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Does Verizon model have worse battery life b/c it has more radios?

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phositadc

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 9, 2012
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Verizon 5S has CDMA, LTE, and HSPA radios all working and active. Same on the Iphone 5.

AT&T model has only LTE and HSPA radios active.

Does the Verizon iPhone therefore get slightly less battery life, because it has an additional radio as compared to the AT&T model?

Or does this have no affect on battery life?

Thanks.
 
phositadc said:
Verizon 5S has CDMA, LTE, and HSPA radios all working and active. Same on the Iphone 5.

AT&T model has only LTE and HSPA radios active.

Does the Verizon iPhone therefore get slightly less battery life, because it has an additional radio as compared to the AT&T model?

Or does this have no affect on battery life?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

There is only one model of iPhone 5S for Verizon/AT&T/T-Moblie. If when on AT&T or T-Mobile the CDMA radio is powered down, I dont know.
 
I work for AT&T and we are told to say that yes it does have worse battery life because it switches from CDMA to GSM for LTE. Personally I don't know, but that's what we are told.
 
Using CDMA tech uses more battery life assuming signal strength is equal. So while the radios maybe the same/similar the act of just utilizing the CDMA radio portion generally causes worse battery life.

This is null if you get terrible GSM signal and good CDMA signal in the area you use the phone.
 
Thanks for the responses. Slightly updated question:

Say you have two people, both on AT&T, with identical usage. One is using a Verizon model, one is using an AT&T model. Will the guy using the AT&T model get better battery life because his phone does not have an enabled CDMA radio? Or will the CDMA radio in the Verizon model be disabled as soon as it detects am AT&T SIM card, thus causing the two models to get exactly the same battery life (theoretically)?

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got2go said:
There is only one model of iPhone 5S for Verizon/AT&T/T-Moblie. If when on AT&T or T-Mobile the CDMA radio is powered down, I dont know.
Click to expand...

This isn't entirely true. The one sold by AT&T does not have an enabled CDMA radio and thus CANNOT be used on Verizon. The one sold by Verizon has both CDMA radio and HSPA radio available to be used.
 
phositadc said:
This isn't entirely true. The one sold by AT&T does not have an enabled CDMA radio and thus CANNOT be used on Verizon. The one sold by Verizon has both CDMA radio and HSPA radio available to be used.
Click to expand...

Why does the Verizon model have HSPA radio available to be used? Verizon has no HSPA network...

Like I said, the phones sold by Verizon/AT&T/T-Moble are the same model number, same LTE bands programed in, etc.

I'm not sure if the one sold by AT&T/T-Moble have their CDMA radios disabled somehow.
 
got2go said:
Why does the Verizon model have HSPA radio available to be used? Verizon has no HSPA network...

Like I said, the phones sold by Verizon/AT&T/T-Moble are the same model number, same LTE bands programed in, etc.

I'm not sure if the one sold by AT&T/T-Moble have their CDMA radios disabled somehow.
Click to expand...

They would have to because AT&T only operates on GSM now.
 
got2go said:
Why does the Verizon model have HSPA radio available to be used? Verizon has no HSPA network...

Like I said, the phones sold by Verizon/AT&T/T-Moble are the same model number, same LTE bands programed in, etc.

I'm not sure if the one sold by AT&T/T-Moble have their CDMA radios disabled somehow.
Click to expand...

There's a long thread about it. All I know is that the Verizon model includes HSPA radios so it can be used globally, and it also works on AT&T. The AT&T model cannot be used on Verizon though because it does not have functioning CDMA radios.

Thus the Verizon model has an additional functioning radio that the AT&T model does not have. Hence the basis for my question about battery life.
 
JeremyE said:
They would have to because AT&T only operates on GSM now.
Click to expand...

I really dont think that is determined yet. If it is the same model number I would think they are identical(radio firmware). Depending on what carrier you activate on determines what radios are functional, but to say Apple will take the time to load new firmware to disable the CDMA radio for the phones they ship to ATT/T-Mobile, I dont think you can say that yet.

This is not the iPhone 5 where the LTE bands were different between the two and they have different model numbers...

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phositadc said:
There's a long thread about it. All I know is that the Verizon model includes HSPA radios so it can be used globally, and it also works on AT&T. The AT&T model cannot be used on Verizon though because it does not have functioning CDMA radios.

Thus the Verizon model has an additional functioning radio that the AT&T model does not have. Hence the basis for my question about battery life.
Click to expand...

Link??
 
For starters, CDMA has better battery life then WCDMA. Heck, I have a LG flip hone that has close to 20 days standby.

In terms of your question, it's all in the same chip. The only difference is that in the AT&T/T-mobile version of the phone, this functionality is disabled within the firmware.
 
phositadc said:
There's a long thread about it. All I know is that the Verizon model includes HSPA radios so it can be used globally, and it also works on AT&T. The AT&T model cannot be used on Verizon though because it does not have functioning CDMA radios.

Thus the Verizon model has an additional functioning radio that the AT&T model does not have. Hence the basis for my question about battery life.
Click to expand...

That was true for last year, this year they are the same phone. At&t's is just locked to at&t.
 
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