Hotspot battery drain?

[auero]

I currently have unlimited data with AT&T on my iPhone 4 but I'm about to purchase an iPad 2 and I'm debating if I should just give up my unlimited and add hotspot functionality or just get the 3G iPad 2.

The benefits of this is that I'd be able to tether my laptop if the need were to occur. I don't use more than ~1GB on my iPhone a month so I'm not worried about overages.

Jailbreaking is not an option (drains my battery very fast).

So does the hotspot drain just as bad? The cost is practically the same so thats not an issue.

 

[ulbador]

I think you will experience between 5 - 15% per hour battery drain with the Personal Hotspot.

 

[Fernandez21]

Do you plan on using the hotspur feature alot? One thing offered to me by AT&T customer service was get a mifi, when I'm not usin it, put the sim in a phone and switch to a 9.99 add a line and when i need it put it back in the mifi and switch back. The other idea was add a line, put that sim into my iPhone when I need hotspot and add the tethering plan, when I don't need it remove the sim and drop the data line. Of course this all depends on how often you plan on using the hotspot feature and how badly you need the unlimited plan. I use over 3gb a month so I need to keep my unlimited plan, and only really need the hotspot feature once in a blue moon.

 

[vincenz]

I think you will experience between 5 - 15% per hour battery drain with the Personal Hotspot.

Do you have data to back that up? That sounds really low. I'd expect your phone to run out of battery in 4 hours or less.

 

[aleni]

i sold my mifi router and bought a mophie juice pack air. when i use personal hotspot, i put the mophie on. win win solution

 

[ulbador]

Do you have data to back that up? That sounds really low. I'd expect your phone to run out of battery in 4 hours or less.

I've been tethering my iPad for 5 days a week for almost a month now using the Hotspot feature and that is just my experience.

If i just use it lightly, check a few emails and read some news, my iPhone only goes down by a slight amount. If I spend a whole hour checking emails, talking on IM and browsing websites, I have lost 19% in less than an hour.

The bottom line is i think we all just need to turn off our percentages and enjoy the phone. I did that recently and now I don't actually find myself unlocking the phone, which drains battery, just to see how my battery is doing..

 

[Applejuiced]

I also heard bluetooth tethering is better on battery than Wifi.
So if you can you should switch to that instead to save some.

 

[clarknick67]

I also heard bluetooth tethering is better on battery than Wifi.
So if you can you should switch to that instead to save some.

Yup, bluetooth is better.

 

[DustinT]

Yup, bluetooth is better.

Bluetooth maybe lower power but its definetely a bit slower.

Here's my results using wifi tethering.

Bluetooth results are much, much lower.

its worth keeping in mind if you are doing anything where performance is more important than battery life.

 

[Orion126]

Im sure you know of the jailbreak options but keep in mind that just because you don't use over a 1GB right now it will increase now that you have an iPad 2.