DO NOT USE "Best Wi-Fi performance"!

[crxssi]

If I don't have that set on, my phone keeps dropping its wifi connection. I've seen it with more than one router over the last week. Son in law's phone stays connected no problems, and he has the performance setting off, and much better battery life than I get. So the setting definitely seems to (1) work and (2) suck power like crazy.

Mine never seems to drop connection as long as I am near the same access point. But with the setting off, mine appears to not try to connect to newly present (but known) access points while in standby and only until many seconds after the phone is awakened. With the setting on, it seems to do that in the background.

I am really not sure AT ALL what it is doing with setting on vs. off, this is just casual observation and some speculation on my part...

But there is no denying the setting, when "on", devastates the battery.

 

[crxssi]

Anyone checked the manual (not the quick reference guide) I dont want to download the PDF since you guys all have them close by presumably.

The only manual I can find is the 231 page one here: HTC EVO

When I search it for "best wi-fi" I get zero results. When I look for it manually, there is nothing.

Meanwhile, I have reported this issue to HTC, let's see if we get a meaningful response (of course, I will share it).

 

[KSmithInNY]

Who the heck knows for sure other than HTC but it does make you wonder why you'd code and introduce a OEM specific feature and not document what/why/when at all.

 

[gmtom1]

Make sure to let us know.... you will know pretty quickly. I still need verification.

Ok, it's only been 2hrs, 19mins on battery, but initial results are very positive. At 89% now, and "Android OS" has dropped from being consistently #1 before, to #5, and "awake" time is now only 3 minutes.

 

[KSmithInNY]

Man a quick search of HTCs support forums show not only has this been happening for a long time but to lots of devices including the aria, thunderbolt, rezound, and HTC one series. All have issue with wifi connection and always at some point that setting gets brought up.

well if you keep it turned off that seems smart but if you notice that after a period of time your phone disconnects and wont reconnect, you'll probably want to try http://www.androidcentral.com/how-work-around-wifi-disconnection-issues-htc-one-x-and-one-s

 

[541rrhse]

Ok, it's only been 2hrs, 19mins on battery, but initial results are very positive. At 89% now, and "Android OS" has dropped from being consistently #1 before, to #5, and "awake" time is now only 3 minutes.

2h 26m "Android OS" is now #5 for me as well, battery is still @100%.

CPU total 1m 32s
Keep awake 1s

 

[AppleR112]

@crxssi

I took your posted advice last night and turned off "WiFi Performance".... Today? BINGO! That was the culprit draining my battery and keeping the phone awake. No problems here using WiFi. THANKS!

 

[joshua.worth]

Before and after reading all your posts I still firmly believe this simply increase power of your WiFi radio hence a bit more battery usage and Ive had several of the devices listed with best WiFi performance always turned on never had battery issues other than the same that all Android devices have. You guys are seriously complaining about 10-13 hours of battery use? I say that's awesome I'd bet all the editors for AC would agree.

You could very well have a bug on your hand though but that's just it a bug specific to your device not this setting on all HTC devices

 

[Kurt85]

Wow, I bet this is going to fix my issue! I thought I was going thru batter quicker that I expected, and I'm on wifi most of the time now that I don't have 4G anymore like I used to. Thanks!

 

[elrubirosso]

i was not aware of this setting but after doing a couple of speed test of my this is what i got.
19.02 mbps download 8 mbps upload this is with regular settings
34.01 mbps download 7.5 mbps upload with best wifi settings. wow!!!!

 

[crxssi]

Before and after reading all your posts I still firmly believe this simply increase power of your WiFi radio hence a bit more battery usage and Ive had several of the devices listed with best WiFi performance always turned on never had battery issues other than the same that all Android devices have. You guys are seriously complaining about 10-13 hours of battery use? I say that's awesome I'd bet all the editors for AC would agree.

Yes, but 10-13 hours of battery use when only used for 15 min during the day and no calls, no polling, no streaming, and good signals? No, that is not good for THIS device. I went all day the first day with this phone- 14 hours on battery and had used only something like 10% of the battery!

You could very well have a bug on your hand though but that's just it a bug specific to your device not this setting on all HTC devices

I, too, believe it is probably just related to this handset. There is no way it could be out there like this in the wild on lots of other established models and people not notice their battery life being cut by 2/3rds or more.

 

[crxssi]

i was not aware of this setting but after doing a couple of speed test of my this is what i got.
19.02 mbps download 8 mbps upload this is with regular settings
34.01 mbps download 7.5 mbps upload with best wifi settings. wow!!!!

I can NOT confirm such dramatic findings. I took the best of dozen repeated tests on each:

32.5Mb/s down, 9.1 Mb/s up with "Best Wi-Fi performance" off
36.0Mb/s down, 8.6 Mb/s up with "Best Wi-Fi performance" on

Not much difference. The averages on each are about the same, which are both lower than the above highest numbers. This is with WiFi G, WEP security, about 2 feet from the WiFi router, in absolutely the same spot, connected to Cox through a cable modem. You can't just do a few speed tests with something like speedtest.net and have it mean something, there are far too many factors.

My conclusion is that if the setting does anything at all (other than destroy the battery), it is not much... At least not for download speed. But like I said in my first posting, the word "performance" can mean lots of different things.

 

[icebike]

For those looking to check/change this you need to:

-click on "settings"
-click on "wifi"
-hit the "three-dot" menu button on the upper right of the wi-fi page
-Click on "advanced"
-then you will be on the page where you can click on or off the "best wi-fi" feature. It warns you btw that it may consume more batter.

The operative word is MAY.

If you are far from your router it MAY use more battery.
If you are close to your router, it won't.

I'm still EASILY getting 18 hours on my HOX (international) without even bothering to try to conserve battery, wifi on all the time, GPS on all the time, Bluetooth on all the time, and using it very frequently. And yes, best wifi performance is turned on. All turning and all burning.

I think the lead post in this thread is so much overwrought hyperventilating.

 

[icebike]

This is with WiFi G, WEP security, about 2 feet from the WiFi router,

My conclusion is that if the setting does anything at all (other than destroy the battery), it is not much... At least not for download speed. But like I said in my first posting, the word "performance" can mean lots of different things.

Step away from the router.
Best performance has to do with power consumption in fringe areas, not two feet from the router. Some speculate it only will show any affects on an 802.11N router, and if you turn it off, it just tries to connect with 801.11G, saving half the radio channels.

 

[crxssi]

The operative word is MAY.

If you are far from your router it MAY use more battery.
If you are close to your router, it won't.

I'm still EASILY getting 18 hours on my HOX (international) without even bothering to try to conserve battery, wifi on all the time, GPS on all the time, Bluetooth on all the time, and using it very frequently. And yes, best wifi performance is turned on. All turning and all burning.

I think the lead post in this thread is so much overwrought hyperventilating.

I think that you have no idea what you are talking about. PLUS I am offended by the tone of your last line.

1) The HTC One X (International) you have is not the same device. It is not even the same CPU or chipset. And the build of the OS is different.

2) The distance from the WiFi router makes absolutely NO DIFFERENCE in the amount of battery drain observed with this bug. In one of my tests, the Evo was two feet away from the router the ENTIRE TIME it was off the charger, and the 3 times normal discharge rate was about the same as when I was at work, far away from the nearest router.

3) There is nothing "overwrought" or "hyperventilating" about a setting wiping out your battery three times faster than normal

4) There are already reports now, IN THIS THREAD, of people confirming my findings.

5) If you had bothered to read the first posting, then you would know that you could easily verify if you have a similar bug, because if you did, you would have "Keep awake" times almost as long as the "On battery" time.

 

[crxssi]

Step away from the router.
Best performance has to do with power consumption in fringe areas, not two feet from the router.

As said in other posts, nobody has shown that the "Best performance" mode relates to any particular aspect of WiFi. The purpose of my test was not to simulate effects of distance, only affects on speed, to show that his report is not a valid conclusion.

Some speculate it only will show any affects on an 802.11N router, and if you turn it off, it just tries to connect with 801.11G, saving half the radio channels.

Exactly- it is all speculation as to what the setting does or doesn't do. So far, we only know one thing FOR SURE that it does on the Evo LTE.... totally ruin the battery life.

 

[crxssi]

This thread caught the attention of Android Central main page: http://www.androidcentral.com/3-clicks-and-im-404-att-one-x-stock-forums

"HTC EVO 4G LTE Forums - DO NOT USE "Best Wi-Fi performance"!"

Hopefully the word will spread quickly. I don't want a stupid setting bug to translate into a bunch of people upset with their would-be unbelievably great battery lives.

 

[gmtom1]

This "fix" definitely confirmed for me what was draining my battery. I had turned this setting on from day 1, thinking it was "better" and the battery impact would be minimal. Since that time, I've consistently been getting 12-14 hours on battery before getting a low battery warning at 15%. When I would check my usage, Android OS was always #1, and my keep awake time was consistently 10-11+ hours. This is with minimal use, no phone calls, push email and wifi connected for 95% of the time (while I'm at work and home). I wasn't dissatisfied with the phone's battery life, but I was curious why others were reporting such stellar results compared with what I was getting.

Turned the setting off at lunch today, with a full charge on the battery, I'm now at 86% after almost 5 hrs use, with screen now moving up to #1 usage and android OS at #6. Awake time is only 5 mins now!

I haven't noticed any significant decline in wifi performance yet with the setting off and my before / after speed tests have little to no difference.

Much thanks to the OP for discovering this. Now I finally have the battery life that everyone else is getting!

 

[Nasko]

I do want to say that when you have it, wifi never disconnects. Before that my wifi would randomly disconnect and reconnect shortly. Havent had the chance to tedt battery life yet.

 

[Impulses]

This setting was present on the EVO 3D as well, and all I ever read about it was the same story, big impact on battery life and negligible impact on performance.

I don't think even intricate reviews like Anandtech's ever explored what it truly does, tho I know they've mentioned it in passing... I've never bothered to search on Xda to see if anyone's tested it in detail, never had any Wifi issues so no reason to mess with it.