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when is WiFi in use vs 3G

F

fredf

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 31, 2008
277
1
I need some help.

I want to use WiFi whenever possible rather than 3G (save battery and air time). How do I know when the iPhone 3G is using which?

Can I set it to preferentially login to WiFi? I have it set for WiFi 'on' is settings. Do I need to do anything else?

Thanks
 
Simple: if it says '3G' (or 'E' or that funny little dot) next to the sig strength bars in the top left of your screen you are on 3G (or Edge or GPRS) for data, if it is the familiar wifi 'waves' symbol then you are on wifi.
 
Cescfabregas4 said:
Not true. Its even stated in the iphone's network settings that 3g consumes more battery life.
Click to expand...

That is certainly my understanding.
I find that often the 3G network signal strength is showing as well as the wifi 'wave' so I don't know which is in use.

Then, last night I was using iFile to transfer some files and each time I did, I had to re-enter 'share' to get the WiFi connected which implied to me that even though I thought I was on wifi I apparently wasn't.
I had wifi 'on', by the way in settings.

I really don't want to have to go into settings and turn off 3G every time I want to use wifi and edge isn't what I want either. I just want to ensure that when it is available that the phone preferentially will go to wifi.
 
fredf said:
That is certainly my understanding.
I find that often the 3G network signal strength is showing as well as the wifi 'wave' so I don't know which is in use.
Click to expand...

The signal strength for 3g will still show, but you should be able to see from the 3G, E, o, or WiFi indicator which is in use, only one of these symbols shows at a time

If the phone is in standby (screen off) if will use the mobile/cell network regardless, if its on it will use wifi if available
 
fredf said:
That is certainly my understanding.
I find that often the 3G network signal strength is showing as well as the wifi 'wave' so I don't know which is in use.

Then, last night I was using iFile to transfer some files and each time I did, I had to re-enter 'share' to get the WiFi connected which implied to me that even though I thought I was on wifi I apparently wasn't.
I had wifi 'on', by the way in settings.

I really don't want to have to go into settings and turn off 3G every time I want to use wifi and edge isn't what I want either. I just want to ensure that when it is available that the phone preferentially will go to wifi.
Click to expand...

its not the signal strength its the "3G" writing next to the signal strength, if there is "3G" then u r using 3G if its the wavvy icon then u r on wifi.

Also there is no way you can get both the "3G" and WIFI icon at the same time up there :)
 
If you have 3G and Wifi on then it will use the Wifi for data. I am pretty sure it uses 3G for Voice while on Wifi because as soon as I turn of the Wifi 3G pops up and not Edge.
 
iphone.aggie said:
Yes, if you leave 3G on all day. But while surfing, 3G is supposed to be better than EDGE. Did you even look at the link?
Click to expand...

3G consumes more battery than Edge. I'm not sure how you could interpret the link you posted as anything other than that.

The only argument one could make for Edge being better than 3G is that since Edge takes so much longer to load your usage time will increase to load the same amount of sites as 3G. Your screen is on longer, etc.

But really, 3G takes much more juice than Edge.
 
iphone.aggie said:
Yes, if you leave 3G on all day. But while surfing, 3G is supposed to be better than EDGE. Did you even look at the link?
Click to expand...
I did. It says exactly the opposite of what you're insisting. Maybe it would help if you quoted exactly the part you think supports your claim.
 
MBHockey said:
3G consumes more battery than Edge. I'm not sure how you could interpret the link you posted as anything other than that.

The only argument one could make for Edge being better than 3G is that since Edge takes so much longer to load your usage time will increase to load the same amount of sites as 3G. Your screen is on longer, etc.

But really, 3G takes much more juice than Edge.
Click to expand...

bigmouth said:
I did. It says exactly the opposite of what you're insisting. Maybe it would help if you quoted exactly the part you think supports your claim.
Click to expand...

10 seconds of 3G would clearly use more than bettery power than 10 seconds of EDGE, however.. it is faster to access websites using 3G. Much faster. You can load sites in less than half the time. All in all I believe you would get more usage out of 3G than Edge in one battery cycle.
 
bigmouth said:
I did. It says exactly the opposite of what you're insisting. Maybe it would help if you quoted exactly the part you think supports your claim.
Click to expand...

"This graph demonstrates why it doesn't make sense to use EDGE for web browsing vs. 3G or WiFi. Realize that 3G is usually at least 2X as fast as EDGE.

17201uv1.png

Here's a numerical explanation. (Web Pages Accessed #'s are theoretical, but based on 3G's 2X speed)
3G Web = 197 Minutes Browsing Time | 400 Web Pages Accessed
EDGE Web = 243 Minutes Browsing Time | 246 Web Pages Accessed"

IDK, that's what got me wondering about it. It seemed to make SOME sense. I guess it would help to know how much battery is used per minute for EDGE and 3G to make a better determination of what the author of that link stated.
 
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