Persistent Wi-Fi on iPhone 4S?

[itisme1760]

It seems as though the Wi-Fi doesn't stay connected after I lock the screen. When I turn it on from sleep, I look at the network icons and see that it's connected to 3G. After a second or two, it then connects to the Wi-Fi immediately. I thought it should be connected to the Wi-Fi at all times, even when sleep. This would save me a lot of battery life as I don't have great reception here.

Does this happen to anyone else?

 

[gwang73]

Yup. It's the way the iPhone's have always been.

 

[itisme1760]

Hmm, thanks. I guess I was too used to the iPod Touch then. Why does it disconnect to Wi-Fi when you lock the screen?

 

[Dwalls90]

Supposedly, running an extra antenna (wifi) in addition to 3G and other cellular ones drains the battery. By Apple's logic, turning the wifi radio off will save battery when the phone is in stand by mode.

Unfortunately, they fail to realize iOS dependency and usage of wifi for their services like iMessage and iCloud services.

I have encountered this problem myself and it's very annoying, as sometimes I have full WiFi but no cellular service, thus my iCloud and iMessages won't send/receive while in standy!

 

[itisme1760]

Or they could be running just WiFi and 1x service, like Android does it.

 

[tzbauknight]

Supposedly, running an extra antenna (wifi) in addition to 3G and other cellular ones drains the battery. By Apple's logic, turning the wifi radio off will save battery when the phone is in stand by mode.

Unfortunately, they fail to realize iOS dependency and usage of wifi for their services like iMessage and iCloud services.

I have encountered this problem myself and it's very annoying, as sometimes I have full WiFi but no cellular service, thus my iCloud and iMessages won't send/receive while in standy!

Not only that, but whatever data the phone needs to send or receive while the screen is locked and wi-fi off uses the ACCURSED CELLULAR DATA NETWORK INSTEAD and will happily drive you right over your AT&T usage limit while you sleep. As a bonus, AT&T will send you an email several hours after it's too late to let you know that they just charged you $15 more dollars because when you THOUGHT your phone was on wi-fi, it was really chewing cellular network data.

Bug, not feature, Apple.

 

[matttye]

Very annoying. I think this is what causes the dreaded iMessage delay.

I can only get GPRS at home

 

[Menel]

iMessage comes through cellular data no matter what, unless it's not available.]

If the iPhone needs to use data, iCloud backup, syncing, it will activate WIFI for those functions, even while locked, and turn them back on again, even if you don't see it.

 

[Kyotoma]

Turning off Cellular is a partial fix to this problem, but then you won't be able to receive calls and texts. iMessages and other data come through, however.