How long does AT&T hotspot/tethering take to fully drain iPhone battery?

[amitdoc2b]

I'm interested in hotspotting my iPhone 5 to my laptop through AT&T's service. If it was 100% battery, how long has your battery lasted for your iPhone 4/4S/5 if you hotspot all the way till 0%? I'm considering to pick up a battery pack case once they release for iPhone 5 (i.e. Morphie), and am also interested in knowing how much longer do these external battery pack cases keep your iPhone running when hotspotting as well. Thanks!

 

[rritterson]

I'm interested in hotspotting my iPhone 5 to my laptop through AT&T's service. If it was 100% battery, how long has your battery lasted for your iPhone 4/4S/5 if you hotspot all the way till 0%? I'm considering to pick up a battery pack case once they release for iPhone 5 (i.e. Morphie), and am also interested in knowing how much longer do these external battery pack cases keep your iPhone running when hotspotting as well. Thanks!

I tether via Bluetooth, which uses less power than Wifi. If the iPhone screen is off, I get better battery life tethering than I do browsing on the phone. I'd say about 15 hours from 100-0. Keep in mind that Bluetooth is much slower than wifi or LTE- it maxes out around 2 Mbps.

If you are tethering to just a laptop, I recommend you tether via USB. It will charge the phone while tethering, so you are limited only by the laptop battery.

I have no experience with battery cases.

 

[amitdoc2b]

I tether via Bluetooth, which uses less power than Wifi. If the iPhone screen is off, I get better battery life tethering than I do browsing on the phone. I'd say about 15 hours from 100-0. Keep in mind that Bluetooth is much slower than wifi or LTE- it maxes out around 2 Mbps.

If you are tethering to just a laptop, I recommend you tether via USB. It will charge the phone while tethering, so you are limited only by the laptop battery.

I have no experience with battery cases.

Thank you for your reply. Does plugging the iPhone to a laptop drain the laptop's battery quicker than it would not charging (I have a Macbook Air).. and how much quicker would it drain the laptop's battery? I prefer to use the LTE speeds for tethering to the laptop, so how long would the iPhone's battery last in that case?

 

[rritterson]

Thank you for your reply. Does plugging the iPhone to a laptop drain the laptop's battery quicker than it would not charging (I have a Macbook Air).. and how much quicker would it drain the laptop's battery? I prefer to use the LTE speeds for tethering to the laptop, so how long would the iPhone's battery last in that case?

The iPhone charges at up to 5W. How much quicker that would drain a laptop battery would depend on the battery capacity and how heavy the use of the laptop was. It will drain it faster. I would guess 10-15% faster, but that's really a wild guess