[Help][50% SOLVED] LTE = random heavy battery drain aka "plummet"

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

I'm on Verizon and my phone did the exact same thing as jeffreii's tonight. Everything was running fine until about 6pm and then a steady plummet from about 65% to 20% over three hours with a corresponding increase in device temperature. I rebooted the phone and now the battery drain has flattened out and the temperature has dropped.

The phone was on WiFi the whole time.

So, it's not just a GSM issue.

Mobile connection is still there in the background either way. If you turn wifi on or off it doesn't matter. Even if you turn wifi AND mobile data off, it still drains. The only way to stop (and presumably prevent) it is to enable airplane mode to turn off the radio entirely.

The fact that turning off wifi and mobile data does not stop it makes it seem like it's the phone radio, not the data connection. I need to join a few others here in testing a HSPA only connection to see if it's the LTE switching that triggers it but I'm not really comfortable with the APN settings.

Thanks for sharing your findings. Hopefully we just get an OTA fix for this ASAP and can stop trying to figure it out ourselves!

 

[carefreelife]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

You are da man. I can confirm this works.

My phone usually starts to warm up and has this mysterious battery draining issue after browsing picasa using Chrome with mobile data. The plummet persists after turning off mobile data (wifi, gps, everything you name it). As jeffreii noted, it stops after switching to airplane mode, which is not a solution.

It happened today, and I went ahead switched the APN to wap.cingular. Right after that, the phone starts to behave normally, whithout a reboot. So at least in my case, I can pinpoint the issue to the GSM network... I am just not sure why this was not reported in other LTE phones

 

[carefreelife]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

Since since I switched to HSPA so far have not had any random battery drains (10-20%/hr), and have been able to use everything normally (phone, data, wifi, GPS). By now, on LTE, would have definitely had at least one battery drain occur. I will keep on HSPA and write again if I do experience a drain. I really suspect that the battery drain is triggered by the phone trying to change networks from LTE and HSPA and not being able to do so.

Further evidence of this: on a prior xda post (http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...1791955&page=2), somebody discusses how LTE does not carry voice and AT&T puts you in LTE on standby and then switches to HSPA when a call comes in and then back when you are done. I remember 2-3 battery drains being triggered by a phone call. Other times, when I had bad signal, the network changed from LTE to HSPA also (in Settings->About Device->Status) This could explain the randomness of the drains.
Also, I randomly searched and found some highly technical papers that seemed to say it is hard to negotiate the change. 2G/3G changes are easy, but LTE to 3G/4G is not that easy. Also, when I switch networks manually, through settings and selecting APN, the battery heat up and drain start. So, I do believe that this is the cause, will continue on HSPA to make sure. On HSPA also the standby battery life is incredible (1% overnight -- with sync on, no data)

So I do hope the solution is in the works, really got used to LTE speeds. You can of course, switch to LTE network by going into the settings and changing, but takes 4-5 extra clicks. Hopefully some OTA ROM update, which jeffrei posted previously, or the Voice Over LTE that is hopefully coming (http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-...-VoLTE-392288/) so the phone would not have to constantly change networks with every call.

Other things I don't know -> There are settings on the GSAM app, international versions of the phone, and I believe the Verizon phones in the US, that talk about LTE RAM dumps, enabling SMS over IMS. If anybody knows more about this, or a toggle that works on AT&T that allows quick switching of networks (which I believe AT&T does not actually allow), would be great.

Hope this helps people. To set up new APN...go to Settings->Wireless and Network Settings: More Settings ->MObile Networks->Access Point Names. Then menu button, New APN, and under APN add "wap.cingular" and whatever Name you want. I think I had to wait or reboot after or something.

You are da man. I can confirm this works.

My phone usually starts to warm up and has this mysterious battery draining issue after browsing picasa using Chrome with mobile data. The plummet persists after turning off mobile data (wifi, gps, everything you name it). As jeffreii noted, it stops after switching to airplane mode, which is not a solution.

It happened today, and I went ahead switched the APN to wap.cingular. Right after that, the phone starts to behave normally, whithout a reboot. So at least in my case, I can pinpoint the issue to the GSM network... I am just not sure why this was not reported in other LTE phones.

 

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

I'm still not comfortable with the APN change because I don't know how all the other settings should be configured.

I have been experimenting with a different method that is also partially working. Hopefully between these two we can find a solid way to test. I would want to run without LTE for at least a week, seeing no plummet, to say it works.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-galaxy-s-iii/201259-how-disable-lte-t-s3.html

 

[carefreelife]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

I'm still not comfortable with the APN change because I don't know how all the other settings should be configured.

I have been experimenting with a different method that is also partially working. Hopefully between these two we can find a solid way to test. I would want to run without LTE for at least a week, seeing no plummet, to say it works.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-galaxy-s-iii/201259-how-disable-lte-t-s3.html

okay, i see the problem with wap.cingular apn. by going that route, I saw my phone frequently lost and regained signal (for a brief period of 30seconds). i searched and it had been reported by numerous people. i guess AT&T really just wants you to stay on their LTE (if your phone supports it) and shuts you off periodically (but ATT please at least fix your network first! no one wants to have a dead battery unexpectedly or got fried by the antenna).

I followed Jeffreii's method, and selected WCDMA (this is 3G and 4G data for ATT, don't get confused with the CDMA network - it took me some googling to figure this out). Following rebooting, my phone hopped on 4G (using the default PTA APN) - yeah! haven't seen any signal lost for the past 30 minutes since this change. hopefully this solves the battery issue, at least temporarily

 

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

okay, i see the problem with wap.cingular apn. by going that route, I saw my phone frequently lost and regained signal (for a brief period of 30seconds). i searched and it had been reported by numerous people. i guess AT&T really just wants you to stay on their LTE (if your phone supports it) and shuts you off periodically (but ATT please at least fix your network first! no one wants to have a dead battery unexpectedly or got fried by the antenna).

I followed Jeffreii's method, and selected WCDMA (this is 3G and 4G data for ATT, don't get confused with the CDMA network - it took me some googling to figure this out). Following rebooting, my phone hopped on 4G (using the default PTA APN) - yeah! haven't seen any signal lost for the past 30 minutes since this change. hopefully this solves the battery issue, at least temporarily

Thanks carefreelife! I've tried the WCDMA setting and am also on 4G (HSPA) now despite being in a strong LTE area. I've updated this thread with the proper steps to achieve it:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-galaxy-s-iii/201259-how-disable-lte-t-s3.html

I am now leaving it on this setting for at least a week to see if I get the "plummet" again. Hopefully this finally solves the "why" it's happening but it's hard to have confidence when everything else I've tried has failed. Fingers crossed!

 

[parshah11]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

Its true, I do lose signal switching occasionally with wap.cingular. Doesn't bother me too much. I live in Chicago, may be different everywhere.

I am really interested to know how it is being on PTA APN with 4G (HSPA). What are the data speeds like and standby battery life. Also, since you are not switching APNs, but just LTE to HSPA on one APN (PTA). I wonder if a toggle exists to get you back to LTE. Like a 3G/4G toggle that puts you back to LTE. Such as the ones that are out there for other networks. Then maybe we can get LTE speeds, shut if off and back to HSPA, and avoid the battery drains also.

 

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

Its true, I do lose signal switching occasionally with wap.cingular. Doesn't bother me too much. I live in Chicago, may be different everywhere.

I am really interested to know how it is being on PTA APN with 4G (HSPA). What are the data speeds like and standby battery life. Also, since you are not switching APNs, but just LTE to HSPA on one APN (PTA). I wonder if a toggle exists to get you back to LTE. Like a 3G/4G toggle that puts you back to LTE. Such as the ones that are out there for other networks. Then maybe we can get LTE speeds, shut if off and back to HSPA, and avoid the battery drains also.

I doubt you could toggle it any faster than the SIM removal trick. With the SIM in, the phone is blocked from changing those settings...so I don't see any current way to let it change the setting without taking the SIM out.

It may be possible but there is no other method out there, that I can find, that lets you change which bands your phone prefers despite being RAT locked by AT&T.

Those of you who have been on the wap.cingular APN without LTE for several days now...has your plummet completely gone away? I'm still continuing to watch for mine...can't say anything conclusive yet.

 

[wowpaw]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

I'm on Verizon and my phone did the exact same thing as jeffreii's tonight. Everything was running fine until about 6pm and then a steady plummet from about 65% to 20% over three hours with a corresponding increase in device temperature. I rebooted the phone and now the battery drain has flattened out and the temperature has dropped.

The phone was on WiFi the whole time.

So, it's not just a GSM issue.

Yeah I posted earlier I was on verizon and am having the same issue. Still have not found a culprit and am basically just "living with it" and hoping something in the future includes a fix for this. Luckily plugging in the charger to my phone "resets" it and stops the plummeting.

 

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

Yeah I posted earlier I was on verizon and am having the same issue. Still have not found a culprit and am basically just "living with it" and hoping something in the future includes a fix for this. Luckily plugging in the charger to my phone "resets" it and stops the plummeting.

I wonder if it's the same issue considering mine is NOT fixed by charging. I can charge to full and as soon as I take it off, the plummet continues.

Anyways - small update on my LTE-disabled test. It's been 57 hours and no plummet. Honestly it means nothing. I'll want to make it through this week without reboot/plummet before I blame the whole thing on LTE. I will report back either way.

 

[Black_1]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

I'm having the same problem right now. It's been an issue now for about 3-4 weeks. Maybe longer just can't identify when the issue became a problem. I dont have a screen capture app but, 5 minutes ago I took my phone off the charger at 100% charged. went on Instagram or Plume (twitter client) for a few minutes and the battery indicator drops to 15% battery charge. doesn't "just" happen with these apps it happens with any usage of the phone all together. Looking at the battery usage it shows 3 minutes 29 seconds on battery. A drastic drop in battery charge.

At first I thought it may be because I'm near a runway, local interfernce from the flight control tower but it happens when I'm home too.

The thing is when I plug the phone back in (when off) the battery charge meter shows 100% charge or close to it. If I turn it back on, it shows 10-15% for a few minutes and then shuts itself off.

Very frustrating and am thinking of factory resetting the unit. I'm not rooted... I run the phone stock so I'm not sure what the problem could be. Never had a problem till recently. Any help would be appreciated before I take this bad boy and sling it accross the flight line.

 

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

I'm having the same problem right now. It's been an issue now for about 3-4 weeks. Maybe longer just can't identify when the issue became a problem. I dont have a screen capture app but, 5 minutes ago I took my phone off the charger at 100% charged. went on Instagram or Plume (twitter client) for a few minutes and the battery indicator drops to 15% battery charge. doesn't "just" happen with these apps it happens with any usage of the phone all together. Looking at the battery usage it shows 3 minutes 29 seconds on battery. A drastic drop in battery charge.

At first I thought it may be because I'm near a runway, local interfernce from the flight control tower but it happens when I'm home too.

The thing is when I plug the phone back in (when off) the battery charge meter shows 100% charge or close to it. If I turn it back on, it shows 10-15% for a few minutes and then shuts itself off.

Very frustrating and am thinking of factory resetting the unit. I'm not rooted... I run the phone stock so I'm not sure what the problem could be. Never had a problem till recently. Any help would be appreciated before I take this bad boy and sling it accross the flight line.

You can take a screenshot without an app - either swipe your entire hand across the screen (assuming you don't have this motion disabled) or press and hold the power button and home button at the same time (I prefer this method).

Anyways, this doesn't sound at all like the "plummet" I have described. You say your phone charges to 100% then you only get a few minutes of use out of it before it shuts down? That sounds like a faulty battery to me. Even when I get my "plummet" and my battery drops quickly, I still have a few hours left before it dies.

QUICK THREAD UPDATE: Still no plummet with LTE disabled - nearly 4.5 days now since I rebooted. Another 2-3 days without it and I will cautiously say that the problem is caused by LTE.

 

[Black_1]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

And the problem was....a Bad Battery. Never paid attention to it before but I remember my phone use to heat up pretty good a few months back. If I sit down and really think about it I'm pretty sure thats when the problems began.

I took my battery out and sat it down on the table to inspect the phone and I never really paid attention before but... the dam battery was slighty swolen! wouldn't have realized it if it didn't rock back and forth as I placed it on the desk. Once I picked it up and really inspected it... sure enough it was bulging a bit. Went to the Verizon... they no longer carry those batteries in the store. Guess that's a sign I need to upgrade but, I love my phone... it does what I want it to do and outside of this haven't had any other problems but, I did sneak a peak at that Samsung GalaxyS III in white.....daddy likes!

In the end a new battery cost me $30 bucks... good deal

 

[Dhendy91]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

Hi guys glad to see that switching from LTE fixied it for you, if it does start happening again though post back as I have an idea of what it could be

 

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

UPDATE:

I'm at 7.5 days now - LTE disabled, no reboots. NO PLUMMET. I am quite optimistic now that this is a temporary workaround. My battery has been nice and stable! Finally! Honestly I don't miss LTE that much either, but it'd be nice to have it of course...

Method to disable LTE:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-...isable-lte-t-s3-you-can-disable-hspa-too.html

Next steps:
1) I've had WIFI off this whole time so now I'll try and go 3-4 days with WIFI on and LTE disabled and make sure the plummet stays away.

2) After that I'll be re-enabling LTE just to confirm that the plummet returns with it.

 

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help][Updated] LTE = heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

3 days with WIFI on and LTE still disabled. Still no plummet. That makes 10 days total now.

I've just turned LTE back on and expect to see the plummet reappear in the next few days, confirming my findings.

 

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help][Updated] LTE = heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

UPDATE/CONFIRMED:

The plummet is back.

After 10 days of plummet-free use with LTE disabled, it has returned after less than 48 hours uptime following my re-enabling of LTE.

For me, I am quite convinced that some LTE bug - perhaps with switching back and forth to HSPA+ - is causing the plummet. Unless some very knowledgeable devs join this discussion and help to find the root cause, I only see two options to avoid this problem:

1) Disable LTE and live with HSPA+ speeds
2) Wait for an OTA update with a fix, assuming Samsung/AT&T know about it

Personally I am sick and tired of wasting my time diagnosing this. I have lost time and enjoyment of my device trying to keep a stable testing environment. I now know the general cause and solution and am satisfied with that.

Thanks to anyone and everyone who helped.

Again, here is the link to my method for disabling LTE:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-...isable-lte-t-s3-you-can-disable-hspa-too.html
It's unfortunate that using HSPA+ only also disables 2G, but that's not really a problem for me in Miami.

SCREENSHOTS:
1) Yesterday's usage with the plummet showing up out of nowhere.
2) Charged to full last night, no reboot, plummet continues this morning. > 10% drop with no use in 1 hour. I then did a reboot to show the battery life leveling out, as expected, until the next plummet (which won't happen since I'm about to disable LTE again!).

 

[Almeuit]

I would call att and let them know. Especially if lte being on drains the battery that dramatically.

Friends of mine have the verizon one and seem to not have this problem.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Android Central Forums

 

[cjsmoove]

Re: [Help][50% SOLVED] LTE = random heavy battery drain aka "plum

^^^^^Nope.

 

[534n]

Re: [Help][50% SOLVED] LTE = random heavy battery drain aka "plum

I do not have this problem and I am on Verizon. I have a couple questions, and am sorry if they were asked/answered earlier, but they should be straightforward.

Does the phone get fairly hot during the plummet?
What does your signal strength usually look like during the plummet?
Sometimes android phones have issues with signal switching when leaving WiFi coverage.

Reading several of the posts makes it sound like a general coverage issue with data retries and signal switching. Not necessarily just radio type but frequency band and signal strength. If you are in an area of low strength and the phone is trying to send a lot of data, I believe that it will ramp up the antenna power to hold long enough to send/receive. If you remain with low service long enough this will kill your battery - with old phones it was the "Searching for service..." issue.

Are there any apps that let you log your service? With at least signal strength and maybe (not as important) radio frequency? Also counting send/receive failures would be awesome. Maybe this would be a neat idea to develop if no one has one. I will run it by a programming friend to make a phone diagnostics app if I cannot find one.

It is certainly an interesting problem. My battery drop, with no steeings disabled but power saving mode on, is about 1% per 10-15 minutes with average use on Wifi + 2 bars signal.