Database Users

Which Method do you use to Connect to the Internet?

Nothing to gain here except idle curiosity.
For connecting to the Internet, be that to have my mail forwarded, having programs update their information or just general surfing ~ which method do you use to connect?
Myself, even though at home I could quite easily connect to my home network or at work use the Hospital's server, I still prefer to use my Mobile Account [T-Mobile in my case].
However, I notice in several other topics that members mention they use wireless as opposed to their sim card's network.
Is there a particular reason in changing from one to the other?
I personally do not have a valid reason to opt in and out of different connection methods and simply let the machine connect to the phone network whenever it wants.
So... there's my curiosity released. Would anyone wish to share their method of choice!
Beards

I'm connected to the internet via HSDPA 24/7. Only if I need sth really fast I use my W-LAN connection.

I use HSDPA/3G when im outside. When im at home i use wifi/w-lan.

At street or office I'm connected to the internet via HSDPA, at home via Wifi or usb.

Wifi at home. HSDPA outside.
But HSDPA seems to never want to switch off even though I have a good wifi connection. Urgh.

chr5s11 said:
I'm connected to the internet via HSDPA 24/7. Only if I need sth really fast I use my W-LAN connection.
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The combination HSDPA + O² + germany = Not stable
Haven´t you noticed these HSDPA lags? They aren´t the result of bad connection, they are the result of line drop or as O² called it - sleeping connection. I have confirmations from many major german cities.
LINK (german):
Diamond= http://www.ppc-welt.info/community/showthread.php?t=132807
HD= http://www.ppc-welt.info/community/showthread.php?t=137661
O² FAQ Point 19= http://www.ppc-welt.info/community/showthread.php?t=137748

Flanders said:
The combination HSDPA + O² + germany = Not stable
Haven´t you noticed these HSDPA lags? They aren´t the result of bad connection, they are the result of line drop or as O² called it - sleeping connection. I have confirmations from many major german cities.
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Click to collapse
I know that, but I encounter these lags only in a few areas. Where I usually go I don't have any problems at all with HSDPA. In fact I had more problems with HSDPA on my old Hermes than on my new Blackstone.

SingaporeAirlines said:
Wifi at home. HSDPA outside.
But HSDPA seems to never want to switch off even though I have a good wifi connection. Urgh.
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Click to collapse
How could that b? when u switch on wifi, it will off the hsdpa and switch to wifi instead, isnt it? mine one does that tho. how can u use hsdpa and wifi at da same time???

Can you tell me which town or area? Here or on ppc-welt?

vosszaa said:
How could that b? when u switch on wifi, it will off the hsdpa and switch to wifi instead, isnt it? mine one does that tho. how can u use hsdpa and wifi at da same time???
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I don't know. It's a bit annoying as I don't want the HSDPA on when I am using Wifi.

SingaporeAirlines said:
I don't know. It's a bit annoying as I don't want the HSDPA on when I am using Wifi.
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HSDPA is automatically off when u turn on wifi. i think u misunderstand sumthing.

On most networks HSDPA never disconnects, so if you then go and connect to wifi the HSDPA will remain connected, just unused. You can check this with the HD's title bar icons.
Doesn't make any difference though, HSDPA being "connected" means nothing really. It's little different from your phone being on and registered to the mobile network.

Oh! thx for the info. I thought it disconnect automatically.
BTW, if u tap on the title bar as u said, u can disconnect the HSDPA directly from there!

I use Edge all the time since I'm on T-Mobile USA. In fact, I'm posting this message via Edge while I'm waiting to renew my license. I only use WiFi when I have to d/l any files. I'm pretty happy with Edge speeds where I live, commute and work.

arfster said:
On most networks HSDPA never disconnects, so if you then go and connect to wifi the HSDPA will remain connected, just unused. You can check this with the HD's title bar icons.
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Click to collapse
Hmm. Thanks for that. I just don't want it to try and be clever and increase my wifi speed by using a bit of HSDPA on the side (and hence using up my data quota).

3G Vs. Wifi

This may seem like a weird question, but regarding battery life, which is better? 3G is slower than Wifi speed wise, but u have to keep the screen on longer. With Wifi, it uses up more battery but the screen is on for not as long, what r u thoughts?

Its the same, on 3G and WiFi the screen is the same time on.

well wifi is not faster then the cable or adsl that feed it internet
my adsl is only 8mbit
and 3g is 7.2mbit so the difference is not that big

properly, and you are more independent...

McLin said:
Its the same, on 3G and WiFi the screen is the same time on.
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Click to collapse
Umm I disagree, if Wifi is faster than 3G, and I need to look up something real quick 3G is gonna take longer than Wifi, if im going to turn off the screen when im done, how is the screen going to be on for the same amount of time?

ok you mean this way, but here where I live I have full HSDPA Speed, but you way is properly too.

At least on laptops, WiFi uses less battery than a USB HSDPA/3G modem.
I'm guessing it's the same here.

Ok we all know Wifi is faster I jus want to know which method would use less battery, considering speed and screen time

3G is more sensible. It's fast enough to load pages quickly. WiFi will kill your battery if you leave it on in the background..., and factoring in the time it takes to not only turn on WiFi, but find a network, type in a pass, and wait to connect, etc - it really makes no sense to use WiFi.
If you have a good 3G signal - you just unlock the phone, google something quickly, then turn it off.

Oh dont forget the cpu power for WPA and WPA2...

i get less than a meg on 3G and almost 4 meg on wifi that is download. the upload seems to be pretty close. but i don't have the best wifi ever i am sure.

WiFi / battery efficiency

At home my cell coverage is a little spotty. It jumps between 1x and evdo frequently. I'm experimenting with WiFi (just set it up yesterday at home) and I haven't yet had a chance to see first hand, but my question is, if I have a solid WiFi connection, is it more battery efficient than solely using the cell radio? I know that just having wifi on will drain the battery hence my confusion.

Strong WiFi is generally better on battery than even a strong EVDO signal. You should be much better off using WiFi. Make sure to set the WiFi to never sleep in the advanced settings.

zesta said:
Make sure to set the WiFi to never sleep in the advanced settings.
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Is this a new 2.1 option? I didn't even look for it because I am so used to having keepWiFi installed. Also, I have noticed that my wifi signal appears low even though I am only about 50 feet away from my router with only 1 wall in the way running on 802.11g on a dual band router. Also, my router has the ability to broadcast 2 SSIDs to allow for a guest network so you dont have to give out your WPA password to friends and it firewalls them away from your network. I have noticed that my phone has a problem with this. My netbook sees both SSIDs without any problems and stay connected to my main SSID. On my Hero, the main SSID appears and disappears constantly. I have to log onto my guest network because it is the one that my Hero likes for some reason.

In the WiFi setting, click menu and advanced option is available.
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Great info. Thanks!

3g and h

I saw that when I switch my apn on. What does h stand for?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

ngkkv said:
I saw that when I switch my apn on. What does h stand for?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
HSPDA I think
Bascially when my phone download it displays a H and when it's not it displays 3G

Yes, it's HSDPA. It's faster than 3G, so it's good if you see that, it means that your provider has faster internet
On Nokia handsets, HSDPA shown as 3.5G .

Tyxerakias said:
Yes, it's HSDPA. It's faster than 3G, so it's good if you see that, it means that your provider has faster internet
On Nokia handsets, HSDPA shown as 3.5G .
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uhm does that mean i have am using a premium service that requires me to pay additional lol?
it wasn't like this. It recently became H from 3g only. :X

I've never heard of HSDPA being charged as a premium service. It's just your providers network.
Anyway you can disable it from them settings if you want. Just go to Settings>Wireless and network>Mobile networks>Network mode and choose GSM only. An alternative is to use APNdroid from the market.
I disable it when I'm in a WiFi network or when I don't need a data connection because it uses more battery.
I use the "WCDMA only" (forces HSDPA on) when I want a data connection so my phone does not switch to GSM automaticaly. Be careful if you use that option though. If you move to an area with no HSDPA coverage, your phone won't switch to GSM and you'll have no network connection

Fireloon said:
I disable it when I'm in a WiFi network or when I don't need a data connection because it uses more battery.
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Click to collapse
I thought if you were on wifi, the phone automatically turns off the mobile data connection?

tameracingdriver said:
I thought if you were on wifi, the phone automatically turns off the mobile data connection?
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Click to collapse
That's partly right. It does not send or receive data through the mobile data connection but that does not mean it switches to GSM network. It stays connected to the HSDPA mobile network just handles the data requests through WiFi. In my experience anyway

True, but if you don't go into WiFi/Advanced/WiFi Sleep Policy and set it to NEVER, when your phone goes to sleep so does WiFi, which causes the 3G radio to turn back on and using wireless data for updates, email checks, etc.
Long story short, if you're spending a lot of time in a WiFi area, set it to never sleep to save a lot of battery and a bit of data usage.
If you're moving around a lot, leaving WiFi on when the phone is sleeping will use more power, because not only is your 3g radio on, so is the WiFis, as it's constantly looking for a known network to hook up to and scanning for new ones.

Croak said:
True, but if you don't go into WiFi/Advanced/WiFi Sleep Policy and set it to NEVER, when your phone goes to sleep so does WiFi, which causes the 3G radio to turn back on and using wireless data for updates, email checks, etc.
Long story short, if you're spending a lot of time in a WiFi area, set it to never sleep to save a lot of battery and a bit of data usage.
If you're moving around a lot, leaving WiFi on when the phone is sleeping will use more power, because not only is your 3g radio on, so is the WiFis, as it's constantly looking for a known network to hook up to and scanning for new ones.
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Click to collapse
Hi I have a few questions about your comment here. I am in an office connected to wifi all day at work and when at home connected to wifi. When I look at battery usage it states
Display 46%
cell standby 19%
phone idle 12%
mario live wallpaper 9% (highest ive seen it but it is the best thing on this phone)
...
...
Wi-Fi 2% (lowest item in list)
Are you saying if i tell it to never make wifi sleep then cell standby usage will go down and i will use less network data? and battery usage will be less then if it makes wifi sleep?
Also if i do this when I am not in office/home and i disable wifi will that also save me some battery?
At the moment i just have wifi on all the time and let the phone use what it wants to.

badasschris said:
Hi I have a few questions about your comment here. I am in an office connected to wifi all day at work and when at home connected to wifi. When I look at battery usage it states
Display 46%
cell standby 19%
phone idle 12%
mario live wallpaper 9% (highest ive seen it but it is the best thing on this phone)
...
...
Wi-Fi 2% (lowest item in list)
Are you saying if i tell it to never make wifi sleep then cell standby usage will go down and i will use less network data? and battery usage will be less then if it makes wifi sleep?
Also if i do this when I am not in office/home and i disable wifi will that also save me some battery?
At the moment i just have wifi on all the time and let the phone use what it wants to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe "cell standby" does not talk of ACTIVE 3.x/2.x G connections! So you should not be looking at that parameter. However it is interesting for us to know that WiFi hardly use any power. "cell standby" should only talk of when mobile is really in standby or display off, low power (suspended) mode.

badasschris said:
Hi I have a few questions about your comment here. I am in an office connected to wifi all day at work and when at home connected to wifi. When I look at battery usage it states
Display 46%
cell standby 19%
phone idle 12%
mario live wallpaper 9% (highest ive seen it but it is the best thing on this phone)
...
...
Wi-Fi 2% (lowest item in list)
Are you saying if i tell it to never make wifi sleep then cell standby usage will go down and i will use less network data? and battery usage will be less then if it makes wifi sleep?
Also if i do this when I am not in office/home and i disable wifi will that also save me some battery?
At the moment i just have wifi on all the time and let the phone use what it wants to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3G radio uses a LOT more power than short range WiFi. When WiFi is on and connected, the 3G connection is totally turned off. Totally.
Think about it this way...once you get past the new and shiny phase of owning your device, it probably spends MOST of its time with display off and sleeping. So, it will spend a LOT of its time connected to 3g if you let the WiFi go to sleep.
Turning Background Data and Autosync off will prevent the 3G radio from switching back on when WiFi is sleeping (and prevent WiFi from using much transmitter power when awake as well). But turning off sync/background data is not ideal if you need emails or whatever as soon as they are sent, accurate weather forecasts, etc.
Least battery usage is of course in Airplane mode with WiFi and Bluetooth turned off as well, since there is no radio activity at all. But we bought these devices in part because they're connected and "always on" data is coming in.

Here is how I do it:
I use APNdroid to switch 3G off when it's not needed. I find that I only rarely need 3G. Seems that you do not need it either.
I leave WiFi sleep on because tbh I have no reason not to. When WiFi goes to sleep 3G does not autoconnect anyway because of APNdroid.
That way the phone uses plain 2G when no data are needed. When data are needed it uses WiFi most of the time and 3G only when no WiFi is available and I manualy select to put 3g on

Sorry to chair another question.. I see a 'g' logo sometimes... Instead of 3g and h. What's g?
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ngkkv said:
Sorry to chair another question.. I see a 'g' logo sometimes... Instead of 3g and h. What's g?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
G = GPRS ( General Packet Radio Service )
E = EDGE ( Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution )
3G = 3rd Generation ( I unno, wtf. )
H = HSDPA ( High-Speed Downlink Packet Access )
Basically G(PRS) operates over GSM, it's from dial-up speeds to twice as fast as dial-up.
EDGE operates over 2G, it's almost as fast as standard DSL, about 400kbits and a maximum theoretical 1Mbit.
3G operates in tandem with HSDPA, infact technically HSPA is the technology that is used on the 3G network. It is typically up to 7.2Mbps, with a maximum theoretical of 14Mbit.
HSDPA and HSUPA are specific aspects of a HSPA enabled system. They are Down link and Up link capability respectively.
When you see H, the phone is going from a stable 3G connection to a boosted power consuming ( which is why it isn't constantly on ) state in which it can download very quickly.

3G problem

Does anyone have a problem with internet connection when connected on 3G with weak signal?
It seems that phone prefers 3G even when signal is so low that internet just doesn't work. I had to turn it off and my internet connection now always work, but EDGE is as fast as I can go. It's really annoying.

I noticed it, but when i try to change signal manually (##634# and *#2263#) i see that Edge signal is low as 3G, so i think it is not a problem.

I use wifi for internet but I have that problem at my house, 3G is very weak and it only works in a couple rooms. Can't text in other rooms unless it's on edge but it always tries to connect to 3G.
I had to use Samsung Tools to enable the 3G switch in settings. I turn it off when I'm at home and so far it has been working great.

3G Toggle
DatDereX1 said:
I use wifi for internet but I have that problem at my house, 3G is very weak and it only works in a couple rooms. Can't text in other rooms unless it's on edge but it always tries to connect to 3G.
I had to use Samsung Tools to enable the 3G switch in settings. I turn it off when I'm at home and so far it has been working great.
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Click to collapse
Yes I did this too - this is the only way still!