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PDAnet 1.4 with 2.2
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I had high hopes that 2.2 would fix the battery drain problem, but unfortunately it still seems to be there. I tried PDAnet 1.4 after upgrading to 2.2. The app seemed to work fine in the hour or so that I was tethered. At first it looked like the battery was charging for a while via the USB connection, but at some point it started draining. Similar behavior to 2.1: the battery icon changes from the charging to the fully charged symbol, but it begins fairly quickly running down.
Or alternatively...
While you are using your iPhone to connect it to the internet, why not just plug it in using the USB cable and your notebook/desktop keeps it charged? Seems perfectly fine to do.
While you are using your iPhone to connect it to the internet, why not just plug it in using the USB cable and your notebook/desktop keeps it charged? Seems perfectly fine to do.
It doesn't. The batter drains even when it's plugged in and charging.
PdaNet is some intense stuff.
My iPhone charges fine while tethered. Infact, I've been tethered for nearly 24 hours and the battery meter is showing 99% charged.
Make sure there is a "+" in the battery section in PdaNet -- that means it's charging. If there's a "-" then reconnect the dock connector. Also, if you're pushing a lot of traffic then it's better to have your phone charge through the wall plug. It doesn't seem to be able to draw enough power through my MBP if I'm doing more than browsing a couple of sites.
Make sure there is a "+" in the battery section in PdaNet -- that means it's charging. If there's a "-" then reconnect the dock connector. Also, if you're pushing a lot of traffic then it's better to have your phone charge through the wall plug. It doesn't seem to be able to draw enough power through my MBP if I'm doing more than browsing a couple of sites.
I would highly advise AGAINST tethering for longer than 2-3 hours at a time, as it can inevitably have adverse effects on your battery life. It might not seem like it, but PdaNet stresses your phone a lot, what with the 3G radio, WiFi radio, and relaying of data between your phone and the computer + your iPhone's CPU usage eating up juice pretty fast.
Also, be aware that the battery meter on both the iPhone and in PdaNet 1.40 is not accurate...both may say charging or charged/plugged-in symbol, but in reality when you reboot your phone, your battery could be close to dead, as i have experienced many times in all versions of PdaNet. I would not by any means rely on the accuracy of the battery meters while tethering, and strongly urge everyone not to tether for extremely long periods of time.
[Citation Needed]
What sort of adverse effects can be expected? The iPhone's lithium-based battery is rated to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 400 full charge/discharge cycles. Tethering for an extended period is not going to change those numbers; it's only going to use up cycles. Also, there's nothing wrong with increasing the load on your phone. It's obviously going to drain your battery faster, as would playing a graphics intensive game on your MacBook. That's why you want to keep your phone plugged in.
The issue with the battery icon is a firmware bug. Sometimes it charges and sometimes it doesn't. You'll have to play around with it, but charging is working fine for me.
If you want to tether for 24 hours at a time, then by all means, please continue to do so. I don't need official specs and citations because i am aware that PdaNet does not actually do a good, accurate, or dependable job at holding the charge while tethering, even when plugged into a wall outlet or computer. So in essence, you ARE going through cycles. But i won't argue with you if you think extended tethering sessions won't affect your battery. I guess i am relying more on common sense here.
/response to this thread.
It's misleading to say that tethering for more than 2-3 hours at a time will have adverse effects on your battery. It is equivalent to heavy usage -- you're using up cycles faster, but it's not going to damage your phone.
No one is saying that extended tethering will not reduce the life of your battery. In the long run, tethering a couple of times for an extended period is not a big deal. Stop trying to spread FUD. There's nothing magical about a 3 hour limit.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5G77 Safari/525.20)
My phone charges while tethering. I use it for most of my Internet use since I've moved and it stays fully charged while surfing Internet.
My phone charges while tethering. I use it for most of my Internet use since I've moved and it stays fully charged while surfing Internet.
Maybe it does charge after all
I had replied to the original post based on a brief experience right after upgrading to 2.2. However today I had a very different experience using PDAnet.
I connected my phone using the wall charger and started PDAnet. It showed the battery at full charge (99% +). I then proceeded to use my laptop, checking the iphone battery level periodically. To my surprise, it stayed at 99% ALL DAY - like 8+ hours of tethering.
I had tried using the wall charger previously with 2.1, but always experienced the battery discharge problem described in other posts. I'm now wondering whether some has, in fact, changed in 2.2 relating to this problem.
I plan to try tethering again tomorrow to see what happens.
I had replied to the original post based on a brief experience right after upgrading to 2.2. However today I had a very different experience using PDAnet.
I connected my phone using the wall charger and started PDAnet. It showed the battery at full charge (99% +). I then proceeded to use my laptop, checking the iphone battery level periodically. To my surprise, it stayed at 99% ALL DAY - like 8+ hours of tethering.
I had tried using the wall charger previously with 2.1, but always experienced the battery discharge problem described in other posts. I'm now wondering whether some has, in fact, changed in 2.2 relating to this problem.
I plan to try tethering again tomorrow to see what happens.
Great. Let us know how it goes. Also let us know which version of PDAnet are you on. I'm posting this while tethered on PDAnet 1.4 and the battery was at 10% and is now at 17% while plugged into the wall outlet.
Wall outlet makes a difference
Well after several all-day tethering sessions, it appears that if you start a tethering session fully charged or near fully charged (> 90%) and use the wall charger during the session, the iPhone seems to retain it's full charge.
When I tried charging through the USB port of my laptop, it would seem to retain its charge for a period of time (the exact length varied significantly), but then experience the known charging bug (battery icon shows plug symbol, but the charge is draining).
Overall, I'm quite happy with PDAnet. I'll use the USB connection to my laptop for short sessions, but otherwise use the wall charger.
Well after several all-day tethering sessions, it appears that if you start a tethering session fully charged or near fully charged (> 90%) and use the wall charger during the session, the iPhone seems to retain it's full charge.
When I tried charging through the USB port of my laptop, it would seem to retain its charge for a period of time (the exact length varied significantly), but then experience the known charging bug (battery icon shows plug symbol, but the charge is draining).
Overall, I'm quite happy with PDAnet. I'll use the USB connection to my laptop for short sessions, but otherwise use the wall charger.
This does not seem to work for me at all. I got like 4.5 hours of surfing starting with a full charge and plugging up my phone in the wall.
When I was at 1.33, not even the wall charger could keep up with PdaNet's hungry power consumption. I could surf for about an hour before I had to turn off PdaNet.
1.4 made some drastic improvements, but I'm not sure if the wall charger could keep your phone permantely powered if you are surfing the net with PdaNet.
I've seen this behavior with legit apps as well. There's a GPS transmitting app that will eat so much battery that even if you have it USB charging, it will still drain your battery to empty.
1.4 made some drastic improvements, but I'm not sure if the wall charger could keep your phone permantely powered if you are surfing the net with PdaNet.
I've seen this behavior with legit apps as well. There's a GPS transmitting app that will eat so much battery that even if you have it USB charging, it will still drain your battery to empty.
I do not know what happened but magically I dont have this problem any more. I was tethering wit PDAnet and my phone died. I let it charge to about 75% and then I used it to get back on the net. I surfed for about 2 hours and then a page started to hang(usually a sign the phone is dying) so I checked the battery meter and it said 100%. I was like 
, this is a fluke so I pulled it off the wall charger and hit the power button once and turned it back on and it was still at a 100. I was able to surfer for about 6 more hours before I went to bed, checked it and it was still at 100. It is currently still at 100% .
, this is a fluke so I pulled it off the wall charger and hit the power button once and turned it back on and it was still at a 100. I was able to surfer for about 6 more hours before I went to bed, checked it and it was still at 100. It is currently still at 100% .