Time Without Signal

[darren.wlsn1]

Originally Posted by Johnny.Bravo

I'll do more than that. When I get home I'm going to add this to the wiki.

there ya go, even better.

[Johnny.Bravo]

Done. I added this at the beginning of the wiki in the "Battery" section.

[Johnny.Bravo]

Hey, I just wanted to let everyone know that my TWS was 65% when I started this 3 hours ago. It is now 0%.

[blazinazn]

Originally Posted by Johnny.Bravo

So is this just a trick to reset the statistics or does it actually make a difference so that you get better service and better battery life?

It resets the radio.

If you type: *#4636*1111# and go to phone info and scroll down to the bottom it will say WCDMA Preferred or something like that.

Once you perform the airplane toggle trick it will reset the radio and when you go back to this menu it will switch to unkown.

Lot of people speculated that WCDMA is used for searching for GSM satellites, thus it leaves you with time without signal. This can drain battery faster, especially when you have low signal and it's polling to find GSM towers/signal.

You can also reset the radio by just updating profile/prl but toggling airplane mode is a lot easier.

Here is the link over at XDA if you want to read more:

[How-To] Better battery life, reduce Time Without Signal. - xda-developers

I've found that you need to do this on every reboot. Some people have a program to automatically do this but I do it manually when I reboot once a month

[Johnny.Bravo]

OK I have another question about this. The cell coverage where I work varies drastically depending on where I am. I spend a lot of time driving around remote areas where there is little or no coverage. Will this affect the radio? And should I reset it after spending a long time out in the middle of nowhere and then come back into town?

[Johnny.Bravo]

I copied this from the above xda link:

First things first, go into Settings> About Phone> Battery> Battery Use> Cell Standby. Assuming your phone has been on, or off the charger for ~10 minutes, it should show Time Without Signal at around 50%.

Next thing, press HOME, and bring up the dialer. Dial *#4636*1111# (Do not press "Call"). After a second, it should bring up the "Testing" menu.

Go into Phone Information, press MENU, and tap "select radio band." You should experience a Force Close, don't panic, this was supposed to happen. Scrolling down shows that the preferred network type is GSM auto (prl).

What this means is that even though you are connected to a CDMA network, your phone is trying to find a GSM network, preventing the radio from sleeping, and causing excessive battery drain.

Remedy this by tapping GSM auto (prl), and changing it to CDMA auto (prl).


Now your done, your TWS should drop dramatically, and you should experience much better battery life!

Note: You need to do this every time you reboot.

I changed the the dialer code to the one that blazinazn listed (the op was for the HTC Hero - the one in red is for the Epic). Once you scroll down to "Select Preferred Network Type" you can change it from WCDMA preferred to CDMA auto (prl).
I just changed mine. I'll report back in a few days and let you know what happens.

[flyers2114]

Originally Posted by darren.wlsn1

i agree, someone told me too bro. thats what makes ppcg fun, now you know and will pass it on soon to someone else.

oh now I am just "someone" wtf I thought you were my main ho????

[blazinazn]

Originally Posted by Johnny.Bravo

OK I have another question about this. The cell coverage where I work varies drastically depending on where I am. I spend a lot of time driving around remote areas where there is little or no coverage. Will this affect the radio? And should I reset it after spending a long time out in the middle of nowhere and then come back into town?

In this instance, it won't affect the radio. No need to reset again after doing it the first time.

Originally Posted by Johnny.Bravo

I copied this from the above xda link:

First things first, go into Settings> About Phone> Battery> Battery Use> Cell Standby. Assuming your phone has been on, or off the charger for ~10 minutes, it should show Time Without Signal at around 50%.

Next thing, press HOME, and bring up the dialer. Dial *#4636*1111# (Do not press "Call"). After a second, it should bring up the "Testing" menu.

Go into Phone Information, press MENU, and tap "select radio band." You should experience a Force Close, don't panic, this was supposed to happen. Scrolling down shows that the preferred network type is GSM auto (prl).

What this means is that even though you are connected to a CDMA network, your phone is trying to find a GSM network, preventing the radio from sleeping, and causing excessive battery drain.

Remedy this by tapping GSM auto (prl), and changing it to CDMA auto (prl).


Now your done, your TWS should drop dramatically, and you should experience much better battery life!

Note: You need to do this every time you reboot.

I changed the the dialer code to the one that blazinazn listed (the op was for the HTC Hero - the one in red is for the Epic). Once you scroll down to "Select Preferred Network Type" you can change it from WCDMA preferred to CDMA auto (prl).
I just changed mine. I'll report back in a few days and let you know what happens.

Whoops, there was another thread about this for the Epic as well...here it is:

[Q] Time without signal > 50% - xda-developers

I wasn't able to get any changes to stick in the menu by just selecting it. If I select CDMA preferred and back of the menu and go back in, it'll just go back to default. The only way that I have successfully reset the radio and show "unknown" is by toggling airplane mode..

[Johnny.Bravo]

Originally Posted by blazinazn

I wasn't able to get any changes to stick in the menu by just selecting it. If I select CDMA preferred and back of the menu and go back in, it'll just go back to default. The only way that I have successfully reset the radio and show "unknown" is by toggling airplane mode..

The same thing is happening to me. And it also seems that every time I plug my phone in to charge it I need to reset the radio when I unplug it or my TWS shoots back up to 50-60%. Someone mentioned an app or script that does this automatically. Where can I get that?