[Ratzinc]

I'm at work and my phone goes from 3 bars of 4g to 3 bars of 3g all day killing battery life... Is there any way to make that more lenient towards having less bars in 4g? I'm on the new cm7, newest radio, and tried lte only and combo.

 

[fixxxer2012]

switch to 3g only to conserve battery. the 4g/3g handoffs are often the cause of high battery drain. the RIL in aosp is a bit buggier than sense.

 

[miketoasty]

Just stay in 3G? Sounds dumb but if you are not using 4G it will save from the constant switch, plus 3G is easier on the battery.

Settings>Wireless Networks>Mobile Networks>Network Mode>Change to CDMA / EvDo Only

I have yet to hear of something that makes it more aggressive at holding 4G but this seems like it would use more battery anyways trying to use more power to keep the signal. Just my .02 though.

 

[UNC]

He's asking how to force it to STAY IN 4g... Not you guy's thoughts on 4g battery consumption. I am with the OP, I wish I could force it to hold 4g where I know I have coverage, weak 4g>strong 3g..

 

[miketoasty]

He's asking how to force it to STAY IN 4g... Not you guy's thoughts on 4g battery consumption. I am with the OP, I wish I could force it to hold 4g where I know I have coverage, weak 4g>strong 3g..

We understand that, but we also understand that there is no way to "Force" the phone to stay in 4G. His problem was with his battery so we offered alternatives for it. If he wants to force it to stay in 4G use my path but instead of what I put use LTE Only. That may fix your problem but it may also eat the battery quicker if he has no signal at all and the phone has to constantly search for a signal.

 

[Ratzinc]

I have the extended battery but it stinks that I'm browsing the web with 4g and literally without moving an inch the phone decides 3g is better... It's the same with sense

 

[psufan5]

Put it on LTE only.. it will switch to 1x if you lose coverage on LTE but at least its way less than it switching to 3G

 

[sk8]

Depending on what rom you're running in the network connection/network mode you might try putting the phone in LTE only mode. See if that solves anything.

 

[sk8]

Didn't see you're post psu.

 

[brizey]

LTE only means no voice and no SMS. So unless you only use VOIP, you will not be able to place or receive calls.

 

[hall]

I'm at work and my phone goes from 3 bars of 4g to 3 bars of 3g...

Hold on, on my phone, it either shows 3G or 4G. I never thought about it until now, but I presume when mine shows 3G, that means there is NO 4G available (or if there is, it's just way too low, i.e. below a set threshold). Of course, when it shows 4G, I now realize there certainly can be -- and surely is -- 3G available.

How do I see either or though ? If I look at 'signal strength' (Settings, About Phone, etc, etc), is that 3G, 4G, 1x, or what ?

 

[Ratzinc]

Not sure what you are asking, the phone displays bars of 3g or 4G in the notification bar

 

[Jaxidian]

LTE only means no voice and no SMS. So unless you only use VOIP, you will not be able to place or receive calls.

Hmm, I always thought LTE Only still worked with voice/sms but you're right! Thanks for correcting my misunderstanding...

 

[UNC]

We understand that, but we also understand that there is no way to "Force" the phone to stay in 4G. His problem was with his battery so we offered alternatives for it. If he wants to force it to stay in 4G use my path but instead of what I put use LTE Only. That may fix your problem but it may also eat the battery quicker if he has no signal at all and the phone has to constantly search for a signal.

I understand what you're saying, but I'm fairly certain that the OP is saying the handoff is killing his battery more than being on 4g all day. I have also wondered if there was a way to change the handoff threshold. It seems that anything over -82 forces a handoff, where on my LTE aircard I still have good coverage in those areas....

 

[mandog202]

LTE only means no voice and no SMS. So unless you only use VOIP, you will not be able to place or receive calls.

not true, i keep my phone in LTE mode and voice / sms work fine

 

[loonatik78]

LTE only means no voice and no SMS. So unless you only use VOIP, you will not be able to place or receive calls.

I'm with the other guy, too. I primarily run mine in LTE Only because where I live it tends to flip back and forth on occasion. LTE Only works just fine for voice/SMS.

 

[loonatik78]

I understand what you're saying, but I'm fairly certain that the OP is saying the handoff is killing his battery more than being on 4g all day. I have also wondered if there was a way to change the handoff threshold. It seems that anything over -82 forces a handoff, where on my LTE aircard I still have good coverage in those areas....

A hand off will occur when various conditions are met, and those are built into the radios, not the ROM. LTE uses time division duplexing as well as frequency division duplexing. One of two things can force a hand-off, among others.... If you're distance from the base and/or doppler shift in your signal cannot be accurately compensated for to keep you inside your allotted Tx/Rx window, you'll be pushed off to CDMA. Likewise, if a suitable carrier frequency cannot be determined you'll be pushed to CDMA. Barring any obstacles to the signal getting from point A to point B resulting in signal fading, one of those conditions will virtually always be the cause of a hand-off.

 

[ProgHouse]

not true, i keep my phone in LTE mode and voice / sms work fine

Not really sure how that works since voice and data go through the CDMA radio, which is turned off when in LTE only. I just tried it and it immediately says call lost, and no sms either.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[z28 justin]

Not really sure how that works since voice and data go through the CDMA radio, which is turned off when in LTE only. I just tried it and it immediately says call lost, and no sms either.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

Same here, tried to send a text in LTE only and it errored out. I'm on CM7 1.8 with last official radio

 

[wxjunkie]

LTE only means no voice and no SMS. So unless you only use VOIP, you will not be able to place or receive calls.

This is true. You'll just get errors when sending SMS and voice mails will pop up if you're using Google Voice but no cell calls will come through.