On Wi-Fi, 4G still somehow eats more battery than 3G

[robrecht]

Confirmed. Last night I put my My Verizon data usage widget back on my home screen and waited for it to get stuck in an unsuccessful 'Connecting' loop where it keeps trying to connect but never does. I am working from home today (TGIF) so I have mobile data turned off and only WiFi on. Now, the widget is stuck in yet another unsuccessful 'Connecting' loop where it keeps trying to connect but never does. Although there is no 3G or 4G icon on my notification bar, in Quick Settings, Mobile data says "Unknown" and the on/off toggle for Mobile data is grayed out. Note that under Settings, Wireless & networks, Mobile network, this is NOT checked, so it does not say "Use phone for data connection when WiFi is unavailable" and my WiFi connection IS available and in good working order and or I would not be able to post this post. It very much seems as if the My Verizon data usage widget is therefore malfunctioning and draining my battery by trying to connect over 3G and not succeeding. Might also explained why my battery drained completely overnight while I was sleeping. Is it not connecting because of the well known data connectivity problems with this phone/network? Or is it just a very poorly designed widget?

EDIT: So next I removed the My Verizon Data Usage widget, turned off WiFi, rebooted the phone. Was able to establish a 3G connection now through Menu, Settings, Wireless & networks, Mobile network, checking Mobile network ("Use phone for data connection when WiFi is unavailable"), put the My Verizon Data Usage widget back on my home screen and lo and behold it is once again stuck once again in a yet another unsuccessful 'Connecting' loop where it keeps trying to connect but never does.

IMHO Verizon should encourage people who have this malfunctioning version of My Verizon to root their phones and remove it ... maybe replace it with the working apk that many of us were already using before MR2. But, of course, they wouldn't want us to be able to remove bloatware, now, would they?

 

[eagle63]

I'm not a thunderbolt owner and just randomly stumbled on this thread (so I could be way off here), but isn't LTE a separate radio from CDMA? So on my Evo, if I turn on 4g that means the wimax radio - which is a completely separate radio - is powered up. It doesn't matter if I'm also using wifi or not, my battery will be draining because I've another radio on. Not draining as much as if I was actively USING 4g, but still draining a decent amount.

Is that what's happening here, or did I miss something?

 

[Sentrix]

EDIT: So next I removed the My Verizon Data Usage widget, turned off WiFi, rebooted the phone. Was able to establish a 3G connection now through Menu, Settings, Wireless & networks, Mobile network, checking Mobile network ("Use phone for data connection when WiFi is unavailable"), put the My Verizon Data Usage widget back on my home screen and lo and behold it is once again stuck once again in a yet another unsuccessful 'Connecting' loop where it keeps trying to connect but never does.

Yep, that's exactly what it was. Removed the My Verizon Data Widget (didn't really need it anyway as I have the unlimited plan) then rebooted and today I haven't been able to replicate the problem. Battery drain is now lower on Wi-Fi and doesn't change regardless of whether the toggle is on 3G or 4G.