High Battery Drain When Sim Card Is Removed

Heist · 02-02-2011, 10:50 AM

3GS
OS 4.1
6.15BB

Condition: For work reason I had to use my Blackberry so I had to pull out the SIM. My Iphone is basically being used an Ipod Touch w/wifi.

Ever since my card has been removed I've noticed that my battery consumption is going thru the roof! Minimal use and I can lose as much as 15% an hour. Standby mode - whereas I would lose ~5% overnight (7 hours or so), I'm losing 10% or more.

I've check to make sure nothing is running in the background and all the non essential process are shut down.

Note, even when I am using my Iphone w/the SIM in - I rarely turn off my Wifi connection. It's almost always on and I'm using its connection vs. my EDGE.

Question: Has anyone ever experienced something such as this?
I know Iphone has some thirsty habits, but c'mon son - this is crazy.

hope376 · 02-02-2011, 03:01 PM

Known issue re-activate with sam method

Heist · 02-02-2011, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hope376

Known issue re-activate with sam method

Strange. It never did this before. It wasn't until I pulled the SIM out. Is that same symptom others have experienced? I thought it was immediately after they jailbreaked/unlocked the phone that they saw this?

Anyway, what's the SAM method activation. Can you post a link to the right thread. Thx.

djmelee · 02-02-2011, 11:36 PM

Have you tried putting any different SIM in?

Even if it doesn't activate, it may stop the device constantly trying to look & connect to it (if that's what's happening).

Just an idea.

Heist · 02-03-2011, 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djmelee

Have you tried putting any different SIM in?

Even if it doesn't activate, it may stop the device constantly trying to look & connect to it (if that's what's happening).

Just an idea.

No, I haven't. But I do have the dummy AT&T SIM. So is that the case with Iphone's, that it's constantly banging the network trying to connect although it realizes there's no SIM. (Design flaw like hell! My Blackberry never does this.)

Anyway, I'll give that a shot and report back.

How ridiculous was it: Went to sleep last night @ 1:34am I had 39% bat life. I woke up this morning @ 7:22am and the phone was dead.

=========================================================================== ========================

Update: Put in AT&T Sim @ 8:30am - 62% bat life.
As of 10:17am - 45% bat life and I've done NOTHING with the phone.

What the fuck is going on?! This is some bullshit.

Again, I didn't have this sort of battery run down until I removed my Tmo SIM card. Up until then, the battery life has been decent (by Iphone standards).
And this is a brand new battery. The phone is a reconditioned unit I got from Apple a month ago.

djmelee · 02-03-2011, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heist

No, I haven't. But I do have the dummy AT&T SIM. So is that the case with Iphone's, that it's constantly banging the network trying to connect although it realizes there's no SIM.
Anyway, I'll give that a shot and report back.

I dont know, I wouldnt think so, it was just an idea to check.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heist

What the fuck is going on?! This is some bullshit.
The phone is a reconditioned unit I got from Apple a month ago.

A trip back to the apple store maybe on the books for an exchange?

It's not constantly trying to teather, in settings.app is it?

Heist · 02-03-2011, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djmelee

I dont know, I wouldnt think so, it was just an idea to check.

A trip back to the apple store maybe on the books for an exchange?

It's not constantly trying to teather, in settings.app is it?

Nope.
3G is off
Bluetooth is off
Cellular data is off
Tethering is off

The only thing that's on is WiFi. Weird as hell man. It never did this before. It wasn't until I pulled the SIM out that my battery drain increased dramatically which is completely opposite of what I expected.

If anything I thought I'd gain an easy 30% in Battery life.

djmelee · 02-03-2011, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heist

...If anything I thought I'd gain an easy 30% in Battery life.

Thats exactly what i'dve thought to be honest... it's weird.

Heist · 02-04-2011, 07:32 AM

I should also note the phone was officially activated at the Iphone store. There was no hactivation process.

aschaudf · 02-04-2011, 08:01 AM

turn airplane mode on. i think its because the iPhone is constantly checking to see if a sim card is there or not causing the battery to drain faster.

Heist · 02-04-2011, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aschaudf

turn airplane mode on. i think its because the iPhone is constantly checking to see if a sim card is there or not causing the battery to drain faster.

Just gave it a shot. No dice. Lost 10% in 46 minutes w/nearly no usage, PUSH turned off, and Email Fetch is set to 30 minutes.

Damn, this is weird. I wonder what on god's earth could make this thing suck down power like this. It has to be expending the energy on processing or running something - but what? Especially if there are no active processes going.

It's not like the power is going up into the air.

Donbreezio · 02-04-2011, 04:12 PM

try doing a restore on it , its probably something you have installed or downloaded thats causing your battery drain

Heist · 02-04-2011, 05:41 PM

Update: Welcome to fucking Bizzaro Land.

So I have some downtime where I don't need to be Blackberry accessable.
I pulled the Tmo SIM card out of my Blackberry, inserted back in my Iphone.

Surprise: Battery drain is right back to normal levels?!
I've lost ~5% in 45 minutes and this with me having my Data Connection ON, Wifi ON, Push OFF, 3G OFF (My 3G is always off though) and me checking a few emails and leaving Words With Friends open and running while I'm playing.

This couldn't be more contrary to what I expected given I had EVERYTHING but Wifi off and no SIM installed.

Anyone got an explanation for this one?

Heist · 02-07-2011, 12:22 PM

3 days now. All has been well since putting in my SIM.
I guess I'll never be able to use the Iphone as an Ipod Touch should I feel like moving on to something else.

kiefferbp · 02-02-2013, 12:12 PM

Sorry for a necropost, but I have had the same issue with my iPhone 4 since I have updated to the iPhone 5. The fix, I found, is to put the SIM back into the iPhone 4 (in my case, I need an adapter), wait for it to connect, put it into airplane mode, and then take the SIM back out. If the SIM is taken out before the phone is put into airplane mode, the battery drain occurs. It seems like the phone tries to connect to a cellular network even though it realizes there is no SIM installed, and that if the phone is put into airplane mode prior to removing the SIM it wouldn't try to phone home.

D3xus · 02-02-2013, 06:26 PM

I understand you bumped, so I may as well add my two cents.
I imagine the huge battery drain is caused by a consistent attempt on the iPhone's part to make a connection that isn't there. It periodically tries to connect to data servers via the SIM card port, but it can't so it goes into a loop until it gets something.