Maintain data connection for push email

[Guest rutteger]

Switching to a Blade from a E72 following getting one for the wife. Great handset for very little £££.

Big stumbling block I have currently is maintaining a data connection for push email. Use this phone for work email so I need notifications of incoming mail.

Noted the following whilst using both Pauls r11 ROM and the latest JJ.

1. Mobile Data Only

Data Connection maintained whilst phone in sleep. Email notifications received as expected.

2. Wifi

Wifi 'sleeps' whilst phone sleeps so no notifications. In the advanced wifi menu the 'WLAN SLeep Policy' is set to 'When Screen Turns Off' which would seem to indicate it should switch from WLAN to mobile data. But of course it does not, just drops networking altogether.

3. Wifi with Wifi Fixer

Using 'Workaround 2' which doesn't allow the phone to sleep notifications are received.

So the workarounds for me thus far are to

a)use mobile data only which isn't great given I may as well use wifi whilst at home or other known locations.

b)never let the phone sleep. Doesn't seem to have a great effect on battery life.

Any other workarounds or ideas?

Do other android phones have similar issues with the wifi sleeping? A search would seem to reveal some do and some don't although it's hard to get a handle on the extent of this issue.

Edited February 3, 2011 by rutteger

[Guest Azurren]

Afraid not.. That wifi issue is a beast (Imagine if you didn't have a data plan!)

Push email and other simple syncing works fine over 2g and used less battery than over wifi. My suggestion would be to just toggle wifi when you want to surf and leave it on 2g

Email syncing etc. uses minimal bandwidth, don't worry about that ;)

[Guest Magnets]

Do other android phones have similar issues with the wifi sleeping? A search would seem to reveal some do and some don't although it's hard to get a handle on the extent of this issue.

I think some tablets have issues with sleeping/wifi. Skip through the comments on the blade wifi fix app in the market and you can see a few people using different handsets are using it. Not sure if they are having the same sleep problem, or if their problem is coincidentally fixed by the same app.

Edited February 3, 2011 by Magnets

[Guest Azurren]

The app in question "Blade wifi fix" fixes the wifi sticking issue (It gets stuck "on" after coming out of sleep even though it isn't on). The app simply turns it off and on again.

Every android phone occasionally gets it's wifi messed up and so it will work for any phone ;)

I myself havn't seen any other android phones with the wifi sleep issue ;)

[Guest sumdumguy]

Manufacturer should be ashmed this wifi problem still exists after all this time... bad show

[Guest rutteger]

Afraid not.. That wifi issue is a beast (Imagine if you didn't have a data plan!)

Push email and other simple syncing works fine over 2g and used less battery than over wifi. My suggestion would be to just toggle wifi when you want to surf and leave it on 2g

Email syncing etc. uses minimal bandwidth, don't worry about that ;)

Beast indeed. Shame it doesn't just switch from wifi to mobile data when it sleeps.

Maybe a simple widget toggle would be the best action. Although quite keen to have it 'just working'.

Will give it a couple of days with wifi fixer keeping the phone awake and see how that goes with battery. Initital test this evening ain't looking great.

[Guest SqueakyG]

My routine is to have data switched on the whole time to leave myself open to incoming emails. Even if a few emails come through, it's not more than a few hundred kilobytes per day, which shouldn't harm you without a data plan unless your provider is really evil.

Then if I want to browse the web or the app market and I'm at home, I'll temporarily switch to wifi to do that.

[Guest mark2410]

my solution was to just turn off wifi and use mobile data always

[Guest rutteger]

my solution was to just turn off wifi and use mobile data always

Yes, that's probably what I'll end up doing.

One thing I did find was that the app 'wifi keep alive' needs a reboot to work when settings are changed (e.g. if switched on/off). Now installed 'REGPON wifi keep alive' which seems more robust and can be set to switch on and off with the wifi. At least now if wifi is on the regpon app will keep the phone connected (by preventing sleep) to the wifi. If I switch wifi off the phone can sleep as per normal thus conserving battery.

Sure there'd be means of setting up clever rules using something like tasker. May have a look at this at some point.

[Guest NorthRiding]

Now installed 'REGPON wifi keep alive' which seems more robust and can be set to switch on and off with the wifi.

I am going to give REGPON a try to see how it goes. Sounds like a more controllable app.

I have "uninstalled" the "Blade wifi fix"?

Edited February 4, 2011 by NorthRiding

[Guest rutteger]

Just to add to this it would seem under certain circumstances the Blade will wake from sleep and reconnect the wifi briefly thus allowing mail to be checked. This was noted on a second phone with no wifi keep alive apps installed running Modaco r11 ROM. Wifi is set to 'never sleep' in advanced settings, although of course it does.

->Using stock email client on exchange account set to push wifi does not seem to wake at all. No notifications noted.

->Using stock email client on exchange with account set to check every 5 mins phone seems to 'wake' every 5 mins or so and check mail. This was verified by running a ping against the mobile's IP and of course the fact mail notifications received.

[Guest Ralph Martin]

Beast indeed. Shame it doesn't just switch from wifi to mobile data when it sleeps.

Are you joking? I don't want to be in the middle of a multi-gigabyte download at work, and find it went to sleep, and I got charged for this much mobile data!

[Guest rutteger]

Are you joking? I don't want to be in the middle of a multi-gigabyte download at work, and find it went to sleep, and I got charged for this much mobile data!

Er, no. Obviously being able to get notifications (and check) incoming mail is important to me. I've used "smart phones" over mobile data only for years and never hit any limits. No multi gigabyte downloads here. Different people, different priorities.