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when there s wifi,does iphone still try to connect to 3g?

K

kanoute

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 26, 2013
9
0
when i ceome home there s wifi. and iPhone 5S is connected to both WiFi and 3G, it uses the WiFi automatically over the 3G,

my question is do i have turn off the 3g manually? it doesnt connect to 3g when there s wifi. i know. but does it check and try to connect to 3g ? it can reduce battery life

wish i dont have to worry about it and it cuts off everything about 3g when there s wifi.

,thanks
 
It's still a phone... it'll need 3G (or some sort of cellular signal) to receive calls.
If you don't care about receiving phone calls, set it to Airplane mode and then switch WiFi on.
 
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cyks said:
It's still a phone... it'll need 3G (or some sort of cellular signal) to receive calls.
If you don't care about receiving phone calls, set it to Airplane mode and then switch WiFi on.
Click to expand...

What relevance does that have to his question?

Turn 3G off and everything still works perfectly, other than connecting to the internet. You can still send SMS messages and make / receive phone calls...


To the OP, I assume (I may be wrong) that 3G is still on in the background because the anything that uses data works immediately after turning wifi off, there is no delay, so I assume it's already connected.
 
virginblue4 said:
What relevance does that have to his question?
Click to expand...

Everything.


virginblue4 said:
Turn 3G off and everything still works perfectly, other than connecting to the internet. You can still send SMS messages and make / receive phone calls...
Click to expand...

You don't "Turn 3G off.' You can turn Cellular Data off, but 3G will still be connected and continue to search for a signal unless you go into Airplane Mode and choose to lose calls.



virginblue4 said:
To the OP, I assume (I may be wrong) that 3G is still on in the background because the anything that uses data works immediately after turning wifi off, there is no delay, so I assume it's already connected.
Click to expand...

No. You're mistaking 3G for just data when it's all of cellular services. It remains on in the background so the user can continue to receive phone calls and text messages.
 
cyks said:
Everything.




You don't "Turn 3G off.' You can turn Cellular Data off, but 3G will still be connected and continue to search for a signal unless you go into Airplane Mode and choose to lose calls.





No. You're mistaking 3G for just data when it's all of cellular services. It remains on in the background so the user can continue to receive phone calls and text messages.
Click to expand...

But from within the mobile data (cellular for you) section, you have the option to turn 3G off. So yes, you can turn 3G off and SMS and phone calls still work.
 
virginblue4 said:
But from within the mobile data (cellular for you) section, you have the option to turn 3G off. So yes, you can turn 3G off and SMS and phone calls still work.
Click to expand...


You can, but you'd probably end up using more battery, not saving battery. 3G is more efficient, unless you have a situation where the 3G reception is really poor but the 2G signal is very strong. Even then I wouldn't bother unless you really must try to squeeze every last drop of juice out of your battery.
 
zipa said:
You can, but you'd probably end up using more battery, not saving battery. 3G is more efficient, unless you have a situation where the 3G reception is really poor but the 2G signal is very strong. Even then I wouldn't bother unless you really must try to squeeze every last drop of juice out of your battery.
Click to expand...

I realise this, I was just replying to the poster above who said that you cannot turn your 3G off when actually you can (and still be able to send SMS and make /recieve phone calls). I've never actually turned my 3G off, just stating that you can.
 
virginblue4 said:
But from within the mobile data (cellular for you) section, you have the option to turn 3G off.
Click to expand...

virginblue4 said:
I realise this, I was just replying to the poster above who said that you cannot turn your 3G off when actually you can (and still be able to send SMS and make /recieve phone calls).
Click to expand...

No, I (and many other iPhone users) can not turn 3G off.

Not that that should matter though since the OP was looking to save battery life and, except for rare circumstances, turning off 3G (even if they have the ability to) would likely use more battery power.


My original comment holds. 3G or not, the phone needs to remain connected to a cell tower for phone calls and texts. Unless the OP is willing to lose those abilities and goes to Airplane Mode, turning off 3G or cellular data won't help them.
 

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cyks said:
No, I (and many other iPhone users) can not turn 3G off.

Not that that should matter though since the OP was looking to save battery life and, except for rare circumstances, turning off 3G (even if they have the ability to) would likely use more battery power.


My original comment holds. 3G or not, the phone needs to remain connected to a cell tower for phone calls and texts. Unless the OP is willing to lose those abilities and goes to Airplane Mode, turning off 3G or cellular data won't help them.
Click to expand...

Your own pictures proves otherwise. Turning off "Cellular Data" will indeed turn 3G off.
 
The option to enable and disable 3G is provided for by the carrier. Some iPhones have it while others do not. Again, depends on the carrier.

There's a difference between disabling 3G and disabling cellular data. Some iPhones with the "Disable 3G" option will allow the phone to fall back on a lower network, Edge/1x/etc. You won't save much, if any, battery life by turning off 3G and falling back to a 2G network. Just let it be on.

I wouldn't recommend turning off cellular data. You won't be able to receive MMS, Group texts, or access visual voicemail. Not worth the extremely small improvement in battery life (again, if it even improves in the first place)

The reason the iPhone doesn't disable 3G while accessing Wifi is so that MMS/Group texts/visual voicemail doesn't stop working.
 
BeeJee said:
Your own pictures proves otherwise. Turning off "Cellular Data" will indeed turn 3G off.
Click to expand...

By that logic turning off your phone turns 3G off too... :D

The OP question was not clear since there is NOT an option to turn off 3G on the 5s like there was on some previous models (3G, 3GS and 4). We can I guess assume they meant turning of cellular.
 
No need to turn data off manually.

If you are having problem with battery life on wifi, it's probably due to weak wifi signal / wifi interference.

P.S. force quit any app from Google. They drain battery big time by constantly sending Google your location.
 
I usually keep both Cellular Data and Enable LTE turned off when I am connected to wifi and I still get phone calls, texts even when not connected to wifi. Will it save battery by using cellular data over wifi? I have 300MB plan so don't want to use cellular data all the time.
 
Consultant said:
No need to turn data off manually.

If you are having problem with battery life on wifi, it's probably due to weak wifi signal / wifi interference.

P.S. force quit any app from Google. They drain battery big time by constantly sending Google your location.
Click to expand...
All Google apps constantly use your location services and send Google your location and quickly use up tons of battery in the process too? Strange that I haven't noticed that at all.
 
Consultant said:
For example:
http://www.macstories.net/news/on-google-now-and-battery-drain/
Click to expand...
Ah, some one particular service of one app can be running in the background (if you decide to use it and allow it to) and use up some battery as pretty much any other similar service/app (of which there are plenty as well) does that similarly uses background location information.

So essentially nothing as drastic as all Google apps being bad like that and even worse than other apps that would provide similar services if one chooses to use them and allows for the relevant permissions.
 
C DM said:
Ah, some one particular service of one app can be running in the background (if you decide to use it and allow it to) and use up some battery as pretty much any other similar service/app (of which there are plenty as well) does that similarly uses background location information.

So essentially nothing as drastic as all Google apps being bad like that and even worse than other apps that would provide similar services if one chooses to use them and allows for the relevant permissions.
Click to expand...

"Google Now’s Location Reporting in particular is used to periodically check location information when the app is not in use"

The key words are that Google app uses your battery "when the app is not in use."
 
Consultant said:
"Google Now’s Location Reporting in particular is used to periodically check location information when the app is not in use"

The key words are that Google app uses your battery "when the app is not in use."
Click to expand...
Yes, that is the nature of services that need to update in the background in iOS. There are plenty of those around, including built in ones from Apple like Reminders for geofencing. Again, you would need to decide to use that service and give it permission do it it, and all it would be doing is what pretty much any of those other apps/services would be doing (updating in the background via passive use of location services). The battery usage associated with that kind of usage of passive/background location services is also different than what it's like when location is actively being used in an app.

So, it's nothing new, certainly nothing nefarious or weird or strange, it's not specific to Google, and definitely not something that applies to all or even most Google apps--more like a few at best, if not just a single one.
 
@OP I keep my cellular turned off until I'm not in a wifi area. I still get all the things others have mentioned. In my home I have wifi but for some reason in certain areas of my home, the wifi connection is slow. So my iPhone will start using LTE or 3G.

Phone still works. When the wifi and LTE are on and when both are in a low connection area my iPhone is fighting to get connected. That's when I turn off my wifi and just go with LTE cellular connection.

no change on battery.
 
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