WiFi Turns Itself On

apoc53

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Those updates are just individual apps optimizing before boot. They are stored in the dalvik cache, which is in turn essentially saved in RAM (I know this isn't accurate, but it's treated by the OS as though it were). Every reboot clears the cache, meaning the same apps have to reoptimize every time you reboot.

I don't think AT&T has pushed any OTA updates since ICS, have they?

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KurtTX

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I hate to keep
dhorse.gif

but... I was away on a business trip out of state...my WiFi didn't turn on in the hotels I was in. But the first night I'm home, WiFi turned on at night. What is it about being "home" that causes this? BTW...my home area code is 210 while the phone is a 314 number.

Kurt
 

KurtTX

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I was up last night and checked the phone at 1 minute after midnight and the WiFi was still off. I happened to check again at 12:25am and found the Wifi on.

I used an app (SendLog) to download and email the system log to me. After going through the log between these two times, I notice the following line:

"09-20 00:22:23.990 V/SmartSyncScreenOnOffTimeReceiver(13060): auto mode screen set wifi turn on SettingOnTime=1348142400000"

The previous day's log had a similar message and the number at the end was "1348056000000". The difference in these two numbers is 86400000. Interesting that the number of seconds in a day is 86400. Unfortunately, the actual clock difference between these two system logs is not exactly 24 hours.

Does anybody know what this system message means? Is this the firmware command to turn on the WiFi once a day after midnight?

Kurt
 

apoc53

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For all the work you've done so far, why not just write a small script that wakes up when that log message posts and turns WiFi back off? Whether you can code now is irrelevant - you've shown an aptitude that quickly begets such simple things as coding ability.

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KurtTX

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You give me way too much credit! I'm reading/hearing stuff and trying to make sense of it. The Vivid and OS is way to foreign for me to consider writing scripts...now if it was something that could be done in Fortran, now you're talking.

There is an app that disables Smartsync...as near as I can tell it's supposed to turn WiFi off if it's not connected to a network. That's not my problem...Smartsync is turning it on (I think) but it's not smart enough to turn off when it's finished.

Kurt
 

Gardoglee

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Last year in an article referenced by Fierce Wireless, I read that the carriers were going to start adding a "feature" like this in order to try to reduce data load on their networks (of course, it was to be pitched to customers as a feature to speed up their network access). In effect, any time your phone was near an access point to which it could connect, it would automatically turn on WiFi. Around February, 2012, this started happening with my Samsung Epic 4G, right after a software update from Sprint. It is a real pain, particularly because it drains your battery. As an example, if you have a home AP, and you sometimes connect to it from your phone but not always, you will find that every time you are at home your phone is constantly turning on WiFi and draining the battery. I thought it might be just my Samsung, but two weeks ago I got a new Motorola Photon Q LTE. It is doing the exact same thing, although it does have the courtesy to pop up a message box each time it does this, and ask me to "make this setting permanent". I have discovered that if you do not elect to make the setting permanent, it acts as if you did select that anyway.

I have not yet found a way to disable this "feature", but I would really appreciate if anyone else could find an effective and simple way. So far the only halfway effective suggestion I have seen is to "forget" all of your WiFi connections. Of course, if you occasionally do want to connect to a secured WiFi AP, then you will have to reenter the security key each time, which sucks. Or you could just decide you will never use a secured WiFi AP again, which also sucks.
 
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KurtTX

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This is becoming my understanding as well...that the system chooses to turn on at night in order to look for updates. Using the WiFi side of things reduces the drain on the owner's data plan...I can also see that as a need to avoid extra load to the whole data system.

I would rather use my data plan as I think I have plenty of that...as opposed to using more battery. If I had the choice to get the updates via data or WiFi, I would choose data.

I have also tried the "forget this connection" with my home setup. I even tried disabling my SSID broadcast, but I think that if it connected before, it remembers the MAC address and connects anyway. I have not been able to confirm that with my logs so far. This would explain why my phone will turn WiFi on at home (because I did once use WiFi) as well as here at work (I also used the WiFi networks) but did not turn on when on a business trip because it didn't know about the motel's WiFi network.

I noticed on my home modem (U-verse, 2Wire setup) that there is a setting to block specific MAC addresses. I'm thinking of using this setting to block the MAC for my phone. That my force the phone to not turn WiFi on if it knows or finds that it can't use that as an update path.

It's a theory...to be tested out this weekend.

Kurt
 

KurtTX

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I had a discussion with someone who I've been told understands the electronics side of these phones. He had some interesting comments...they seem to make sense...but what do I know??

He said that as for power usage, little is lost by having the WiFi feature on. But that when it came to sending data to a WiFi network in the next room versus sending data to a cell tower (ie, the data plan) several miles away, less power is used for WiFi because of the distance. Now, if one is traveling down the freeway, the WiFi might consume some power when trying to scan and look for available networks. Maybe in those situations, WiFi would be best. This may have bit me this summer. I think my phone was in sleep mode with WiFi on and I was on a trip. The battery power had gone down to maybe 40% before I left but I thought that would have been sufficient. When I needed the phone several hours later, it was dead. Possibly the scanning while in motion used extra power.

Another trick he mentioned was recalibrating the 100% power level from charging. The trick was (not sure if it would work on the Vivid) is to charge the phone with it on or in sleep mode. After fully charged, turn the phone off-off, and charge again. This way, the programs that are running to monitor charge level when in sleep mode aren't there when really off, and the point of 100% charge will be redefined. This is a one-time thing...not every time.

So, I may start letting WiFi stay on and see how long my battery lasts. I've been getting about 2 days out of it anyway...not too bad.

Kurt
 

KurtTX

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I don't see any app with that name...I have other AT&T apps but not that one.

The "trick" for recalibrating the battery doesn't seem to work...at least I can't tell from any of the displays. I charged the phone this morning while it was in sleep mode. I got the green full charge light and then turned the phone off-off. Hooked it back up for charging and the green light came on fairly quickly, within 30 seconds.

Kurt
 

KurtTX

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My quick advice is to disable all Google location services. It works like a charm.

I did all that...didn't seem to work for me. Basically, I've given up. It looks like it doesn't really work against me. I'm watching to see what kind of battery life I get now.

Kurt
 

KurtTX

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Alright, can you post screen shots?

Here's my current battery screen shot...I last charged Sunday morning. I'm not a very heavy user...I did make a phone call yesterday afternoon and have done some surfing in between. My battery life seems to be slightly better...hard to tell just yet.

Kurt

Screenshot_2012-09-25-15-33-48.png
 

KurtTX

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I've had mine since March and I even got the ICS update and I never had that issue before. Why not just buy an extended battery?

What issue? You mean your WiFi is always turned off and doesn't come on by itself in the middle of the night? I thought we had more or less determined this was a "feature" of ICS.

Battery life is not so bad...I'm getting at least 2 days of life, pushing 3 days with the way I use the phone...limited calls and surfing during the week, more on the weekend. The phone is big enough as it is with the Otter box around it. IIRC, the extended battery is thicker which then means I have a heavier phone and a bigger profile. Probably not something that I really want!

Kurt
 

dcmadman

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i havn't done any thing to my phone. its stock and i have the same issue.
mobile network randomly turns itself on and uses data. i almost went over this month. this is really starting to be an issue for me.
 

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