3G vs LTE

[heisenberg123]

when I am at work I only get 2-3 dots of LTE, when I turn LTE off I get 4-5dots of 3G

would I see better battery life using the 4-5 dots of 3G vs the 2-3 dots of LTE?

 

[maflynn]

You'll get better battery life, not really because of the the 4-5 bars but because the 3G radio consumes less power, that is LTE uses the battery far more then 3G

 

[eyoungren]

^^^^Right!

LTE is a more fragile signal than 3G. Thus it requires more power to reach the same level of coverage that 3G reaches and it can be broken up easier when it hits man-made objects or gets lost in ground noise.

LTE also doesn't hold together as well at the limit of it's range, where 3G is more robust in that regard.

All of that equates to your phone hammering the network for signal, which means more drain on your battery. Unless you're close to a tower broadcasting LTE or in an area where the power is really turned up, then using LTE will always drain more battery.

 

[heisenberg123]

You'll get better battery life, not really because of the the 4-5 bars but because the 3G radio consumes less power, that is LTE uses the battery far more then 3G

good to know thanks

so it comes done to if the speed difference is worth the battery savings

 

[scaredpoet]

I've found that when you have 2-3 bars of LTE, battery life is fine, even somewhat better than 3G. But you could turn of LTE and see if your battery improves. Nothing hurt by trying.

 

[cynics]

You'll get better battery life, not really because of the the 4-5 bars but because the 3G radio consumes less power, that is LTE uses the battery far more then 3G

Generally speaking any power saving from turning LTE off is from the switching between 3G and LTE and weak LTE signal areas.

The LTE radio is always powered regardless of whether it's on or off in settings it's just being utilized.

I fell into this information with a Motorola Xoom. Turning LTE off in settings saves a bit of battery, however physically removing the LTE daughter board save a lot of battery. People do that mod when they only ever plan on using the Xoom on wifi and it makes a tremendous difference. It's one of the few if not only device you can actually remove the LTE radio from the device.

 

[heisenberg123]

Generally speaking any power saving from turning LTE off is from the switching between 3G and LTE and weak LTE signal areas.

The LTE radio is always powered regardless of whether it's on or off in settings it's just being utilized.

I fell into this information with a Motorola Xoom. Turning LTE off in settings saves a bit of battery, however physically removing the LTE daughter board save a lot of battery. People do that mod when they only ever plan on using the Xoom on wifi and it makes a tremendous difference. It's one of the few if not only device you can actually remove the LTE radio from the device.

so you suggesting if my LTE never drops to 3G than I might not even notice any battery savings?

 

[ea9]

Unless you really need a blazing signal 3G always consumes less.

I go 18 hour days with my 6+ on 3G with 61% at the end of the day.

 

[tjl3]

so you suggesting if my LTE never drops to 3G than I might not even notice any battery savings?

If your LTE never drops, it should be better than 3G. There was a report, I want to say from Anandtech that LTE is way more energy efficient b/c you are able to go into a standby mode. Whereas 3G will keep the radio in an on state.

In other words, this:

Generally speaking any power saving from turning LTE off is from the switching between 3G and LTE and weak LTE signal areas.

 

[geoff5093]

You may get better battery life on LTE, in my experience if you actually use your device. 3G is slow, LTE is much faster, if your phone is downloading/uploading/streaming data, it will get done much quicker over LTE, giving the phone breaks between data transmissions. Ever realize how hot your phone gets when taking photos with auto-upload enabled over a 1x connection?