I agree, if its an old phone your battery is going to be old and not be able to hold enough power. Swapping the battery for a new on or carrying a few cheapo usb charging sticks are viable options.
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Phone batteries lasting or not throughout the day
- Thread starter EpcotMark
- Start date
I agree, if its an old phone your battery is going to be old and not be able to hold enough power. Swapping the battery for a new on or carrying a few cheapo usb charging sticks are viable options.
iPirate
New Member
Until yesterday, I had a Samsung S5. I could get through about half a day without charging and with using the app all day. (Now I have an S9, so we will see what happens).
I have an ANKR battery Pack I bring with me on each trip, and my husband has his own. He plays Ingress while we are there, and I have my pack for not only my phone but my Google Glass (if I remember to bring it). I would highly recommend this as a brand for anyone going to Disney or on any vacation where they use their phone a lot. The larger packs can charge 2+ devices and last 2-3 days before you have to recharge it.
Warning: They are heavy, and a little pricey compared to the tiny ones. But they last and are amazing.
ALSO: Disney does have a Kiosk in HS that sells small battery packs, and they when it is depleted... you just swap it at the kiosk for a new one!
From what I understand, the demand in the parks actually exceeded the limits of wi-fi and this was back when it was first brought online in 2013-2014. I can't imagine the increase in crowds and more and more services being possible through the app helping that much.
dieboy
Active Member
I don't doubt it. If Disney provided wireless to every guest in the parks in addition to what they provide in the rooms, they are essentially their own ISP, and letting users leech off them for free. I am very surprised they have not revamped their network. Gave trickle data to non paying users, and offered a pay service in the parks for wifi. Technology has come leaps and bounds even since 2013, especially in the wireless world. I bet it would be returning profit in no time flat.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
From page one, but number 3 is somewhat incorrect. It is better to keep apps you frequently use open. It requires more power to open the app as "fresh" than to access it from the suspended state it's in if it's open in the background. iOS already has a really great power and memory optimization system. However, definitely disable background app refresh (I honestly don't see any benefit to this, as the apps just refresh when you launch them anyway), and toggle location services to either off or only allowing the app to use them when it is on screen.
I have an iPhone 8 and I can get through a full day at the parks on one charge. I also recommend turning off bluetooth if you don't have any bluetooth devices you are currently using. Note that with iOS 11 and later you actually have to go into the settings to toggle it off completely, along with Wifi, as the control center toggle switch only disconnects "nearby" wifi or bluetooth devices you are connected to until the next day.
supersorrell
Member
I have used the fuel rod swaps during my trips and they have always been a godsend! and its free refills for your stay!! always carry a charger with you as nine times out of ten when having lunch I can grab a table near an outlet and plug my phone in for a few mins, or the tables near the toilets in MK Rapunzel area have USB charging points too (or they were there in 2016 lol)
When a company ties so much of the quality of its experience to using portable data devices and wi-fi services, they're pretty much locked into providing at least the wi-fi without additional charge. Consider that part of the ticket cost to get into the parks or the hotel room rates people are paying. As for the battery life, well, you makes your choices and you takes your chances, says I.
All those "leeches" out there are paying for the privilege; there's nothing "free" about the wi-fi in the parks.
dieboy
Active Member
Do you understand how much money a network costs to run, let alone support approx 56250 users per park, per day, along with all the properties (park at medium capacity, assuming 3/4 are adults/teens and the other 1/4 are children with no device)???? There is absolutely no way they can cover the entirety of costs by baking the wifi costs into a ticket price.
The IT department never makes money. We bleed it like a gaping wound. They are balancing the cost elsewhere, but guests are not directly paying for it via a portion of our ticket purchases.
Right now, speeds are junk. For the most part, nearly everywhere. Anyone who would connect to their wireless and run a speed test, will be sorely disappointed.
What I am getting at, is let guests buy better inet .. That would help offset the costs of the 'slower' inet guests already deal with. Give me a steady roaming connection, with decent bandwidth for an extra 10 a day.. I'm guessing most phones, would make it through a day with semi decent wifi. So pay for the decent wifi, or pay for the portable charger. Personally, i'd just take the better wifi.
Also, when did WDW tie so much of its quality of experience into mobile devices? The only thing useful the WDW app does for me is to check ride wait times. I get no experience out of it, short of a 'hey look that ride has a short wait time', maybe once a visit. Oh and reservations, but hey, i flag them in my email so do I really need the wdw app? The quality of experience has nothing to do with my phone or wifi connection.
RollerCoaster
Well-Known Member
Once again another "nice generalization without facts" right from the horses mouth that criticized another poster.
The iPhone SE battery in fact has an amazing battery that in fact can outlast many of Apple's larger phones.
http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-se-has-amazing-battery-life-when-tested-2016-5
The SE absolutely has the ability to last an entire day at the parks. Any phone does, but it all depends on usage patterns. All iPhones will go dead with heavy usage during a long day at the parks. There are many factors that affect power consumption and the battery, so long as it's in decent shape, is largely the insignificant part of the equation to making your phone last all day.
Usage is the factor. If you're unsatisfied with how long your phone is lasting then put it away in your pocket or purse more often and keep it there! You're probably the one that's got your head buried in that screen each time you're in line. There have been some other tips posted that are helpful to conserving power. If you can't resist the temptation of the devil's brain drain device then buy a fuel rod or your external battery. This really isn't that complicated.
a) Please share with us how much Disney is spending on wi-fi in the parks.
b) I have no doubt a competent IT company could build tiers of wi-fi access in the parks. I just don't lump Disney into that category.
c) I don't think you're a typical user then, since lots of folks constantly check wait times, snag FP+s, and make ADRs on their phones while in the parks.
dieboy
Active Member
a) Don't know. What I do know, is the company I work for with nearly 120k plus endpoint devices (amount of devices in use by approx 2 parks, guests ONLY, not all of the other disney network for POS systems, etc), and how much we spend. I'm not at liberty to disclose exact numbers or names. I can give you a small example of the hardware side of it.
123mil every three years simply to replace our switches.
28mil every three years to replace APs.
60mil on routers.
5mil on battery back ups
god knows how much on cable pulls.
god knows how much on cat6e cable.
god knows how much on fiber cable.
All the other little stuff that you well .. need. Such as sfp recievers, etc etc. List goes on.
man hours to run and support the network itself (hovers around 50mil/year).
This does not include the MASSIVE data costs we incur monthly.
Anyone in the industry that's been around enough knows exactly how much this stuff costs. Its probably more than you imagine it to be. And the logistics Disney has to deal with probably adds heaps of cost to it, site surveys each and every time something is built or moved, etc etc. My stuff is in controlled environments with no 'guests' per say.
b) So a company that charges for parking at the resort is much different than a company that charges for 'better' inet? I'd lump them together in a heartbeat. General wifi guests (restricted speeds) Pay wifi guests (reasonable speeds), simple, those who want to keep a decent battery, by having solid inet, can. Those who don't, can charge around the park or buy the external charger after their phone dies from trying to latch onto something for more than a minute all day long. The reality of it is, the speeds are junk anyways, barely enough to crawl along in the wdw app. So just give us the option.
c) heh. I use my phone when I need it. It takes a minute to lock in a fast pass. a few seconds to check wait times, and if you can't recall your reservations, bookmark it in your email. I'm just not buried in my phone all the time, or live through the lenses.. I eat more bandwidth than a good sized neighborhood at home. I am far from the typical user, but not quite the direction you are thinking.
What this all boils down to, if they offered some decent connections to carriers and wifi, peoples phones would last a significant amount of time. If people are constantly checking their phone, well thats on them, and their battery will drain very quickly with the current offerings for connections in the parks.
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I can understand why you'd keep your company name confidential.
Phil12
Well-Known Member
From personal experience I can attest that T-Mobile has the best coverage at WDW and it is far better than any other carrier. AT&T and Verizon are among the worst. It's easy to determine people at WDW that have either AT&T or Verizon. They're the ones that have to go outside of their resort rooms in order to get a signal and make a phone call. They're also the same people that are cussing because their phone lost its signal in the middle of a call.
And so it goes with battery life as well. AT&T and Verizon phones are constantly searching for s signal and their batteries run down quickly as a result. T-Mobile phones always have a very strong signal available to them at WDW and their batteries last longer because they're not using excessive power searching for weak signals all the time.
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trainplane3
Well-Known Member
The only time I've had issues close to that was when Verizon was still 3G only, so before 2011? Once LTE rolled out, it turned everything around massively. I'm sure the effect was the same on AT&T. I've seen speeds as low as 10Mbps (up and down) up to 50Mbps (up and down), both are more then enough for park browsing. I honestly can say I've never dropped a call anywhere on property pre or post LTE rollout. And now LTE is solid throughout the entire resort.
If there's any reason why T-Mobile has better luck in the parks, it's because the towers are less saturated carrier due to less customers.
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tnolan
New Member
I too am a fan of Fuel Rod. except I bought mine on their website and it cost $20, so you might want to check that out.
Phil12
Well-Known Member
Yes indeed, that's part of the reason. What it all boils down to is bandwidth. Verizon and T-Mobile are about even in LTE availability but T-Mobile has fewer devices (i.e. customers) competing for the available bandwidth. Here's the most recent OpenSignal report that verifies the T-Mobile superiority: https://opensignal.com/blog/2018/03/15/the-4g-battle-continues-between-t-mobile-and-verizon/
And here is the OpenSignal January, 2018 report: https://opensignal.com/reports/2018/01/usa/state-of-the-mobile-network
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