Carrier Any iPhone 5/5s battery problems with T-Mobile?

[BeSweeet]

(Now that I'm unbanned after 2.5 years, I can start posting again!)

Long story short: Literally, the very first thing that I noticed after replacing my AT&T SIM with a T-Mobile SIM last June was that my battery would decrease at a much faster rate than when I was with AT&T. Generally speaking, I can use 1% every 2-3 minutes of basic cellular data usage (email, loading a few web pages, etc.). This is far worse than anything I'd ever experienced on AT&T. I've used 3 iPhone 5s and 3 iPhone 5ses, some jailbroken, some stock, some tested right out of the box, and cellular data battery life is essentially the same (see: pretty bad) across them all. It doesn't matter if I have a very strong signal or a poor one, it's all the same. Standby numbers are fine, and Wi-Fi numbers are excellent.

Either the phone isn't optimized for T-Mobile, or this is just how T-Mobile (and other high-frequency carriers, maybe?) happens to be. Although, I had a Nexus 5 for a short while and the numbers weren't this bad, but of course that had a larger battery.

Has anybody else noticed anything similar? I plan on getting an AT&T nano-SIM soon for testing and comparisons.

 

[wordoflife]

I've read some posts on here (and HoFo) stating that the iPhone doesn't work as well on T-Mobile (with all the AWS and stuff they have) as it does on AT&T.

 

[BeSweeet]

I've read some posts on here (and HoFo) stating that the iPhone doesn't work as well on T-Mobile (with all the AWS and stuff they have) as it does on AT&T.

Some of those posts were probably from me . The 7.1 and T-Mobile carrier 16.0 updates supposedly allow for more reliable connections, but with nothing really changing in terms of battery life. I'm not ditching my 7.0.6 jailbreak to test it, given that information.

 

[JackieInCo]

I've read some posts on here (and HoFo) stating that the iPhone doesn't work as well on T-Mobile (with all the AWS and stuff they have) as it does on AT&T.

I get the best battery life on my T-Mobile 5S then I have ever had on an iPhone on AT&T or Verizon. Why? Because I actually get a signal in my area far better than I ever did on those other two carriers.

My battery life on T-Mobile averages about two days with 8-9 hrs usage where I could barely go a day on the other two carriers.

I noticed the same battery problems on a. Nexus 7 and my iPad, T-Mobile was always better with battery life.

 

[BeSweeet]

I get the best battery life on my T-Mobile 5S then I have ever had on an iPhone on AT&T or Verizon. Why? Because I actually get a signal in my area far better than I ever did on those other two carriers.

My battery life on T-Mobile averages about two days with 8-9 hrs usage where I could barely go a day on the other two carriers.

is this mainly with Wi-Fi?

 

[JackieInCo]

is this mainly with Wi-Fi?

Cellular.

When I was AT&T and Verizon, I had a 4S. The battery barely lasted a day. I got the AT&T iPhone unlocked and switched to T-Mobile and the battery life immediately started lasting two days. It was like a different phone.

I keep my 5S and cellular only because the LTE is so good.

 

[BeSweeet]

Cellular.

When I was AT&T and Verizon, I had a 4S. The battery barely lasted a day. I got the AT&T iPhone unlocked and switched to T-Mobile and the battery life immediately started lasting two days. It was like a different phone.

I keep my 5S and cellular only because the LTE is so good.

That's impressive and annoying at the same time. I might be able to pull those numbers with data off and just listening to music.

 

[JackieInCo]

That's impressive and annoying at the same time. I might be able to pull those numbers with data off and just listening to music.

I don't use my 5S for music anymore now that I have the iPad Mini so all of my usage is from a few calls, texting and apps.

 

[CEmajr]

You might be in a low/bad signal area for T-Mobile with your phone. I have no problem with battery life on mine. T-Mobile signal is strong in my apartment.

 

[BeSweeet]

You might be in a low/bad signal area for T-Mobile with your phone. I have no problem with battery life on mine. T-Mobile signal is strong in my apartment.

Like I said, battery life is the same whether I have 1 bar or 5. I can replicate this on several iPhones. Either this area is just plain weird (happens all around Texas as well as when I was in Las Vegas for CES, and they use different cellular equipment in that particular market), that's just the way T-Mobile and their high frequency bands do things, or the phone's not properly optimized (yet?).

Apple and T-Mobile aren't responding to my messages about this, too.

 

[Tymanbrew]

Thought i was the only one

Im Canadian who subscribes to rogers, for a vacation i bought a tmobile sim and that $30 Walmart plan and i can confirm that its definitely tmobile that causes bad battery life. Never had battery worse than it is now and it happened right when i popped in the sim, must have something to do with Apple adding in AWS support pretty late and half assed. Im using an unlocked 5S if anyone was wondering, dont even use LTE because then my battery would be dead in 2 hours on standby

 

[MattMJB0188]

Why were you banned?

 

[BeSweeet]

Im Canadian who subscribes to rogers, for a vacation i bought a tmobile sim and that $30 Walmart plan and i can confirm that its definitely tmobile that causes bad battery life. Never had battery worse than it is now and it happened right when i popped in the sim, must have something to do with Apple adding in AWS support pretty late and half assed. Im using an unlocked 5S if anyone was wondering, dont even use LTE because then my battery would be dead in 2 hours on standby

Verizon is starting to use AWS LTE in some locations. I wonder if they're seeing decreased battery life. But your standby was poor? Mine's fine. It's just when using cellular data that things turn to crap.

Why were you banned?

Posted links to beta IPSWs way back in the day .

 

[MattMJB0188]

Posted links to beta IPSWs way back in the day .

Oh. I use those all the time lol, I just don't post 'em haha. If it makes ya feel any better, I get suspended all the time for stupid stuff. But two years is pretty harsh. Welcome back.

I have noticed worse battery life with a T-Mobile sim in my 5S. T-Mobile branded phone have much stronger signals than the iPhone on T-Mobile too. That's why if I was permanently using T-Mobile, I'd use a Galaxy phone.