Turning 4G on and off

I was wondering if there was a way to easily switch the 4G on and off. I'm having some major battery drain issues and I think it's due in part to the phone switching between 3g/4g a lot in the areas that I'm in. I'm not sure about some of the apps I'm looking at in the android market. And I would like to not to have to go thru the settings, especially if I'm in the car.

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Accepted answers

AZSALUKI

got to the market and get "LTE OnOff"

All comments

AyaniB_VZW

Hi bookosaurus,

I understand the importance of conserving your battery life. Currently there is not a stock option to turn 3G/4G on or off. If you have a question about a particular Android Market Application, I would suggest contacting the developer of the application. Additionally, you may want to check and make sure your downloaded applications are not running by going to: Applications>Settings>Applications>Running Services>Select a Service>Stop. I hope this information is helpful. Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Thank you for your involvement in our community forums,

onaje72

You can also use the Task Manager app to stop running apps. You can also scroll to and select the help tab to read up on good info on how to extend battery life. Good Look.

AZSALUKI

got to the market and get "LTE OnOff"

Ann154

Actually I recently just re-read the description for LTE OnOff and apparently it doesn't work for the Droid Charge or the LG Revolution. :smileysad:

Nebular_Novice

Ann154 wrote:
Actually I recently just re-read the description for LTE OnOff and apparently it doesn't work for the Droid Charge or the LG Revolution.

I'm not sure about the description, but it sure seems that my Droid Charge reacts properly to the setting.

When I do Menu>Settings>Wireless & network>Mobile Networks>System Selection and then change it from "LTE automatic" to "CDMA mode", my 4G symbol goes out promptly. A few seconds later, the 3G symbol pops up. When I reverse the process, I get back my 4G.

Also I made an auto trip with LTE automatic and ran the fully charged battery flat in about 3 hours. After getting advice to turn LTE off, I made the entire 5-hour return trip over the same route and had over 60% battery left. I'm convinced -- both that the LTE setting works and that it makes a tremendous difference in battery life when the phone can't find 4G.

Ann154

Nebular_Novice wrote:

When I do Menu>Settings>Wireless & network>Mobile Networks>System Selection and then change it from "LTE automatic" to "CDMA mode", my 4G symbol goes out promptly. A few seconds later, the 3G symbol pops up. When I reverse the process, I get back my 4G.

That is a different method to manually get to the 4G switch on the HTC Thunderbolt. The LTE OnOff app creates an shortcut of that manual method to an internal phone menu. When I tried the manually method used for the Tbolt it didn't work for the Droid Charge.

However the "System Selection" in the Droid Charge would be something that I would welcome on the Thunderbolt.

IronBeard

Going to try the CDMA mode fix. I'm hugely unsettled with the terriffically bad battery life for this phone. I'm getting 6 hours tops. I have everything turned off - wifi, gps, bluetooth, even considering turning off data. For that features set I could get an LG flip phone.

Hope this fix works. Does 4G suck up more power than 3G?

Nebular_Novice

I'm not sure whether 4G takes more power than 3G. I think the real power drag is when the Charge is looking for a connection and can't find it. This is true for 4G and probably for Bluetooth and other goodies (like even a simple phone connection).

A lot of us are getting wildly different battery life. I routinely get 16+ hours (a full waking day) with moderate use and with 4G, data, and Bluetooth on. I don't watch movies or anything like that, but I do a fair amount of calling, browsing and other stuff which uses power. I have wifi off, but I occasionally turn Mobile Hotspot on.

The only times I come close to not making the full day are when I eat in the basement of a restaurant where my phone will be searching for everything (and not finding anything). I can tell the difference from that, but not enough to convince me to shut the connections off when I'm down there -- too afraid I'll forget to turn them back on. (I do use the phone for some stuff not requiring connections at those times, so it's not idle.)

I just realized my Bluetooth is fruitlessly searching most of the day since I drive less than 1 hour per day, and my car is the only pairing. That searching must not be too power-intensive.

bookosaurus

Thank you everyone for the info. I've been checking my running apps, and that seems to have helped a little. I haven't been able to try the LTE switch app that I've downloaded since I haven't been working in the area that I'm having the problem with. But that'll be tomorrow so I'll post to let everyone know how that worked out.

AZSALUKI

i get about 1.5 hours of use and 6-8 hours of idle time if i leave it on 4g. i get about 3 hours of actual use and 15 hours of idle if i leave it on 3g. i'm in a very good 4g network area so i do believe 4g sucks more battery. however, as the post up above mentioned, it also drains faster if your device is constantly searching for a 4g connection....or bouncing back and forth. i leave it on 3g until i am going to be browsing or downloading something.

hubbalance

I just bought a charger today, and the rep said you could turn off 4g. i'll be REALLY disapointed if she was misinformed!