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does hsdpa enable when 3g is enabled or is hsdpa constantly connected?

just wondering coz of battery consumption issues. coz if i dont need internet i turn off 3g so its on edge on standby. but when i need net, i want 3g n hsdpa so was wondering if hsdpa only turns on when i also turn on 3g. thanks

3g will automatically connect if you enable it in connection settings unless you have change it to like your own network or something like that. someone correct me if im wrong. its been a long time since i use 3g.

from what i notice, if i leave 3g mode on, (even tho mine disconnects after 2 mins of idle connection), it uses up more battery than leaving it on edge on standy. this is from my experience at least.

royalbloodvi said:
from what i notice, if i leave 3g mode on, (even tho mine disconnects after 2 mins of idle connection), it uses up more battery than leaving it on edge on standy. this is from my experience at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is absolutely true. 3G mode consume lots more power than edge. I had this experience too.
Back to the post question, hsdpa is one of several 3G standard technologies (with UMTS, for example), so speaking about 3G means also speaking about HSDPA. So it is enabled when your network support it and when a 3G connection is enabled.

GSM auto (PRL) vs. WCDMA preferred

what is the difference between these two settings on my N1? i get 3G/H with either setting, and they both switch to Edge around the same coverage areas too. PRL seems to have ever-so-slightly better dBm power readings, anyone else seen this? both seem to have similar network performance too (based on download speeds), should i stick with one or another? which gives better battery life?
TIA!

Hope this helps!!!
GSM Only - Only uses in G/E and never switches to 3G/H. Should have minimal battery usage.
GSM Auto (PRL) - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the PRL (Preferred Roaming List) for a provider on your phone. Not supported by all providers and may not be supported in certain regions. Should have moderate battery usage since it uses a predefined list to switch.
WCDMA Preferred - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the best/strongest signal available and is supported by all providers. Has high battery usage since it constantly scans the network for the strongest signal to switch.
WCDMA Only - Only uses HSDPA and will not switch to G/E/3G even if the HSPDA signal is too low. Use this only if you use your phone in a area with good coverage. Should have moderate battery usage.

craigacgomez said:
Hope this helps!!!
GSM Only - Only uses in G/E and never switches to 3G/H. Should have minimal battery usage.
GSM Auto (PRL) - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the PRL (Preferred Roaming List) for a provider on your phone. Not supported by all providers and may not be supported in certain regions. Should have moderate battery usage since it uses a predefined list to switch.
WCDMA Preferred - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the best/strongest signal available and is supported by all providers. Has high battery usage since it constantly scans the network for the strongest signal to switch.
WCDMA Only - Only uses HSDPA and will not switch to G/E/3G even if the HSPDA signal is too low. Use this only if you use your phone in a area with good coverage. Should have moderate battery usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you!! where'd you find this info?

There's a huge thread on this already. Gsm auto (PRL) gives me much better battery life over wcdma preferred but we really don't know exactly why. Both give you 3g and edge access.

RogerPodacter said:
There's a huge thread on this already. Gsm auto (PRL) gives me much better battery life over wcdma preferred but we really don't know exactly why. Both give you 3g and edge access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm discovering the much better battery life as well, pleasantly surprised to be at 70% after coming off charger 11 hours ago!
do you have a link to that thread? i searched before I posted but couldn't find anything of value. xda is a great resource, but sometimes info is difficult to retrieve from old threads. thanks!

mcgoo99 said:
i'm discovering the much better battery life as well, pleasantly surprised to be at 70% after coming off charger 11 hours ago!
do you have a link to that thread? i searched before I posted but couldn't find anything of value. xda is a great resource, but sometimes info is difficult to retrieve from old threads. thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=675136&highlight=improve+battery

RogerPodacter said:
There's a huge thread on this already. Gsm auto (PRL) gives me much better battery life over wcdma preferred but we really don't know exactly why. Both give you 3g and edge access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the fact that GSM Auto (PRL) uses a predetermined PRL to switch between G/E/3G/H vs. the phone constantly scanning to find the best signal in the case of WCDMA Preferred is the reason for the better battery life.

many thanks for the responses guys, much appreciated!

craigacgomez said:
Hope this helps!!!
GSM Only - Only uses in G/E and never switches to 3G/H. Should have minimal battery usage.
GSM Auto (PRL) - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the PRL (Preferred Roaming List) for a provider on your phone. Not supported by all providers and may not be supported in certain regions. Should have moderate battery usage since it uses a predefined list to switch.
WCDMA Preferred - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the best/strongest signal available and is supported by all providers. Has high battery usage since it constantly scans the network for the strongest signal to switch.
WCDMA Only - Only uses HSDPA and will not switch to G/E/3G even if the HSPDA signal is too low. Use this only if you use your phone in a area with good coverage. Should have moderate battery usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
does anyone know what gsm disconnects: =====DATA=====
mean?
my network keeps disconnecting and reconnecting :/

haksam said:
does anyone know what gsm disconnects: =====DATA=====
mean?
my network keeps disconnecting and reconnecting :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beats me....if I set to "gsm only" gsm disconects and doesnt reconnect
until I set it to to "auto mode"
« »

CM7.1 cell standby costs 40% battery

Hey guys,
I flashed cm7.1 rc1, it's cool but I found the cell standby cost 40%, and phone idle also takes a lot of juice. My previous rom is arhd 1.10, on which the cell standby only takes 4%. I'm on the virgin's network in Canada. The virgin is acquired by Bell and of course it's using bell's network.
Is this network HSPA only? So in the *#*#4636#*#*, can I set the network mod as WCDMA only? Or by toggling 2G/3G to 3G only? Not sure if this will save some battery?

Switching to 2G only should save you a bit of battery. However, by far the best way to save battery is to switch mobile data off completely when you're not using it. I do this and my battery loses only 2 or 3% on standby overnight.

Switching to 2G wont work as Virgin Mobile/Bell does not have a 2G network backend like rogers or fido only 3G/4G so switching to 2g would make you have no service.

Yes. Virgin/Bell only use 1900MHz, the PCS band for their mobile communication, both voice and data.
In my opinion, use 3G only will save some power because the phone won't scan 2G frequency range. Moreover, setting the band as US band also will limit the scanning scope to save power. But after one day using, I didn't find much enhancement on battery life.

Ah, didn't know that. My apologies.

geeti said:
Yes. Virgin/Bell only use 1900MHz, the PCS band for their mobile communication, both voice and data.
In my opinion, use 3G only will save some power because the phone won't scan 2G frequency range. Moreover, setting the band as US band also will limit the scanning scope to save power. But after one day using, I didn't find much enhancement on battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They act trully. Use 850/1900, bands ( for get the band number ) also if your in a area of low to no signal it kills battery becuase the phone is continues to serch for a signal almost as bad as call for battery. Also give you phone a week to calabrate your battery
Sent from my HTC Incredible S using XDA Premium App

if not just calibrate your battery I switched back to android revolution just cause i couldn't deal with the terrible camera app in cyanogen mod. And now display is back to my number one battery killer.

this is a "feature" of CM7.1, i found too

Yes, I also conclude this is a feature of AOSP.
I thought this battery use is a transient value for each process on battery draining, but now I found this is an accumulative statistics. The cell standby and phone idle's high usage make sense.
In the stock firmware, the fact that display always takes majority of the juice doesn't make sense actually, cuz the screen isn't always turned on.

[Q] Battery drains 5%+/hr standby on 3G

Hi guys,
I have a Nexus One purchased from Google last year. I only started using 3G this month with Vodafone Australia. My battery drains ridiculously fast on 3G compared to 2G. On HSDPA("3.5G") network with everything off (including data) it uses 5-10% per hour standby. On 2G it drains less than 1% per hour. Using a battery monitor app I can see that 2G draws less than 10mA while 3G draws 25-100mA.
Since on 2G battery life is very good this should not be a problem with any software running in the background. I also tried the following with no help:
- Dial *#*#4636#*#*, set to WCDMA only instead of WCDMA preferred, and select radio bands to AUS BANDS
- Upgrade radio to the latest Korean version
- Force the phone to use UMTS instead of HSDPA network by editing build.prop
I tried both the stock 2.3.4 ROM and the latest CM nightly, but the problem persists. I really want to take the full advantage of 3G and leave it on all the time so this is very frustrating to me. I can use Toggle2G to automatically switch to 3G when screen is on, but that's not what I really want. I know although 3G uses more battery it should not be that dramatic. After all the specified standby time on 3G/2G are 250/290h by Google. With 3G my phone won't last even a day purely on standby.
I also wonder if it can be a problem with the network. My signal strength on 3G is around 2 bars - not particularly bad. It almost never loses signal. If anyone can post a ROM/radio from Vodafone Australia for me to try out that would be greatly appreciated too.
Thanks all!

2 Bars of Signal strength might be one of the reason that battery is drained faster. As the signal is not that strong enough, it keeps searching for stronger signal and results in faster battery consumption.
Personally the radio version '5.12' wasn't satisfactory. I prefer 5.08 version. (Signal strength, speed, battery...)
I recently upgraded from CM 7.0.3 to 7.1.0 RC1 and noticed battery life is much better.
So I am going to suggest a few things you might want to try:
- Downgrade the radio to 5.08
- Full wipe and flash CM 7.1.0 RC1 (or a different custom ROM)
- Try a different kernel (I personally like Cyanogen kernel though)
- Uninstall Task Killer if you have one installed.

zephyr18 said:
2 Bars of Signal strength might be one of the reason that battery is drained faster. As the signal is not that strong enough, it keeps searching for stronger signal and results in faster battery consumption.
Personally the radio version '5.12' wasn't satisfactory. I prefer 5.08 version. (Signal strength, speed, battery...)
I recently upgraded from CM 7.0.3 to 7.1.0 RC1 and noticed battery life is much better.
So I am going to suggest a few things you might want to try:
- Downgrade the radio to 5.08
- Full wipe and flash CM 7.1.0 RC1 (or a different custom ROM)
- Try a different kernel (I personally like Cyanogen kernel though)
- Uninstall Task Killer if you have one installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi zephyr, I previously had CM 7.1.0 RC1 with radio 5.08 and the Cyanogen kernel but the problem remained. I also tried to put my phone near the window, where it has 4 bars signal, but the battery drained just as fast. Thanks for your suggestions though.

I know T-Mobile in the states screwed up something on their network a few weeks back. In doing so, it caused massive power usage on devices when using 3G/4G. I wonder if Vodaphone Australia did something to their network as well...
http://androidandme.com/2011/08/news/is-t-mobiles-network-killing-your-battery/

install current widget, and take logs of your current draw in mA during idle to see what's going on. do an overnight test, then during the day. post your logs.

So I just stumbled across this thread. I've been having the same issue on my Desire, it started suddenly a couple of weeks ago. In 3G mode my phone drains about 120mA. In 2g it drops down to 4-8. I've eliminated all the usual suspects by doing a factory reset (using the CM7.1.0RC but have also tried the latest nightly build), so no apps running in the background, and tried different versions of the radio. I am also with Vodafone in Australia. One thing that I have found is that if I go into Phone Info I can force the phone to make an EDGE connection by choosing the "AUS2" frequency band, and with an EDGE connection I get the good battery usage. But if I choose "AUS" or "AUTO", the phone makes an HSDPA connection and this drains the hell out of my battery.
Just wondering if the OP has had any joy with this?

stanleyguan said:
Hi guys,
I have a Nexus One purchased from Google last year. I only started using 3G this month with Vodafone Australia. My battery drains ridiculously fast on 3G compared to 2G. On HSDPA("3.5G") network with everything off (including data) it uses 5-10% per hour standby. On 2G it drains less than 1% per hour. Using a battery monitor app I can see that 2G draws less than 10mA while 3G draws 25-100mA.
Since on 2G battery life is very good this should not be a problem with any software running in the background. I also tried the following with no help:
- Dial *#*#4636#*#*, set to WCDMA only instead of WCDMA preferred, and select radio bands to AUS BANDS
- Upgrade radio to the latest Korean version
- Force the phone to use UMTS instead of HSDPA network by editing build.prop
I tried both the stock 2.3.4 ROM and the latest CM nightly, but the problem persists. I really want to take the full advantage of 3G and leave it on all the time so this is very frustrating to me. I can use Toggle2G to automatically switch to 3G when screen is on, but that's not what I really want. I know although 3G uses more battery it should not be that dramatic. After all the specified standby time on 3G/2G are 250/290h by Google. With 3G my phone won't last even a day purely on standby.
I also wonder if it can be a problem with the network. My signal strength on 3G is around 2 bars - not particularly bad. It almost never loses signal. If anyone can post a ROM/radio from Vodafone Australia for me to try out that would be greatly appreciated too.
Thanks all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Juicedefender Ultimate, it shuts down data when not in use. I see 1-2%/hr max when used with a good kernel.

ctfrommn said:
Try Juicedefender Ultimate, it shuts down data when not in use. I see 1-2%/hr max when used with a good kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alas it's not the data, this happens even with the data turned off. It's something to do with the baseband connection.

It's not data here either.
This just started happening on my 100% stock unlocked N1 about 2 weeks ago. (ATT)
Most of the time at work I'm on WiFi, yes the signal (cell) is very bad in my office. Has been for a long time, something else is strange.
No extra tasks running, nothing new installed.
Gets piping hot when on the charger - sucks juice like crazy when off.
Checked data log - nothing unusual transmitting...

What sort of area do you operate your phone in? My phone used to drain like mad inside my house (perth- vodafone) and in areas with spotty coverage. In my house my reception would be on the very edge of 3g with no bars and EDGE, constantly switching between the two. Do you have your wifi policy set to on while sleeping? Provided you aren't out and about all day, that would help, though i assume if you've had the phone that long, youd have changed the wifi sleep policy by now.

My wifi is always on - never has changed.
It gets hot at home where there is good reception and at work where there is crap.
I've had the phone for over 1.5 years and this just cropped up.
I rooted my wifes N1 and she doesn't have any issues...

liam.lah said:
What sort of area do you operate your phone in? My phone used to drain like mad inside my house (perth- vodafone) and in areas with spotty coverage. In my house my reception would be on the very edge of 3g with no bars and EDGE, constantly switching between the two. Do you have your wifi policy set to on while sleeping? Provided you aren't out and about all day, that would help, though i assume if you've had the phone that long, youd have changed the wifi sleep policy by now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also in Perth, on Vodafone. I get a pretty decent signal strength at home, and it seems to be happening to me wherever I go, unless I'm "lucky" enough to get an EDGE connection. This started overnight, almost exactly two weeks ago. I've been speaking with Vodafone about this at length but not really getting anywhere. Yesterday they swapped my SIM but it didn't make any difference.
Yep, wifi is set to never sleep.
I bought a prepaid SIM card from another provider a few days ago. I only get a UMTS connection with them, but still the current drain when idle is what is considered "normal", 4-6mA.
One thought I've had is that maybe I never had an HSDPA connection before but recent network upgrades have meant that I'm suddenly getting one. Still, 125mA is way too big a drain and seems to indicate something wrong with the phone.
The last test I can think to do is to swap SIM cards with a friend who is on a third network, who gets an HSDPA connection. He has a Nexus One and gets very low current drain. At least that way I can be sure of whether it is or isn't the network. We're doing that tomorrow so stay tuned

[Q] 2g vs 3g battery life.

Hi,
I just want to know how much battery does one really saves when switching to 2g only? With fast dormancy fixed in 3g mode, is there really that much difference? And for what I know, the fast dormancy for 2g is the one has not even been fixed.
Im using toggle 2g with power saving in mind, but everytime I turn on the screen, it takes a while to switch back to 3g and gives ard 5-8sec lag. I do need 3g since I have a data plan.... but just curious abt the power saving benefits of staying in 2g all the time.
Thanks.

Truly depends upon your service providers, frequencies it works on, FD enabled/disabled by your service providers.
But usually technically 3geats more power.
Suggestion: Trial & Error. What works for others might not work for you
Sent from my LG-P990 using Tapatalk

spica1234 said:
Truly depends upon your service providers, frequencies it works on, FD enabled/disabled by your service providers.
But usually technically 3geats more power.
Suggestion: Trial & Error. What works for others might not work for you
Sent from my LG-P990 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you from me too!

Welcome
Sent from my LG-P990 using Tapatalk

I am also looking for data on battery consumption for 2G vs 3G. Some people said there is little differences and some said it make some impact on 3G network. I wrote an app to toggle 3G on/off in a set interval to extend battery life. Check this review: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1832442
It is call 3GBattery.

for me 2g with data off will last me 3 days no problem (usage only phone/sms). If i keep it on 3g with data off i get about one day and a half because the 3g coverage is poor in my country (even in my city) and it keeps searching for a signal. When i turn on data on 3g and start using facebook/youtube/browser i can see the battery drain (10% for about 30min).
Currently i keep my phone on 2g with data on every 15min (battery 2x) and turn 3g on only when i need it (2g is enough for mail) and i can get 2 days comfortably.

I use Toggle 2G/3G.
While on 2G my battery lasts at least 6 hours longer, I think even more, this is a conservative estimate.
Sent from my LG-P990 using xda app-developers app