3G V. Wi-Fi

[xMatt007x]

So when would I want to use Wi-Fi, Should I use it when I'm home? Does it save battery life?

 

[joshua117]

don't think it will save you that much on the battery, but wifi would be a lot faster.

 

[toddegreene]

Second question first, wifi doesn't save battery. My general rule of thumb is, wifi when you can. A good wifi connection is faster than 3g. As you wifi connect at different locations, you'll learn whether that connection, or 3g is better.

 

[MNTNBKR]

I have absolutely no supporting information, but I would hazard to say that 90% of the time, Wi-fi will be faster than 3G.

 

[kristoff125]

Wifi eats battery. 3g is slow.
If you're out somewhere and not using the phone for data, don't connect to wifi, if you're using your phone to surf the web and wifi is available, connect. It will make your battery die faster, but depending on the internet connection the Wifi is associated with, it can be upwards of 20-100x faster, depending on how many bars you have of course.

 

[jasonb]

I have absolutely no supporting information, but I would hazard to say that 90% of the time, Wi-fi will be faster than 3G.

i will backup this statement. cable internet, and even verizon fios is pretty common nowdays, at least in my area. it's also pretty common for businesses to have a wifi router and have it unprotected. i was amazed at the amount of places i could connect to with wifi.

my wifi at home i have seen max out at 18mbps, the highest i have ever tested over 3G on a good day was 2.15mbps. now if we could get 2.15mbps over 3G everywhere that would be decent, but it's not that common, at least in my neck of the woods. also 3G had pretty bad latency, usually upwards of 100+ms. my cable connection is home is about 8-20ms.

also, i have seen no evidence that wifi eats battery. i have actually seen evidence saying that wifi will save battery. look at the specs on the Nexus 1. they claim longer battery life when the phone is using wifi.

 

[Tehjojo]

I rarely use wifi to justify the data costs.

 

[kristoff125]

Wifi : 5.5k KBPS on my Fios
3G: 125 KBPS in my house.
Quite a difference, what is that, like 44 times?

 

[MNTNBKR]

I have absolutely no supporting information, but I would hazard to say that 90% of the time, Wi-fi will be faster than 3G.

i will backup this statement. cable internet, and even verizon fios is pretty common nowdays, at least in my area. it's also pretty common for businesses to have a wifi router and have it unprotected. i was amazed at the amount of places i could connect to with wifi.

my wifi at home i have seen max out at 18mbps, the highest i have ever tested over 3G on a good day was 2.15mbps. now if we could get 2.15mbps over 3G everywhere that would be decent, but it's not that common, at least in my neck of the woods. also 3G had pretty bad latency, usually upwards of 100+ms. my cable connection is home is about 8-20ms.

also, i have seen no evidence that wifi eats battery. i have actually seen evidence saying that wifi will save battery. look at the specs on the Nexus 1. they claim longer battery life when the phone is using wifi.

Yep, I was going to say the same thing regarding battery life. I have wi-fi turned on 100% of the time on my phone. It's connected to a wi-fi network about 90% of the time. I see no difference in battery life if I leave wi-fi off.

 

[jasonb]

the only time you''ll see wifi effect your battery life is when it's not connected to wifi but constantly searching for wifi. so if you are driving around in your car with wifi on or if you're at work all day with no wifi to connect to it'll be constantly trying to find a wifi connection.

 

[billyidle]

Using wifi at my home rather than 3G makes a huge impact on my battery performance, a positive impact.

 

[jsh1120]

Although it's a good rule of thumb that WiFi is significantly faster than 3G, that's not always the case. In my home, for example, my WiFi is about 10-12 times faster than 3G. However, I was in a hotel last week that offered "free Wifi." I was on the top floor of the hotel, apparently far away from the router. I found that 3G was about twice as fast as the WiFi.

So it's always a good idea to check the speed if you're going to be in a particular place for awhile.

 

[jasonb]

Although it's a good rule of thumb that WiFi is significantly faster than 3G, that's not always the case. In my home, for example, my WiFi is about 10-12 times faster than 3G. However, I was in a hotel last week that offered "free Wifi." I was on the top floor of the hotel, apparently far away from the router. I found that 3G was about twice as fast as the WiFi.

So it's always a good idea to check the speed if you're going to be in a particular place for awhile.

true......