Weird phone problem.

[Excalibur]

I got Jeanette a smartphone for Christmas, an LG L3. Reviews said it was a great phone for folk new to smart phones, with really good battery life. Recently, it started to lose charge at an astonishing rate, going flat within hours of being fully charged. I disabled everything which could be draining the battery, especially wifi, to no avail.

It's a PAYG phone, and jeanette noticed that she only had pennies of credit left, so topped it up by a tenner. Battery drain stopped immediately. She's since done exactly the same again. It can't be a coincidence, can it?:confused: Or can the phone companies do something which increases battery drain when credit's low, maybe by asking it to continually register on the network or something. Yours, Baffled of Goole. :daft:

[LeapCreative]

Sounds to be a data issue. If you don't have any data allowance left (low credit), then the phone will continue to attempt to form a connection, but the request will be refused by the network.

If it's an android, you can download a widget that will do this, but to manually correct this, you can turn off Packet Data from the settings menu.

If you don't mind me asking, what network are you using, and how much are you paying per month in top ups? I may be able to suggest an alternative.

[Excalibur]

If you don't mind me asking, what network are you using, and how much are you paying per month in top ups? I may be able to suggest an alternative.

Packet data, eh? I'll have a look for that then, ta.

Network-Virgin. Top ups? No :Censored: idea, it's the wife's phone. :D

[LeapCreative]

Well if the phone isn't tied into Virgin, she might be better off with GiffGaff. For a tenner a month it's 1GB data, 200 mins to any network and unlimited texts. Not a contract, just a 'bundle'. www.giffgaff.com

I put the Mrs's phone on there and it's saved a fortune.

[Excalibur]

Well if the phone isn't tied into Virgin, she might be better off with GiffGaff. For a tenner a month it's 1GB data, 200 mins to any network and unlimited texts. Not a contract, just a 'bundle'. www.giffgaff.com

I put the Mrs's phone on there and it's saved a fortune.

Hmmm, sounds good. I'll have a look. Ta.

[hammy]

Peter, If you are charging the phone too much this can also make the battery very weak and not hold a charge, try waiting till it fully runs out then charge it again for 24hrs then do it again. Batteries (although it sounds silly) have a memory. Unlike you :p:p

[Excalibur]

Batteries (although it sounds silly) have a memory. Unlike you :p:p
Hmmm. How droll. :p I'll have to check the battery type, cos I know that with the lithium batteries on my drills, letting them go completely flat, that's a good way to ruin them. The NiCads had a terrible memory effect, as you say. The NiMh ones were better, if I remember correctly. My old drills have done over seven years on the original batteries.

[Pe7e]

:thumbs_up: +1 for Gif Gaf, I've used them for a couple of years now, high on value, but low on customer service, it's all provided by email and can be a lengthy process. Once I had my phone settings right, it's been problem free, and I've found it to be very reliable (it's run on the O2 network)

[DazzyD]

Pete

What Hammy is referring to is the process of "battery conditioning" which is a way to keep the battery in tip-top condition. You should let the battery run dead completely every so often (not every time, though) before recharging. If you keep recharging before the battery runs out completely then it will wear out quicker.

As for the real reason. I suspect Leap is correct with the packet data thing. On my phone it comes under Settings>Mobile Network Settings>Use Packet Data. On PAYG, you should really have this setting turned off as it will use your credit quicker never mind your battery. What is does is constantly try to make a connection to the mobile data network when apps want to update themselves in the background or your email wants to check itself every ten mins or whatever. I was running out of credit very quickly on my PAYG smartphone so I rang up customer services and they advised me to turn packet data off. Never had a problem since.