AT&T Microcell = poor battery life

[mcheiron]

Hi all,

I don't know how many of you have an AT&T Microcell, but today without using my Lumia 900 the battery was nearly drained after 9 hours. The Nokia diagnostic tool indicates that the battery drains nearly 4 times faster than in normal coverage area (400 mA/h vs 100 mA/h).

Does anybody experience the same drainage and are there any solutions to this?

Thanks, MCheiron

 

[xzb6np]

Hi all,

I don't know how many of you have an AT&T Microcell, but today without using my Lumia 900 the battery was nearly drained after 9 hours. The Nokia diagnostic tool indicates that the battery drains nearly 4 times faster than in normal coverage area (400 mA/h vs 100 mA/h).

Does anybody experience the same drainage and are there any solutions to this?

Thanks, MCheiron

I might be. I have the microcell as well. I half the battery burns down just setting by the bad at night.

How do I check it?

 

[kenzak]

Yes, same results with my Lumia 900. Battery life was so poor, I was thinking of returning the phone. Taking the phone off the Microcell dramatically improved my battery life. I can now make it through my day and don't have to think about charging until I go to bed...

 

[pderosa]

Same issue here. I found that the only way to not have the battery drain at a rapid pace is to turn off cellular data when I am at home and rely on my wifi connection.

 

[slick5150]

Yeah, it's a widespread issue that AT&T refuses to acknowledge. You can roam the AT&T forums and see a number of threads devoted to it with zero response from AT&T. It's isn't Nokia or WP7 specific.

 

[invertme]

Like slick5150 said this happens to a lot of people on the mcell.. It will drain my focus dry in about 5 hours.

 

[wastegate]

So that must be it!!! I also have a Microcell at home and I was wondering why it took so long for the phone to charge. Maybe it's because of the drain of the Microcell. Thanks for the heads up. I'm going to check this out.

 

[milk242]

it also equally slows down the charge. To test, check your ma rating and then turn off your cellular data and check it again. Only solution I found was turning off cell data when I'm in range of my microcell.

 

[jdevenberg]

I always have worse battery at home with my 900 and never really understood why. But I do use a microcell, so that could likely be the culprit.

 

[xzb6np]

Ya just did a check last night. Mine went from 100% charge down to 50% sitting on my bedroom dresser not being used for 8 hrs.

Other than the drain though I love the microcell.

 

[sundown28]

As mentioned above, it's a known issue (for a long time). AT&T could care less about us Microcell customers. Best place to get a feel for how widespread this is is to visit the AT&T forums.

My Android phones drain faster than this Lumia...so in that regard it's hard to complain, but still.

 

[mcheiron]

it also equally slows down the charge. To test, check your ma rating and then turn off your cellular data and check it again. Only solution I found was turning off cell data when I'm in range of my microcell.

I didn't even think about that. Well, it seems, I am not the only one (good and bad). I will have a look at AT&T's forum and write something there.

Thanks, MCheiron

 

[tissotti]

Ok this explains it. Been wondering the weird difference between home and work.

 

[mcheiron]

Just compared similar usage with and without microcell.

With microcell battery is down to 29% after 8 hours, without microcell the battery is at 75% after 8 hours.

 

[HillBillJr]

If you have coverage at home without micro cell what is the advantage of having one?:straight:

 

[jimski]

Just compared similar usage with and without microcell.



With microcell battery is down to 29% after 8 hours, without microcell the battery is at 75% after 8 hours.

Yep, your 25% in 8 hours is about what I am getting with a bunch of background stuff turned on, location, email syncs, etc. About 3 to 3.5% per hour. No MicroCell. 3-4 bars of LTE in the house.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

 

[iskoisko]

i can confirm this as well. i have microcell at home too and when i was using my iphone 4s, it was fine. ever since i switched to lumia 900, my lumia wouldn't last a day when i'm at home and found out that it was microcell indeed. it's drawing about 400-500mAh when connected to microcell.

 

[dwlovell]

I am seeing similar behavior sometimes at home where just sitting next to me with no apps in the suspended list,, it goes from 50% to "critical" in just a few hours. Except in my case, there is no microcell and the service is good in this area. (close to metro)..i get 4 bars of LTE.

One other interesting thing is that I was watching the battery more closely because the phone felt abnormally hot for just not doing anything but sitting next to me. I am not sure if some OS process ran off and used a bunch of cpu, but I rebooted the phone for good measure.

 

[xzb6np]

I fixed the issues by going into the market and getting the "connectivity shortcut" app. It let me stick cellular, wireless tiles on the front page. When I walk in the door of my house I click the cellular tile and turn of cellular data. When I leave I turn it back on.

So far instead of losing nearly 50% data at night I basically lost 2% and as of 10:22 pm I still have 82% left and I have surfed, texted and made calls all day.

Easy as that. I love my microcell. The $20 per month unlimited calling is letting me ditch my $76 per month landline.