Massive Battery Drain??? Check your WiFi Connectivity

[Bob61]

After having some great experience with battery life I ran into a situation over the past few days where my Maxx would begin to get warm, checking the battery it was draining big time. Nothing seemed unusual, but I did track it down to WiFi connectivity issue. For reasons I still need to understand, my Maxx would suddenly loose the ability to connect to my router. As I looked at the WiFi settings I could see it was just cycling on/off trying to connect to my router, hence causing a huge battery drain and my unit to heat up.

Even power cycling the phone didn't clear the problem, I did a reset of my router and everything then went back to normal. What is really strange is all my other wireless devices (laptops, tablets and Tivo's) all continued to maintain a connection despite my Maxx being unable to connect. So if you are having problems with sudden battery drain you might want to look at your WiFi settings and see if you are having a similar issue.

Now to track down what's the cause of this, my router, my Maxx or something else.

 

[bradenfontaine]

what kind of router is it?

do you have any security enabled as in password?

what other devices are connected to the router?

 

[Bob61]

I have Netgear WNDR3400. Security is set-up as WPA2-PSK (I've tried changing this to WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK and had similar issues). My Maxx will initially connect, stay connected for a period of time and then go into a tail spin of lost connection and consistent re-trying to connect.

Other devices connected are 3 laptops, 1 desktop, 2 tablets and 3 Tivo's. They all remain connected despite the Maxx losing connection to the router.

 

[bradenfontaine]

what are your wifi settings on your Razr. does wifi stay on even when it sleeps?

 

[Bob61]

Set to Keep Wifi on during sleep. Turned off the Notify Me when Wifi is available.

 

[maxman1]

Set to Keep Wifi on during sleep. Turned off the Notify Me when Wifi is available.

FWIW, I have the same router and have no issues using Netgear defaults. I do have fewer wi-fi devices in use at any one time however so this may be a clue.


Sent from my Verizon 4G RAZR Maxx using Tapatalk 2

 

[SoccerRef12]

I use Smart Actions to turn on WiFi at known locations and to turn off data if WiFi is connected. Seems to improve battery life.

 

[Bob61]

I've reset my router and reconfigured it again. Perhaps I had fat fingered something, but can't think of any reason why all other devices stay connected but the Maxx wouldn't. Now reconfigured and everything rebooted it looks like it working fine.

My main purpose was to alert people that have battery drain to check their wifi. I just see several people complaining about bad battery life so perhaps they have encountered a similar issue as I did with problem connecting to the wifi. Not real obvious why you see a sudden drainage of the battery.

And now that I think about it ---- I just wonder if I was getting some IP conflict with my Maxx and another device. Hmmm..... now I think about that possibility. But again perhaps that helps someone who has a similar issue going forward.

 

[Eclipse2K]

The real issue here is that you're using a NetGear router. I would never recommend these to anyone as they cause nothing but problems for my friends that have then. I've been a Cisco Linksys user since the beginning and its nearly flawless. Hope you figure out why the Maxx doesn't connect though.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Bob61]

I've had Cisco Linksys routers, the E3000, two of them to be exact. Why two? Because first croaked on me, replaced by Cisco Linksys under warranty. Second then croaked on me as well. So much for Cisco quality, decided to go with their competition.

Honestly I can't bash the router. I've had the WNDR3400 for about a month, it has been solid and great throughput and signal has slightly exceeded that of my prior E3000. The UI on the config is pretty full featured too.

 

[maxman1]

I used Linksys for years until the last one went absolutely nuts. The current Netgear models are the ultimate in setup simplicity and far more user friendly connecting older components. In any case, better throughput as well but it's difficult to compare routers of different models and vintage.

Sent from my Verizon 4G RAZR Maxx using Tapatalk 2

 

[MA2GA28]

I am, as of late, having a similar issue and I have a D Link router. All other devices, including my wife's iPhone work fine. My Maxx went from great wifi connectivity to crap overnight, showing one bar of Wifi reception while I stand right in front of the router. I googled the issue, and it seems to be shared amongst some Maxx owners. I suspect it's a phone issue of some sort. Hopefully an update will fix it. I reset my router, and all was fine, but issue came up again 3 says later.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Eclipse2K]

I've had Cisco Linksys routers, the E3000, two of them to be exact. Why two? Because first croaked on me, replaced by Cisco Linksys under warranty. Second then croaked on me as well. So much for Cisco quality, decided to go with their competition.

Honestly I can't bash the router. I've had the WNDR3400 for about a month, it has been solid and great throughput and signal has slightly exceeded that of my prior E3000. The UI on the config is pretty full featured too.

I have had an E3000 for a while now with no issues. Sorry to see you had issues though.

As for simplicity, I find Cisco to be extremely simple to set up. Of course, my friends are confused with it so maybe I'm just more tech and network savvy lol.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[maxman1]

I am, as of late, having a similar issue and I have a D Link router. All other devices, including my wife's iPhone work fine. My Maxx went from great wifi connectivity to crap overnight, showing one bar of Wifi reception while I stand right in front of the router. I googled the issue, and it seems to be shared amongst some Maxx owners. I suspect it's a phone issue of some sort. Hopefully an update will fix it. I reset my router, and all was fine, but issue came up again 3 says later.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

A lot of the DLink problems can be traced to the date the new internet protocol (IPv5) went live. Since Google was a driving force in it's implementation there may well be a direct connection.

Sent from my Verizon 4G RAZR Maxx using Tapatalk 2

 

[SirGeorgeKillian]

I have been having that EXACT same problem! Both the router at home and at work. It only done it one time at each, but until I figured it out, my battery was like an I phones.... There was no way for me to correct it other than power cycling the router. Tried to forget and reconnect from the phone, no dice. Hasn't been a huge issue as it has only happened twice, and now I know how to fix it...

 

[MA2GA28]

I fixed my issues. The culprit? Smart Actions. I didn't even have any on, but for some reason it was still messing up Wifi. I had 4 set up (but not on), so I deleted them all, rebooted the phone, and voila! Getting full wifi bars and no stalls in data. I suggest those of you having issues try this remedy and see if it works.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX using Tapatalk 2

 

[Super Turtleman]

I find my wifi signal is rather weak unless I'm in our office (where the router is located). Kinda sucks cuz I like to use it in my living room. While it's only 30 feet away, there are a couple of walls in between. I thought an N router would be able to penetrate pretty good, so not sure if the phone is the issue. I know my laptop connects fine in the same location and my tv has a decent connection 15 feet further away. Xbox can't connect (but I need the Wireless N Adapter...so that doesn't count).

 

[bradenfontaine]

Not all routers are made alike

sent from the fingers of a madman
BradenFontaine@gmail.com

 

[Mike1348]

This is definitly a Netgear problem, I have a Nokia E5 company phone and an iPhone 4S for personal use. Every few days they both get hot and drain the battery, only cure is turn off WNDR3400 and reboot. Will give Netgear a call !!

 

[barrycinti]

This is definitly a Netgear problem, I have a Nokia E5 company phone and an iPhone 4S for personal use. Every few days they both get hot and drain the battery, only cure is turn off WNDR3400 and reboot. Will give Netgear a call !!

I have a Westell router and have no problems with it. I also have a Netgear WIFI extender it will work for awhile then hang up when teying to connect to it. This happens with my laptop, tablet, and maxx so Its the network extender. I updated the firmware and it still had the problem. What seems to work so far is to had both the router and network extender set up in th laptop, tablet, and maxx. When they try to connect let them decide whether to connect to the router or extender. The symptom I had with all of my devices was it would try to obtain an IP address over and over. On the maxx it would heat up and drain the battery. One thing,I found in searching is to assign a static IP address to your device, will try that if the issue comes up again.