# Cell phone battery question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2007, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-battery-question/410905 "2007-07-07T22:07:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Shroud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@The\_Shroud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Shroud)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-battery-question/410905/1 "2007-07-07T22:07:41Z")
On my 2-year old cell phone, I get almost no reception at work, and when I leave work 9 hours later, not having talked on it at all, my battery is nearly drained. Is that normal, or a flaw in my phone or battery? Should I just turn it off when I’m at work? I wish it had a “stop trying so hard to find a signal” setting. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-battery-question/410905/2 "2007-07-07T22:45:42Z")
That’s normal. The phone switches to maximum transmit power in its attempt to contact the nearest base station, plus the receiver uses more power while it searches for a signal. I had the same problem when I worked in an area that had very poor cellular coverage. The only solution was to turn the phone off while in that area. ---
**Author:** ![t-mobileguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@t-mobileguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-mobileguy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-battery-question/410905/3 "2007-07-08T02:35:52Z")
Mks is correct. Think of it this way, your phone is always trying to get you the best signal possible. If that means it has to scan at maximum power all the time, it will. My advice is to turn your phone off when you know you can’t get a signal. The other possibility is get a phone that has service where you are. There several ways of doing this including outside mounted antennas or VOIP. If you tell me your provider and phone model I can try and give you an idea of what options are available for you. ---
**Author:** ![DevNull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c89c15/32.png) [@DevNull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DevNull)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-battery-question/410905/4 "2007-07-08T02:52:41Z")
Yup. Even when you are not talking, your phone always has to say hello to the nearest cell tower constantly so when an incoming call tries to reach you, it knows where you are without having to send an all points bulletin out to every cell tower in the world to find out where you are. That act of contstantly saying hello sometimes gets overwhelming powerwise in the case of a distant cell tower. I can feel the heat in my pocket when I am out in the boonies. That is when I put it on my dashboard to prevent damage to my skin cells, etc… but that is another issue entirely 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-battery-question/410905/5 "2007-07-08T03:47:00Z")
[QUOTE=t-mobileguy] Mks is correct. Think of it this way, your phone is always trying to get you the best signal possible. If that means it has to scan at maximum power all the time, it will. My advice is to turn your phone off when you know you can’t get a signal. The other possibility is get a phone that has service where you are. There several ways of doing this including outside mounted antennas or VOIP. If you tell me your provider and phone model I can try and give you an idea of what options are available for you. [/QUOTE] When in Tupelo, Mississippi I have zero service. My cel phone is dead or close to it when left on all day. It is indeed searching VERY hard for service and when it finds some, it is Extended Network service. ( Rare, on Verizon ). For a coupla hunnerd dollars you can get a [cellular phone signal amplifier](http://mycellularsolutions.com/wilson_amplifier.html). These essentially create areas of intensified cell signals. Pricey but a good solution if your service on your carrier at work or home is marginal. It will not solve the problem of being in Extended Network of course, but will indeed solve the problem of searching for a hot signal and killing your cel phone. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![t-mobileguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@t-mobileguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-mobileguy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-battery-question/410905/6 "2007-07-08T04:38:48Z")
[QUOTE=DevNull] Y I can feel the heat in my pocket when I am out in the boonies. [/QUOTE] Looks like I’m going to the wrong boonies!!! 😃