I believe the BATTERY DRAIN is coming from not being able to switch to EDGE in poor 3G reception areas.

Question

Level 1

105 points

I believe the BATTERY DRAIN is coming from not being able to switch to EDGE in poor 3G reception areas.

I have two iPhone 4's and one iPhone 4s. Both the iPhone 4's have great reception and battery life IF they are manually switched to EDGE. This has been true ever since I've owned iPhones. I just can't get even fair 3G reception in my area. This leads me to believe that the phone's constant search for a good 3G signal is not only draining the battery, but not allowing me more than two bars at the most on the 4s.

The iPhone 4's work great when 3G is turned off with the switch that is now missing from the 4s.

Apple, please, please give us this option back. Thanks.

Posted on Nov 13, 2011 10:32 AM

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Answer 1

gdgmacguy

Level 7

21,885 points

Nov 13, 2011 10:40 AM in response to QGrayson

you're not addressing Apple here, only us users, so stop begging and making yourself look foolish. Feedback goes here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

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Answer 2

QGrayson Author

Level 1

105 points

Nov 13, 2011 11:51 AM in response to gdgmacguy

You logged on just to call someone foolish? It's called starting a dialogue, which seems to be something quite foreign to you.

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Answer 3

QGrayson Author

Level 1

105 points

Nov 13, 2011 11:55 AM in response to QGrayson

I've already reported this to apple as have many others. The answer is certainly not shutting down various functions of the phone. That's counter productive. We should be able to use all these functions and STILL get good battery life and reception.

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Answer 4

Nov 13, 2011 11:56 AM in response to QGrayson

So how does this theory explain the battery problems people with CDMA iPhones are having? The CDMA iPhone 4 never had a way to switch to 1XRTT (closest equivalent to EDGE on CDMA).

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Answer 5

QGrayson Author

Level 1

105 points

Nov 13, 2011 1:18 PM in response to IdrisSeabright

Can't explain it in your case. I'm on AT&T and this has been my experience with the 6 iPhones we've had so far. As far as I can tell my 4s never switches to edge. My guess is that it has something to do with the new antennae setup on the new iPhone.

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Answer 6

Nov 13, 2011 3:01 PM in response to QGrayson

I don't have an iPhone 4S. I have an iPhone 4, CDMA, iOS 5.0.1, no battery problems. I just think your theory doesnt' fit the available facts.

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Answer 7

QGrayson Author

Level 1

105 points

Nov 13, 2011 3:11 PM in response to IdrisSeabright

The iPhone 4s doesn't have the ability to turn off 3G like the iPhone 4...even running the same system. So something changed in the new AT&T iPhone 4s where Apple felt it didn't need this function. But for those of us that are forced to use edge to get better reception and battery life need this ability restored.

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Answer 8

Nov 13, 2011 3:37 PM in response to QGrayson

QGrayson wrote:

The iPhone 4s doesn't have the ability to turn off 3G like the iPhone 4...even running the same system.

I understand that.

But for those of us that are forced to use edge to get better reception and battery life need this ability restored.

This is most likely a separate issue from the larger issue causing decreased battery life under iOS 5. The decrease in battery life seems to be affecting both the AT&T and Verizon/Sprint versions. Therefore, the ability to switch to EDGE can't be the cause.

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Answer 9

QGrayson Author

Level 1

105 points

Nov 13, 2011 4:26 PM in response to IdrisSeabright

I can agree with you in part. The iPhone 4 had terrible battery life on 3G... Which is why we had to use edge. But I'll agree that a new problem seems to have benn introduced somewhere along the way.

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Answer 10

QGrayson Author

Level 1

105 points

Nov 13, 2011 4:38 PM in response to QGrayson

Allow me to add that the latest update helped my battery life a bit...but being forced to use 3G still brings it back down. On my iPhone 4 I had 60to70 percent at the end of the day. Now I'm lucky if I don't have to charge in the afternoon. There is indeed still an undiscovered problem that seems to involve many users.

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Answer 11

D.R.C.

Level 2

189 points

Nov 13, 2011 6:54 PM in response to QGrayson

QGrayson wrote:

As far as I can tell my 4s never switches to edge. My guess is that it has something to do with the new antennae setup on the new iPhone.

@QGrayson,

FYI, my 4S switches to EDGE if I take it down in the basement and firmly grip both ends of the phone so as to attenuate the RF signal as much as possible. I live in an urban area quite close to a cell tower ( 4 bars of signal) so I don't see it fallback to EDGE in normal operation.

Regardless, I fully concur with your view that Apple should restore the ability to enable/disable 3G on GSM variant. I have found it very helpful to be able to force EDGE operation on my previous iPhone 4 when travelling (obtain more reliable operation in weak signal areas, prolong battery life, minimize out-of-territory roaming fees).

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