huge increase of cell standby in battery usage

[re747]

For the past 2 or 3 days "cell standby" has eaten between 25-35% of my battery. The problem is that it is normally under 5%. I have done nothing to change my phone (stock droid 2.1), and I have been in the exact same place all summer. literally sitting at my desk in my apartment allll day all summer studying for this big exam. So I don't know why it changed so drastically? Has anyone else experienced something along these lines? and is it the type of thing that sorts itself out, or is there some type of DIY fix?

thanks in advance!

 

[aminaked]

Dial *228 and choose option 2

This will update PRLs--how your phone connects to Verizon. Apparently VZ recommends doing this once/month.

Note that if you're not using your phone, it is normal for cell standby to be the top user of battery power--because your phone is just standing by!

Incidentally, another thing to do once/month is drain the battery completely and then charge it completely to calibrate phone/battery.

 

[re747]

thanks for the advice! Yeh I forgot to mention that when I select the "cell standby" in the battery log to go to the screen with more info it says "Time without a signal 50%". So if it's looking for a signal 50% of the time it's not shocking that it would use up so much battery, but it's just struck me as odd because I have never had a signal issue in my apartment before (and when I do look at my phone it always says it has at least a few bars). That cell standby info screen also suggests I 'switch to airplane mode to save power in areas with no cell coverage'. Good idea, but again, I have cell coverage. I live in the middle of Philadelphia haha I think I should be covered here.

and yes I will definitely try calling *228. Once a month seems a little excessive, but I probably haven't done it in 6 months so I'm sure I'm due by now.

thanks again :]

 

[Jonpwn]

interesting, my phone has been the opposite since tuesday when 2.2 installed itself.

 

[SSHGuru]

Mine is 50% also and usually the leader in battery use. However I am in a house that gets horrible reception. Someone built it in the 1950's with the purpose to stop cell phone signals

But recently I wiped the Droid and now it's much better. No idea why.

 

[aminaked]

Did this start happening after the update? I've seen several people needing to do a factory reset after the update to fix all manner of problems. Before doing that, definitely try just rebooting at least once.