't have 4G yet.

**lkillen** · #3 (**permalink**) 03-04-2011, 11:20 AM

A reliable WiFi connection would probably use less battery than an unreliable 3G/4G. Acquiring and managing a signal uses a lot of energy.

I stream talk radio at work for 6 hours a day(3G/4G). I called Tech Support in January about an unrelated matter and she noted that I was an "excessive" bandwidth user. Though I did not ask, I go the impressioin that my account was flagged since she pointed it out so quickly.

I can understand their concern. Sprint has to buy that bandwidth and their profit is based on margin.

**Thundaar2000** · #4 (**permalink**) 03-04-2011, 11:23 AM

Hehe
Thats my thoughts too. In that newsletter, it also said that "4G is now available in your town!" Check the coverage area (click here).
So I went to the coverage map, sure enough, there it was... a tiny tiny tiny blue dot! The size of maybe 2 houses when you zoom in... in an area in the middle of the golf course....
PERFECT!

jj14x · #5 (**permalink**) 03-04-2011, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lkillen

I stream talk radio at work for 6 hours a day(3G/4G). I called Tech Support in January about an unrelated matter and she noted that I was an "excessive" bandwidth user. Though I did not ask, I go the impressioin that my account was flagged since she pointed it out so quickly.

I hope they didn't ask you to reduce usage or something like that... they are among the very few carriers left that market web usage on the smartphones as being truly 'unlimited'...AT&T & TMo were the first to go - and sounds like VZN is scheduled to start that this summer.

I am not a heavy bandwidth user - less than 1Gig a month on 3G (more usage on wifi), but when I travel, I like the assurance that they (Sprint) aren't going to cap/throttle.

**sanmanc** · #6 (**permalink**) 03-04-2011, 02:28 PM

Wifi does save on battery life since your device does not have to constantly search for a 3g/4g signal. I learned this when I had a Palm Pre as my primary device. I noticed that if I kept my wifi on and allowed my device to connect to any open network, my battery would last longer.

**lkillen** · #7 (**permalink**) 03-04-2011, 02:57 PM

It would be cool if someone wrote a daemon that would look for open WiFi and automatically connect when in range. Treat WiFi as another tower, so to speak.

My problem is with WunderRadio. It does not successfully transition from one media to another. I may be listening to the radio on Wifi in the house and as I walk to the car I am dropped and I have to exit WunderRadio and reacquire.

twilk · #8 (**permalink**) 03-04-2011, 03:59 PM

2nd wifi has been proven to save battery life on the Evo as well. I am sure Sprint has alterior motovies lol but that asside yes wifi as long as the connection isnt in and out saves battery life.

**Thundaar2000** · #9 (**permalink**) 03-05-2011, 02:46 AM

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That's good news!
I'm going to use WiFi in the house now. Until 4g comes that is...

coppertop24 · #10 (**permalink**) 03-06-2011, 03:40 PM

Yes, wifi does improve battery life. I leave my wifi on while at home and get almost 2 full days out of my Evo. I also noticed a great battery improvement when I switched over to MikFroYo 4.30. My Evo just likes this one for some reason.