Phone signal and it's effect on battery life

[dpham00]

A weak battery signal can affect battery life. I did a short test on my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3. First, I ran it about 30 minutes in an okay signal area (~-98dbm, and it drained about 8%. Then I ran it for 14 minutes in a weaker signal area(~-106dbm), and it drained about 7%.

The whole time was mostly using Tapatalk. I took screen shots using Battery Monitor Widget and Gsam to perform my analysis.

I was wondering if anyone else has done a similar analysis and if so, what their findings were. Please also indicate which variant of the Note 3 you have.

dpham00, Android Central Moderator
Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

 

[SpookDroid]

Nice analysis!

It has always been known that a weak signal is one of the worst battery-killers out there, especially if you have sync 'on'. Your phone is a transmitter and a receiver and it's constantly looking for a connection. The weaker the signal it gets, the more power it has to output to get to the cell tower and to get what it's receiving. That's why if you leave your phone in Airplane mode your battery will last two or three times more than usual.

 

[JudH]

The weaker the signal it gets, the more power it has to output to get to the cell tower and to get what it's receiving.

Plus and maybe worse is it jumping between signal types. For example constantly switching from a moderate 3G or HSPA+ to a weak LTE signal only to loose LTE and have to switch back is a sure battery killer. I've had to disable LTE because it's so weak at the house.