AT&T 3G Microcell Battery Drain

[flyerfan25]

Ever since I got the Microcell, it seems I am hving masive battery drian on my Captivate.  Not sure if they are related but I did also try replacing my battery and same issue.  Not sure what is going on but looking for some assistance if there is any relationship between the two and if so how to fix.

[partymonkey]

I have the exact same problem.  AT&T has replaced both my microcell and my phone, and the issue is still the same.  The persons I spoke w/ at AT&T microcell tech support have no further ideas and indicate they've never heard of an  issue like this.

At this point, I cannot use the microcell.  It works fine w/ my wife's iphone, so I just activated the cell just for her phone.  Cannot use it on the captivate due to the battery drain.

[ilikewireless ACE - Czar]

How far is the Microcell from where you use your cell phone? How far is that in comparison to the Microcell's maximum range?

As far as I know, to reduce SAR, the radio will use the maximum power when far away from the Microcell or towers. Radio power on the phone is the least when you are closest to the Microcell or towers.

[partymonkey]

The microcell is not more than 100-200 feet most of the time, albeit on two levels.   However, as part of troubleshooting I've left the Samsung Captivate phone during the day and overnight at about 8ft from the microcell, and the impact on battery is the same.

[jperry58]

I have the exact same issue. I have a Captivate and it is useless when connected to the Micro Cell. The battery just dies even without usage. I have bought new batteries thinking that was it but to no avail. I have to leave it plugged into the charger anytime I am at home. We have the poorest signal coverage without it. I should look into other carriers I suppose.

[AdrianCh]

Yeah, this is happening to me also with a brand new Samsung Focus S

unplug the microcell and the drain is 1% over 2 hours, plug it in and it is more like 15-20% per hour

Turning data off does seem to help, but havign to turn data on and off as you leave,enter the house is no solution

[tamathumper]

I have the same problem - sitting 3 feet from the Microcell.

I have a Google Nexus One.  The battery lasts most of the day when traveling / away from home.

Sitting next to the Microcell, I'm lucky to get five hours before the battery goes from full to totally dead.

[Mike-ro-soft]

Same issue with 2 Samsung Focus phones and a Focus S.

[MyDogHasFleas]

I believe I'm having this exact issue with my iPhone 4S on IOS 5.0.1.

I am trying an experiment where I turn Cellular Data off and on to see how it affects battery drain. I am about 90% sure the Microcell is the issue and Cell Data is the problem. I had the MicroCell off for all of last week as an experiment and my battery life increased at least 50%.

[i006076]

Micro Cell is definitely killing my battery.  My iPhone 4S drains 3-4% overnight without the MCell plugged in versus 55% drain overnight connected to the MCell.  Ironically, signal without MCell is -101 versus -49 connected which goes against the logic that the phone is working harder.  It must be some background process.

Missing calls in my house because this is unacceptable and signal is pathetic where I live.  Need help fast.

[Wingless]

Well add me to the list.  I bought a Samsung Focus S Flash last week and had the same problem with the microcell.  Whenever I was connected to it I got at most six hours before the battery died (without use).  I also had a problem where the signal would drop and say no service and the only way to get it back was to toggle airplane mode.  In the end I gave up and returned to phone since I have no signal without the microcell.

[RonV]

All 3 of my family's Samsung Focus have the same issue with the AT&T Microcell.  I drop 50% of my battery in 4 hours when I am at home and connected.  At work I can go the entire day with only 20% of battery used.  AT&T needs to fix this!  Without the microcell I only get 1 bar of power in my house and coverage is spotty but when it is off I get at least a full day with battery at about 30% before I plug in at night.

[neovader]

Add me to the list as well.  I got a MicroCell at work because we have crappy coverage.  There are about 6 of us who use the microcell with a mix of iPhone 4 and Samsung Focus.  I can definately tell it's draining because when I'm at work, my phone chews through battery while I'm there, when I'm at home it lasts twice as long.  This is also with about the same usage, if not more when I'm at home.

[krabago]

Glad I found this thread - battery life seemed good when I first got my Samsung Focus S earlier this month. I've been baffled as to why my phone hasn't been able to make it till the end of the day. Looking back, I believe this problem started happening around the time I got the 3G MicroCell.

[WhyldMan]

I believe that I'm having this problem as well. I have an app on my Focus S that graphs battery levels. I've tested this by turning the Microcell tower off for 4 hours and on for 4 hours. The Microcell-on method drained my battery a good twice as fast as the Microcell-off method.

I've been on non-WP7 sites  and there are iPhone and Captivate users complaining about battery drain due to the usage of the MicroCell Tower.

I called AT&T and the representative, Jennifer, basically told me to pound sand. They said that they can't be held responsible for battery drain when using the Microcell tower. She told me that if I were home, I should keep the phone on the charger. She then told me that she could give me Cisco's phone number. I've never been more disappointed. If she'd simply offered to pass my information up the support chain, I'd have been much happier. Such crass honesty sucks!

[RonV]

Well I can just forget about getting any support on this from AT&T.  I called today about this issue and they asked if it is happening with any other phones registered.  I stated that it's happening with 3 Samsung Focus phones which are on my account and one HTC HD7S.  The Samsung Focus shows a faster drain than the HTC but even the HTC is showing the drain.

She asked how far my phones were from the Microcell and I responded they are in the same room about 15 feet away.  She suggested that I replace the Microcell but there is nothing wrong with it.  She had me re-provision, (remove and re-add) all my phones and said to see if that solved the problem.  Was as of tonight after a fully charged phone went to 20% left after 4 hours I un-plugged the Microcell again.

I would like to really see AT&T respond to this issue.

[RonV]

I hate back to back posting in forums but this is an update from my testing:

Well I confirmed it is not of issue of Windows Phone using 3G data when WIFI is turned on.  I have had my microcell being monitored in my router for bandwidth.  And all day today it averaged .04 kbps transmitted to AT&T from  my network and .03 kbps received into my network from AT&T.  If is was doing data I would have seen a spike every 1 for email sync and I am not seeing this.  I did not take or receive any calls today on my Focus.

So the issue must be within the 3G connection between the phone and the microcell as I theorized.  Something either in the phone's radio driver or the microcell is causing the phones radio to do some strange things.

[kellf190]

Well just add me to the list that has this same issue. With both Samsung and HTC phones. Clearly the microcell is doing something wrong and I hope someone can figure it out!

[TroyRIg]

I have a Focus S and the battery life has been horrible, going from 100% to 0% in six to seven hours while I sleep. Using a battery meter graph I noticed outside the house it drained at a slower rate. I read this and other articles regarding the Microcell and sure enough, I turned mine off and I've used only 70% in 15 hours. Guess I'll be taking my chances without that piece of junk. It drops half of my calls anyway.

[RonV]

What I have to do now is turn off the "Data Connection" setting when I get home and remember to tun it back on when I leave.  This is the only way to get battery life back to normal with using the Microcell.  With the cell data turned off at home I am now back to 2 days without having to recharge my phone.

[nategold]

I do not have this problem with an iPhone 4.  But I do have the delayed outgoing call problem described in excuciating detail in the long thread http://forums.att.com/t5/3G-MicroCell/Delay-when-placing-calls/td-p/2692837

I am wondering if those of you who have this problem also see the delay on outgoing call problem?  ATT has said that this problem results from contention between the microcell and the regular phone network.  I am wondering if you folks with the battery problem have a newer version of the firmware that "fixes" the delay problem but causes a worse problem with battery life.

[joehkc]

I have a captivate for a little over a year with a microcell. My battery usage is not bad. I have turned the brightness on the screen down to less than 50%. It's bright enough and has helped battery. I am always 20-30' from the microcell and have really good coverage. I top off the battery and turn phone off at bedtime. My battery usually lasts 1-11/2 days.

[jspeciner]

Yeah, this is legit. They only bummer is it's up to AT&T to fix and since this is apparently a byproduct of the fix for the 'outgoing call failed' bug that took them over a year to fix, I wouldn't hold your breath. In fact, probably the best bet on getting a fix is to lean on your handset manufacturer, who AT&T will take more seriously than even the largest outcry from a collection of individual customers.

[RonV]

I tried contacting Samsung on this and they told me to contact AT&T....the finger pointing will never stop.

[cgcrunner]

I have this exact same problem with my Samsung Focus.  If I turn off the cellular data option and use WIFI my battery life is great.  If I have cellular data turned on my battery is dead in 10 hours.

This is a major defect.  Step up and properly support your customers ATT.  Its only in your best interest.

[phxpaul]

I've experienced acclerated battery drain too.  One night two weeks ago, I pulled my iPhone off the dock, it was at 100%

when I got up the next morning it was at 24%.  No apps running either.  Just sitting there on the bedside table.

[ds.yellowfin]

Ok, so originally my Samsung G II had no problems with battery life, but I did have a couple of dropped calls. That is when I checked for updates and installed the latest available. That is when the battery issues started, and like the other posts here my phone will not last overnight. Which is simply absurd... Even if I was not in the software support/trouble shooting industry, common sense would lead to the hypothesis that a new "BUG" was introduced with that update. I believe the update was from the June/July time frame. I have called AT&T support, the first time I was dropped (or outright hung up on, ???) however I was using a lan line so who knows. The second attempt had me clear all the settings and power down my phone while the support rep reset something to do with roaming settings that are internal to AT&T. Unfortunately that did not help, I am still having severe battery drain while connected to the MicroCell. To have paid for this additional device just so I can make and receive calls was painful enough (Verizon customers that visit do not have any problems with signal, just AT&T subscribers have no signal from my location), now having to keep my phone on charge constantly is ridiculous. It is obvious that a new issue or even an existing issue was made worse by an AT&T released update. Now consider the fact that I have been an AT&T customer since 1996, and only had to add the MicroCell because AT&T REDUCED THE NUMBER RELAY TOWERS IN MY AREA!!!. l had to use every trick in the book to get the support rep to tell me that this is why I started having reception issues to start with... Honestly if AT&T cannot get this fixed it will be the proverbial straw on the camals back. How about adding the relay tower back, and refund my money for the MicroCell AT&T, that would be a more acceptable workaround instead of keeping my phone on charge permanently. Granted this long winded rant was just that, long... It took almost 50% of the battery to complete. Time wise maybe 20mins, and that is being very generous. I have more to say but I have to go find my charger before my battery dies!!!!!
Signed
Sincerely,

Drained 8(

[7Johnny63]

I'm having the exact same problem with my Samsung Focus S.

[arthuryang42]

I've been mucking around with my phone for the past couple of weeks to optimize my battery life, and one thing I've learned in addition (and perhaps separate from) to the 2.3.6 WiFi issues is that connecting to my AT&T Microcell has resulted in worse power consumption on my Samsung Galaxy S2.

I left my phone on overnight with my microcell off, and after 9 hours it had used only 4%. About 2 or 3 bars connection strength.

Then last night I had my microcell on, and confirmed that my phone was connected to it - pulling down the system tray said AT&T Microcell and I had a full 5 bars. But this morning after 9 hours it had used 11% - so more than double.

I had thought that the more bars, the less power your phone had to use to communicate to the tower, and therefore less battery power used. Now this is probably true as a general rule, but apparently this isn't the case with the microcell.

My wife and I both have a SGS2 and I reproduced the behavior on both.

This isn't nearly as bad for me as others are reporting, but I am definitely seeing poorer power consumption when connected to the microcell regardless of the improved signal strength.

[E the P]

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arthuryang42 wrote:

I've been mucking around with my phone for the past couple of weeks to optimize my battery life, and one thing I've learned in addition (and perhaps separate from) to the 2.3.6 WiFi issues is that connecting to my AT&T Microcell has resulted in worse power consumption on my Samsung Galaxy S2.

I left my phone on overnight with my microcell off, and after 9 hours it had used only 4%. About 2 or 3 bars connection strength.

Then last night I had my microcell on, and confirmed that my phone was connected to it - pulling down the system tray said AT&T Microcell and I had a full 5 bars. But this morning after 9 hours it had used 11% - so more than double.

I had thought that the more bars, the less power your phone had to use to communicate to the tower, and therefore less battery power used. Now this is probably true as a general rule, but apparently this isn't the case with the microcell.

My wife and I both have a SGS2 and I reproduced the behavior on both.

This isn't nearly as bad for me as others are reporting, but I am definitely seeing poorer power consumption when connected to the microcell regardless of the improved signal strength.

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I wonder if the MicroCell is forcing some type of constant handshaking?  This could cause excessive power drain.