Android WiFi battery drain at work

Forums › Android › Android WiFi battery drain at work

timmmay

16108 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#223019 8-Sep-2017 13:42

My Huawei P9 battery lasts days if I don't use it much and leave WiFi/data off.

However, at work with WiFi on, it drops from around 90% to around 40%, with relatively moderate use - some WhatsApp messages, maybe 10 minutes of reading the news. This is using a corporate that has multiple access points. When I use mobile data instead of WiFi the battery drain is much less - maybe to 65 or 70%.

When I leave WiFi on at home the battery drain isn't high - even less than mobile data at work.

I guess this is to do with a busy spectrum? At work I can't even count the number of WiFi networks available, it could be 30 or more. At home it's 3-5, or less if I use 5G.

Just curious if anyone knows more about this. The solution is to use mobile data or turn WiFi on only when needed.

michaelmurfy

/dev/null
9397 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1860908 8-Sep-2017 13:43

Yep noticed it at my work too with the OnePlus. I think it is due to it hopping between the many access points around here.

kobiak

1413 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1860914 8-Sep-2017 13:47

same story here :(

helping others at evgenyk.nz

muppet

2254 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1860946 8-Sep-2017 14:39

I've always thought this was due to the extra "noise" in the environment, lots of arp requests, multicast traffic etc.

But doing a quick bit of reading then, this probably isn't it.

Though then again if AP's are doing this Multi/Broad cast to unicast conversion, that'd cause it.

nzkc

874 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1860961 8-Sep-2017 15:12

Had this problem when my phone (for some reason) couldnt connect to the wifi in the office. The wifi would keep waking up, seeing the AP it knew about, attempt to connect, fail and go back to sleep for a bit. Killed the battery when that was happening.

Seen similar when its kept dropping the WiFi (same scenario really). Just happened less often, so less power drain.

At the time it happened it was only in the office - fine at home. Was only a day or two too so put it down to the office WiFi playing up.

sbiddle

29044 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#1861022 8-Sep-2017 16:04

UAPSD can make a big difference on supported hardware.

tehgerbil

707 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#1861027 8-Sep-2017 16:13

I have heard of this and heard disabling "smart network switch" (or your proprietary version) which changes between 3G and wifi to maintain a stable internet connection can help.

timmmay

16108 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#1861034 8-Sep-2017 16:36

sbiddle:

UAPSD can make a big difference on supported hardware.

Google says: "uAPSD is an acronym for Unscheduled Automatic Power Save Delivery, which is a feature of Wi-Fi devices that allows them to save power. uAPSD is also known as WMM-Power Save or WMM-PS."

Can you provide a bit more context - is this something you have to turn in Android, is it automatic, etc?

sbiddle

29044 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#1861038 8-Sep-2017 16:41

timmmay:

sbiddle:

UAPSD can make a big difference on supported hardware.

Google says: "uAPSD is an acronym for Unscheduled Automatic Power Save Delivery, which is a feature of Wi-Fi devices that allows them to save power. uAPSD is also known as WMM-Power Save or WMM-PS."

Can you provide a bit more context - is this something you have to turn in Android, is it automatic, etc?

It's something you configure in the AP itself, not the client. Most high end phones and WiFi devices support it.

There can be compatibility issues with it on.