Battery drain after switch to T-Mobile?!?

[0970373]

That easy?
Do I have to claim that I get no signal in my house and ask for one?
Do they give them out easy?

No. I just asked if I could get one for better WiFi Calling at home. They didn't make me do any network testing or anything. Very easy, or it was when I signed up.
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Which AirPort Extreme did you have?

5th gen. The last "flat" version before the tower version.

 

[rdunlap]

No. I just asked if I could get one for better WiFi Calling at home. They didn't make me do any network testing or anything. Very easy, or it was when I signed up.
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5th gen. The last "flat" version before the tower version.

This is what I have as well. I also have the T-Mobile Asus router that I'm thinking about replacing it with. It makes a huge difference?

 

[0970373]

This is what I have as well. I also have the T-Mobile Asus router that I'm thinking about replacing it with. It makes a huge difference?

It did for me. I used it as a bridge to extend the WiFi signal at first but then I did some testing and the ASUS gave me a little speed bump and the signal was more reliable overall. Nothing crazy, maybe 10-15mpps. But what did impress me was that it was much faster at the edges of the signal than the AirPort and the signal went further. Much more stable. It might have been that my old AirPort was just old and ready to be replaced. But getting the one from TMO saved me from having to purchase a new one! I'm very happy with it.

This doesn't change anything about your battery drain if you are only getting one or 2 LTE bars though. But at least you know when you're at home, you can flip it to airplane mode w/ WiFi and it'll work great and THAT can save your battery quite a bit.

And to be clear, as someone pointed out earlier, there are 2 kinds of CellSpots - LTE and WiFi. I have the WiFi CellSpot not the LTE cellspot.

 

[Applejuiced]

Call TMobile. They will charge a $25 deposit to your account and send the CellSpot to you. Deposit is refunded when you turn it back in.

I just called Tmobile and they're sending me this wifi router/cellspot below:
https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-15754
Im excited, just $25 deposit and I return it if I cancel service and get my deposit back.
Its warrantied for any defects for as long as I have it they will replace it for free if it dies or if there's a newer hardware model I can upgrade it for free.
My old router was starting to suck

 

[0970373]

I just called Tmobile and they're sending me this wifi router/cellspot below:
https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-15754
Im excited, just $25 deposit and I return it if I cancel service and get my deposit back.
Its warrantied for any defects for as long as I have it they will replace it for free if it dies or if there's a newer hardware model I can upgrade it for free.
My old router was starting to suck

Nice! I had to replace mine last summer and they made it very easy to do so. It's just another reason to stick w/ t-mobile during the price wars. Free MLBTV via the Mobile Tuesdays app on April 4th!

 

[Applejuiced]

Nice! I had to replace mine last summer and they made it very easy to do so. It's just another reason to stick w/ t-mobile during the price wars. Free MLBTV via the Mobile Tuesdays app on April 4th!

Does it really cover 3000 Sq Feet?
My old Linksys coverage area sucked

 

[rdunlap]

It did for me. I used it as a bridge to extend the WiFi signal at first but then I did some testing and the ASUS gave me a little speed bump and the signal was more reliable overall. Nothing crazy, maybe 10-15mpps. But what did impress me was that it was much faster at the edges of the signal than the AirPort and the signal went further. Much more stable. It might have been that my old AirPort was just old and ready to be replaced. But getting the one from TMO saved me from having to purchase a new one! I'm very happy with it.

This doesn't change anything about your battery drain if you are only getting one or 2 LTE bars though. But at least you know when you're at home, you can flip it to airplane mode w/ WiFi and it'll work great and THAT can save your battery quite a bit.

And to be clear, as someone pointed out earlier, there are 2 kinds of CellSpots - LTE and WiFi. I have the WiFi CellSpot not the LTE cellspot.

Thank you for the info! I actually installed mine last night. Not noticing too much of a difference but this is due to limits of my ISP and internet speeds. Internal network speeds is a world of difference. I actually bought this unit on Black Friday BEFORE I had T-Mobile for $60 on their website so I own it.

Now as far as my cellular signal / LTE goes, T-Mobile actually sent me the LTE Cellspot / Mini Tower that plugs right into the router. Let me tell you, this makes a HUGE difference in my service. I went from 1 / 2ish bars to FULL bars and LTE. Obviously the LTE speeds will only be as fast as my internet allows but this is awesome.
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Does it really cover 3000 Sq Feet?
My old Linksys coverage area sucked

I'm sure it's give or take depending on structure / general signal noise in the area.

 

[ibrady89]

Just to be clear for informational purposes, there are actually 3 choices of T-Mobile CellSpots, confusingly enough.
I just switched to T-Mo from AT&T (who wanted $200 for their MicroCell) and T-Mo gave it to me for free.
I first tried the 2-piece "Booster" I'll call it. You place one unit in a window (window unit) and the second unit (coverage unit) somewhere else in the home. The trick with this is, you have to place them far enough apart to get the 'ideal' number of 8 to show on the coverage unit. I could not accomplish this in my rather small home.
I returned that, and they sent me the 4G LTE CellSpot "Mini-Tower" I'll call this one. This is the one that plugs into your home network via a CAT5 Ethernet cable. It's a night and day difference in operation. I now have full bars and amazing performance at home on the T-Mobile network. I haven't noticed degradation in my internet connection. This can be an issue in crowded areas, though.
Lastly, the third and final option, as stated before, is the T-Mobile branded ASUS router that merely prioritizes WiFi-Calling on your network.
I had issues with WiFi-Calling which is why I just wanted a reliable CellSpot, but this router could be a solution for some who would rather use WiFi-Calling.
They really need to name these devices differently!

 

[Applejuiced]

Just to be clear for informational purposes, there are actually 3 choices of T-Mobile CellSpots, confusingly enough.
I just switched to T-Mo from AT&T (who wanted $200 for their MicroCell) and T-Mo gave it to me for free.
I first tried the 2-piece "Booster" I'll call it. You place one unit in a window (window unit) and the second unit (coverage unit) somewhere else in the home. The trick with this is, you have to place them far enough apart to get the 'ideal' number of 8 to show on the coverage unit. I could not accomplish this in my rather small home.
I returned that, and they sent me the 4G LTE CellSpot "Mini-Tower" I'll call this one. This is the one that plugs into your home network via a CAT5 Ethernet cable. It's a night and day difference in operation. I now have full bars and amazing performance at home on the T-Mobile network. I haven't noticed degradation in my internet connection. This can be an issue in crowded areas, though.
Lastly, the third and final option, as stated before, is the T-Mobile branded ASUS router that merely prioritizes WiFi-Calling on your network.
I had issues with WiFi-Calling which is why I just wanted a reliable CellSpot, but this router could be a solution for some who would rather use WiFi-Calling.
They really need to name these devices differently!

Yeah but I dont feel like turning my homes internet to a Tmobile cell tower for all my neighbors and everyone that goes around my house as a free for all though
So I didnt like the Microcell signal booster or mini tower cellspot idea.
With this Asus wifi router my wifi is locked and gives access only to my devices and wifi calling has been awesome to me so that's all that's needed for me.
Im really liking it so far.
Great coverage, very fast speeds, reliability, easy to install and software are a breeze. Huge improvement from my old 2.4Ghz Linksys.
That's more of a great wifi router improvement for me and not so much about wifi calling that actually worked fine with my old router too.
Best part is I can get the newest ASUS model at any time, if it breaks or has any problems they will replace it for life and all I had to do is give them a $25 deposit that is refundable if I ever want to return it or stop service.

 

[nburwell]

YMMV but I generally have one bar in my house (at times will have 2-3 bars, but mainly one bar). I have wifi calling enabled as well. Both my 7 and SE really don't drain the battery significantly. TBH I have kind of noticed an improvement in battery life upon me switching to TMO last month (came from AT&T).

 

[Srin]

So me and my wife switched to T-Mobile last week and we brought over our phones as well. We've both noticed that the battery drains significantly faster now that we are on T-Mobile. Has anyone else experienced this? Just trying to figure out if there is something I need to do or how I can prevent this from happening.

Thanks in advance!

[doublepost=1498263758][/doublepost]Yes i noticed the same.. i switched from att to tmobile and the service signal ses to be causing this issue