Is there a way to disable 4G temporarily, in weak-signal areas?

[RedOctobyr]

I am trying to do what I can to improve my Verizon G4's battery life. At work, I get a weak cell signal. They have cell repeaters in the building, I get moderate 3G at best, sometimes 1X, or occasionally no signal at all. I will never get 4G at work, I assume the repeaters don't support it.

So is there a way to tell the phone to not look for a 4G signal? Maybe that would help reduce the battery drain when I'm at work, if I could enable/disable 4G.

When I got my Galaxy S3 back in 2012, I remember this being discussed, disabling 4G when in a poor-signal area. And I found an app that could clumsily tell the phone to only use 3G. But I think that tool stopped working a while back, and I don't remember the name offhand.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Can you connect to wifi at work? That might be the best option. Otherwise, you can probably use Tasker to at the very least kill cell data networks.

 

[belodion]

Also, are you not able to set the appropriate preferred-signal type in Mobile Network settings? I do that myself, being just outside a 4G area, to prevent the phone wasting battery by perhaps just sensing and trying to connect to that signal.

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[RedOctobyr]

We have a WiFi system, but it's cumbersome. It's the type that makes you go to a web page to log in every time, and kicks you out periodically anyhow, making you log in again.

If I shut off cell service entirely (like using Airplane Mode), I can't get/send texts or calls at all, which isn't what I want to do.

 

[Douglas_B]

Turn off mobile data: Settings -> data usage -> mobile data. This will disable 4G, but still let you receive texts and calls. If you need data, you can always turn on wifi.

When you set this option you should see the 4G symbol at the top of the phone greyed out with a line through it.

 

[TNCattleDog]

I am trying to do what I can to improve my Verizon G4's battery life. At work, I get a weak cell signal. They have cell repeaters in the building, I get moderate 3G at best, sometimes 1X, or occasionally no signal at all. I will never get 4G at work, I assume the repeaters don't support it.

So is there a way to tell the phone to not look for a 4G signal? Maybe that would help reduce the battery drain when I'm at work, if I could enable/disable 4G.

When I got my Galaxy S3 back in 2012, I remember this being discussed, disabling 4G when in a poor-signal area. And I found an app that could clumsily tell the phone to only use 3G. But I think that tool stopped working a while back, and I don't remember the name offhand.

Ha! You must work in the same building (hospital) as me. Same problems here as well with both the signal, repeaters and WiFi. Although mu G4 seems to pull in the signal much better than my G2 did.

I turned off Sync - gmail, etc and that seemed to help quite a bit. Also set Location to "battery saver".

David

 

[RedOctobyr]

Also, are you not able to set the appropriate preferred-signal type in Mobile Network settings? I do that myself, being just outside a 4G area, to prevent the phone wasting battery by perhaps just sensing and trying to connect to that signal.

With Verizon, when I go to Mobile Network settings, then "System select" my only choices are Global, LTE/CDMA, or LTE/GSM/UMTS. Do you get other choices?

Turn off mobile data: Settings -> data usage -> mobile data. This will disable 4G, but still let you receive texts and calls. If you need data, you can always turn on wifi.

When you set this option you should see the 4G symbol at the top of the phone greyed out with a line through it.

Interesting, I will have to try this, thank you. As mentioned, our WiFi system is annoying to use, with never knowing if the connection is still "live", or if you'll have to open a web browser and log into the system again before data will actually be transferred over WiFi.

Ha! You must work in the same building (hospital) as me. Same problems here as well with both the signal, repeaters and WiFi. Although mu G4 seems to pull in the signal much better than my G2 did.

I turned off Sync - gmail, etc and that seemed to help quite a bit. Also set Location to "battery saver".

David

Also a useful suggestion, thank you. I do have Location set to Battery Saver already, which hopefully helps a bit.

 

[Almeuit]

With Verizon, when I go to Mobile Network settings, then "System select" my only choices are Global, LTE/CDMA, or LTE/GSM/UMTS. Do you get other choices?

Verizon doesn't allow you to switch to 3G only on their LTE phones. I believe you can with root but that is it.

 

[dpham00]

Turn off mobile data: Settings -> data usage -> mobile data. This will disable 4G, but still let you receive texts and calls. If you need data, you can always turn on wifi.

When you set this option you should see the 4G symbol at the top of the phone greyed out with a line through it.

This. Also disable volte.

Sent from my Verizon Moto G

 

[Cwey55]

There's also a mobile data toggle in the quick settings that are organizable, the top 5 will be in the notification drop down and you can scroll to the right for more too.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[dunamis]

turn off 4g?

i heard that when you're not in a good 4g area...saves battery to turn 4g off. I can't anywhere on the settings to turn in off....any help?

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: turn off 4g?

If you go to Settings>Wireless & Networks>Mobile Networks, is there a Preferred Network Type option?

 

[belodion]

With Verizon, when I go to Mobile Network settings, then "System select" my only choices are Global, LTE/CDMA, or LTE/GSM/UMTS. Do you get other choices?

I don't think the answer will be helpful to you now, but on my International unlocked H815, I have:
GSM/WCDMA/LTE auto
GSM/WCDMA auto
WCDMA only

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[RedOctobyr]

I just realized that I didn't explicitly state it in my original post, which may have caused confusion:

I would like to disable 4G, and simply force the phone to use a "max" of 3G. I am not looking to disable the cell radio, or data access, altogether. Merely to avoid having the phone looking for something all day (4G) which it will never find.

If I could make it drop back to 3G, I'd still be able to get calls and texts, and use data without dealing with our clumsy WiFi system, so no functionality would be lost. It just wouldn't be looking for a nonexistent 4G signal at work.

 

[RedOctobyr]

Verizon doesn't allow you to switch to 3G only on their LTE phones. I believe you can with root but that is it.

Well that is unfortunate. Maybe root will help.

If you go to Settings>Wireless & Networks>Mobile Networks, is there a Preferred Network Type option?

There is not, at least nothing beyond what I mentioned earlier, "Global, LTE/CDMA, or LTE/GSM/UMTS". I have changed it to LTE/CDMA, which I believe is correct for Verizon. I tried switching it to LTE/GSM/UMTS, and it appeared to lose the connection with the network. I didn't poke around in there, admittedly, but I don't *think* that would be the correct choice for Verizon.

 

[djh2011]

OP, I am on Verizon also. I was told that having phone on Global mode it will always be actively searching for 4G even if there isn't one. However, selecting LTE/CDMA mode will create a passive search and will only select 4G if signal is available. So, it will save some battery life when not in a 4G area.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[KyonCoraeL]

I have recently moved accross the country and noticed my LTE reception is poor in this city. Setting the preferred network to 3G does help alot in terms of battery life as mentioned by @Douglas_b

 

[RedOctobyr]

Kyon, what carrier are you using? Verizon does not provide that option, unfortunately.