Battery life using Telkom Mobile SIM poor

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BloemGuy

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Hi,

We've noticed that battery life in a few devices seems to be significantly shorter using a Telkom Mobile SIM. Tried it in an iPhone5, iPhone5s, iPhone6, iPhone6s and Samsung S4.

Using Vodacom/MTN sims, the battery life seems to be pretty standard. However, switching to the Telkom SIM the battery life is horrible, and on the iPhones hardly last a full day on standby only, whilst with the other networks they go 2-3 days.

Setting the iPhones to not connect via LTE on Telkom seems to get a little bit longer battery life, but still significantly shorter than with Vodacom and MTN.

The Samsung only has a setting for GSM or WCDMA when on Telkom, with GSM mode giving Edge connections and not increasing battery life much.

The LTE signal at home is about 3 bars, so I guess that could impact on the battery. Also, I notice when setting LTE that the iPhones warns that Telkom is yet LTE certified for the devices. Is that why they perform so poorly?

Thoughts?
 
Phone connecting to further masts thus increasing output and using more battery, is my guess.
 
BloemGuy said:
Hi,

We've noticed that battery life in a few devices seems to be significantly shorter using a Telkom Mobile SIM. Tried it in an iPhone5, iPhone5s, iPhone6, iPhone6s and Samsung S4.

Using Vodacom/MTN sims, the battery life seems to be pretty standard. However, switching to the Telkom SIM the battery life is horrible, and on the iPhones hardly last a full day on standby only, whilst with the other networks they go 2-3 days.

Setting the iPhones to not connect via LTE on Telkom seems to get a little bit longer battery life, but still significantly shorter than with Vodacom and MTN.

The Samsung only has a setting for GSM or WCDMA when on Telkom, with GSM mode giving Edge connections and not increasing battery life much.

The LTE signal at home is about 3 bars, so I guess that could impact on the battery. Also, I notice when setting LTE that the iPhones warns that Telkom is yet LTE certified for the devices. Is that why they perform so poorly?

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I have experienced this in poor signal areas with TM because it will constantly switch between LTE, 3g and edge. The easiest way to fix it, is to roam on MTN when you are in those areas. Stable connection will give you your battery life back.
 
BloemGuy said:
The LTE signal at home is about 3 bars, so I guess that could impact on the battery. Also, I notice when setting LTE that the iPhones warns that Telkom is yet LTE certified for the devices. Is that why they perform so poorly?

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
^This. It seems all devices have problem updating carrier definition file by OTA. Use connected to the Internet iTunes, sync with iphone, it should download carrier update. iTunes should pick it up automatically, sorry I don't know how to do it manually.

Once the carrier update is done you can further reduce power consumption by disabling data roaming. In low signal condition phone is constantly talking with alternative towers for possible handover. If you disable data roaming, number of towers to speak-to is reduced. Alternatively do manual network selection and force the phone to use MTN only. It is subject to your data package, the best deals are non-roaming.
 
sajunky said:
Once the carrier update is done you can further reduce power consumption by disabling data roaming. In low signal condition phone is constantly talking with alternative towers for possible handover. If you disable data roaming, number of towers to speak-to is reduced. Alternatively do manual network selection and force the phone to use MTN only. It is subject to your data package, the best deals are non-roaming.
Click to expand...

The freeme deals are roaming, or so I've been told, with decent caps at reasonable prices.
 
Hi everyone. Late post I know but I had to say this comes as a relief as I thought I was the only one experiencing this. Im using a S6 Edge+ Duos and the battery would just disappear when using Telkom for data. I have even left Telkom for Cell C just a few days ago. Well for that reason and because I couldn't resist the Giga200 promo.

Great Post.
 
Yeah just add the battery life is HORRIBLE. The reason less towers and poor signal cause the phone to constantly search for signal. In fact my LG G4 would be taken off charge @ 6am and by 11am it's dead and I did not even make any calls or use data at all. Phone stays hot constantly.

Only solution is to force it to MTN roaming. That is the best solution but does not always work.
 
I have also noticed if I set the phone to Telkom the battery life is significantly shorter. Force to roam on MTN and there is almost no drop for hours. 3G roaming speeds are over 12Mb/s so not like you have to put up with much slower speeds. Also saves you from the connection dropping as you move out of TM coverage and it needs to hunt for MTN.
 
Ported from VC to Telkom. Fist thing I noticed was the battery drain on my IPhone 7 plus. Besides that very happy with coverage and speeds.
 
Same here. I live in Pretoria and work in Midrand and my Xperia Z3 compact which used to have great battery life (2+ days) now struggles to get a day. Phone is hot all the time.

And I really don't want to move the whole family back to CellC. Telkom data and Telkom to Telkom (landlines included) minutes are great.
 
Last edited:
elabuschagne said:
Same here. I live in Pretoria and work in Midrand and my Xperia Z3 compact which used to have great battery life (2+ days) now struggles to get a day. Phone is hot all the time.

And I really don't want to move the whole family back to CellC. Telkom data and Telkom to Telkom (landlines included) minutes are great.
Click to expand...

I now also get the same with my S8 on Telkom. I notice that the S8 keeps on going LTE-A > LTE > LTE-A > LTE and that cause the drain.

When I traveled from Centurion to Richards Bay the weekend via N1 N to N4 and N11 down to N2 the battery did not drain at all. It was draining a bit on Telkom network in Gauteng and past Witbank but once it started roaming on MTN 3G all the way the phone wasn't getting hot at all.

So for now if you want to save battery put it on 2G/3G mode or Force MTN roaming but roam as a last resort.
 
I keep my phone locked on MTN to prevent the phone switching back and forth between MTN and Telkom.
 
I've had this issue for a few years. My solution as mentioned above was to roam on MTN. But now with LTE/LTE-A bundles that's no longer an option.
 
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