yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Windows Phone 7 General] professorwol:
i agree lol I use my phone on campus and I want to have WiFi on all the time. But of course like op said if I have to pack up for my next class I hav to lock my screen which shuts off my WiFi, I then have to relog on the IE to get internet again.

Now that is an inconvenience I should be able to set that as I wish ...

HD7 unlocked
[Windows Phone 7 General] arturobandini:
Once again, this is a problem with WP7.

Not enough settings so that the phone behaves according to the customer's needs.

Why it is not possible for users to set how wi-fi shall operate while in sleep/standby ???

MS, please add this in the settings.

PS: I am really starting to believe that Android is for skilled or mature people, when WP7 is dedicated to dumb users or kids. Enough! WP7 is not Kin. Give the users some more freedom. :mad:
[Windows Phone 7 General] FiyaFleye:
Wow, really? I would argue that wasting money on an Android device is the dumbest thing you could do. This is a phone, it requires a data connection, how can you fault Microsoft because you use the device differently than intended? You're using the phone without the phone aspect...

Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
[Windows Phone 7 General] foxbat121:
Because not everyone has unlimited data plan or even 1GB or 2GB data plan. For those on a cheap data plan (200MB to 250MB/month), keep the wi-fi on as much as possible can save significant cell data usage for other things.

Yes, it is a missing feature (just like million other missing features), but not a bug, of WP7 regardless how you put it.
[Windows Phone 7 General] sammy_user:
Wifi off is a pain if you have to authenticate again
[Windows Phone 7 General] FiyaFleye:
Maintaining an exchange connection cannot possibly affect your data plan in any significant way... I think most of these users have NO data plan
[Windows Phone 7 General] emigrating:
My wife uses her Omnia7 without a data plan at all. WiFi enabled 24/7 as she's almost always in an area with coverage (and when she's not she will enable the data connection manually to do a web search or check her email).

Anyway, my point is that she still manages to receive both hotmail and exchange emails no problem on her device - whilst it is not on charge. Which leads me to believe the connection does come back to life every so often to recheck emails and other updates. In any case, it automatically reconnects when you unlock the screen, which as long as you're not on a web-based login network will work just fine also.
[Windows Phone 7 General] arturobandini:
How using Wifi instead of expensive and limited 3G could be qualified as 'using the device differently than intended' ?

Who judges how I shall use my phone 'as intended'???

I am using Wifi mainly at home because my carrier charges a lot for 3G connections and, in the mean time, limits me to 2GB per month.

I use a lot Internet radio (TuneIn), Podcasts and watch TV on my phone.

It's pretty obvious that I will use Wifi, and not waste 3G.

Come on.
[Windows Phone 7 General] FiyaFleye:
Then since you're home with the screen on, why is this an issue?

Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
[Windows Phone 7 General] z33dev33l:
Could someone explain to me why he cant keep wifi on all the time? I do and I don't have any issues...
[Windows Phone 7 General] lekki:
He's just being whiny. I can't believe this thread has gone on so long when the phone syncs wirelessly every damn night when plugged in and doesn't stop installing apps over wifi when not plugged. Neither does it not fail to get anything that requires push notifications regularly.

Yet he believes that for his own, very special application, wifi is somehow disabled because the screen is off...:(
[Windows Phone 7 General] foxbat121:
Not if you are a busy man and has a lot of emails. And god forbid, you're syncing with Yahoo mail (before Yahoo fixed its data hog server). And lastly, sync facebook status with a lot of friends.

If you have email sync and other syncs going on while your phone is not plugged in, the wi-fi will be off while your screen is off and the phone will use cell data connection instead. I'm not sure what happens when you turn cell data connection off in the settings.
[Windows Phone 7 General] emigrating:
I'll give you the Yahoo mail one - if you have a ridiculously low limit on your data usage.

But even as a very busy man getting hundreds of emails thru my Exchange account every week there just isn't much data transferred. As for FB syncing, I haven't looked into exactly how much is transferred but I doubt it's very much as it only grabs basic details - any other information is downloaded as needed (bar contacts pinned to start - which seems to be fully synced).

In fact, since moving to WP7 I have not had a single "you are reaching your limit" message from my carrier. I used to get these a couple days before the end of each month when on WM6.5 and Android - and no, I haven't changed my plan, still on the same 1GB/mo (before speeds are reduced).

As for syncing using your data connection when the screen is off, I'm not sure that's how it works. Yes, there is (was?) a bug where if you are in the process of downloading something over WiFi and your screen turns off it will fall back to 3G - but I'm still fairly certain it re-enables WiFi every so often (10 minutes in seemingly) to sync.
[Windows Phone 7 General] FiyaFleye:
Uh, the emails use minimal data, I'm talking small... All of the large information is downloaded manually, not auto

Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
[Windows Phone 7 General] linj:
This is a horrible defence of Microsoft. I really want to use WP7, but wifi sleeping is one of the biggest problems I have with the platform.

I'm in rebar buildings / basements all the time, attending lectures or labs (i.e. no data, but I have wifi everywhere). I have a data plan, but I don't want to saturate my quota. At the same time, I want my push notifications, not every-five-minutes or whatever notifications. I think it's hard to say that I'm using the device differently from intended; I bet many people go to work or live where data is simply not as fast as wifi.

And, yes, battery life is often better with wifi than with cellular data. Think about it; the wifi point is so much closer to you than the tower (normally). Your phone needs to send signals to the antenna, not just receive from the antenna, especially when you're dealing with TCP rather than UDP. If you really don't believe me, look at this link (no fan of Apple, but whatever; it's the fastest source I can find): http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html . If you look around, type into Google "wifi vs data battery life," you'll find lots of anecdotal evidence pointing to the fact that wifi just has better battery life. I myself found that hard to believe, coming from WM6.5 where the OS had horrible support for wifi power management, but the difference is night and day on modern OSes such as Android.

If anybody has a solution to this, I'd love to hear it! The misconceptions in this thread were interesting, and I'm really glad that I could post something to bump this back to page 1 of the forum.

I don't have a WP7 myself right now, so I can't go and search in the registry for something. If anybody wanted to take the time, it'd be greatly appreciated.
[Windows Phone 7 General] N8ter:
WiFi battery life is better than Cellular, ESPECIALLY if you are in a low reception area. The WiFi battery life will embarass the cellular battery life in that respect. I believe that is pretty much common knowledge by now...

WiFi's advantage is even greater on 4G handsets, from what I've experienced, but even on a 3G phone with good reception the 3G speeds can often usurp that of a WiFi connection (some, not all it just depends on what kind of internet connection that WiFi hotspot is sharing).

How much data an email uses depends on what is being sent in the email. If it has a 1MB attachment, then it's not a trivial amount of data. Even then, it still has to use the cell radio, which drains more battery than WiFi in most, if not all, cases...

And LOL @ the "using the phone how it's unintended to be used."

LF Link to how WP7 devices are intended to be used, please... Some people may buy one off-contract to get a "Zune HD with more apps." Is that unintended? Steve Balmer did say every WP7 device was a ZuneHD, right?

More and more smartphone users are using their phones less and less of a phone these days. That's why carriers are giving tons of rollover minutes and unlimited mobile to mobile, etc. in their plans. Why do you think Verizon didn't get any factorable amount of AT&T customers after they got the iPhone, even though they played their Coverage/Reliability "advantage" to death in commercials and internet advertising? A lot of those people don't care. As long as data speeds are good and the damn thing works most of the time, they're fine (not to mention GSM's data speeds blow CDMA data speeds away, IME, while letting you talk without turning off your data connection/interrupting downloads, etc.).
[Windows Phone 7 General] pasp1001:
solved(atleast it works for me)

i found a simple solution just the other day, and i remembered this thread, the op, and his needs...

In Settings(lock and wallpaper) turn the SCREEN TIME OUT to NEVER....

then try turning off the screen manually with the wifi connected, wait as long as you want and see if the connection stll holds...mine did....

please some confirmation....
[Windows Phone 7 General] vel0city1:
I'm trying that out right now.

I noticed that I can't have a password on my phone and have the lockout to never. That is somewhat of a dealbreaker for me, as I've got plenty of nosy friends that would instantly mess with my Facebook and everything else on my phone if I left it around unlocked.
[Windows Phone 7 General] Blue1k:
Confirmed. Works on my Focus. Had to registry tweak to get the never option.

Success! :)
[Windows Phone 7 General] foxbat121:
If you have Focus and set timeout to never, beware of screen burn in. The Super AMOLED screen isn't very forgiving if you leave screen on for a long time.
[Windows Phone 7 General] munkeyphyst:
+1 That's why the focus doesn't have a "never" setting. If you're going to do that, is it possible to load an all black screen?
[Windows Phone 7 General] ms79723:
I do not understand...I set it to screen timeout: "never" and when i turn off my screen and wait a minute the same ol mess happens >.<

HTC Arrive.
[Windows Phone 7 General] munkeyphyst:
Um, don't turn off your screen. The "never" sets it so the os won't turn it off.
[Windows Phone 7 General] RoboDad:
But that contradicts the whole point of the suggested method:

This implies that, with the timeout setting set to never, you can manually turn off the screen without losing a WiFi connection. I think the (unconfirmed) implication is that the OS only turns off WiFi when it turns off the screen, not when you do it manually.
[Windows Phone 7 General] pasp1001:
idk what to say... everything is ok on my optimus7... i manually turn on/off the screen, the wifi network stays connected... just this morning i forgot the opt7 in my car, in the garage(use it as a second phone) for several hours, screen turned off- and when i did check it out- everything was perfect(connected to my home wifi the whole time) and even noticed that batt drain wasnt so horrible like my other phones, when they get stucked in the garage, with the wifi on....

i'm on 7390-
[Windows Phone 7 General] vel0city1:
Setting it to never doesn't work on my HTC Surround. It still disables the WiFi connection after a while.
[Windows Phone 7 General] munkeyphyst:
If you don't mind my asking, how do you know it was connected the whole time? If it is disconnecting after you turn off the screen and reconnecting when you turn the screen on how would you know?
[Windows Phone 7 General] N8ter:
sAMOLED screens display black by turning the pixels off. That's why the blacks are so deep, cause there is no light going through those pixels at all. It's impossible to burn a black image into sAMOLED...

If that's what your question was.

It also allows the display to drain less of your battery. That's why it was so revolutionary when it was introduced (aside form it's deep blacks and vibrant colors).
[Windows Phone 7 General] N8ter:
Because you can see if the phone is connecting in the notification bar at the top. If the WiFi indicator is blinking and "counting up" it means it's connecting. If it's full and static, it means the WiFi didn't disconnect when you turned the screen off.

There is always time to see if this is happening because the phone has to scan for a WiFi network, register with the router, connect, get an IP address, etc.
[Windows Phone 7 General] Blue1k:
I'm not leaving it on. The point is that when I manually lock it, leave it, then unlock it my wifi bars are still active.
[Windows Phone 7 General] pasp1001:
like n8ter said- when i check the lock screen- the wifi-says its connected... whats ur s/ware version?? i actually think that this is a nodo-related... i'm not sure, but i think on previous builds- this didnt work...(not sure though)

i'd also suggest a 'soft reset'(batt pull) and see...

maybe its ur phone... or all htc'es... as i see samsungs and lg'es r ok....

edit- i just saw your i917(focus)...
[Windows Phone 7 General] munkeyphyst:
i was under the mistaken impression that they were leaving the screen on to maintain the wifi connection. In that scenario, I was suggesting that they display a "black" screen to avoid the burn in as you described. I know how a AMOLED screen works, that's why I was suggesting the black screen. I was wrong in thinking that they were leaving the screen on though.
[Windows Phone 7 General] munkeyphyst:
I am on a NODO Focus. So you're turning the screen back on to check the wifi status and you don't see the blinking/loading wifi, it's immediately fully lit? I am just trying to confirm that you are actually staying connected as others are saying they are not able to replicate your results.

and to clarify, you are or are not turning the screen off? you referr to a lock screen, but the screen is staying "on" with an image the whole time? as this would be a bad idea on a AMOLED screen.

no worries. As simple and obvious as some things seem, sometimes people overlook them.
[Windows Phone 7 General] munkeyphyst:
Disregard my previous post. I see you've answered those questions...
[Windows Phone 7 General] pasp1001:
my screen is TURNED OFF and LOCKED... BLACK(as without light)...power button-locked...

i saw a few others mentioned this does the job for them too...

maybe some additional settings play a part...

edit- my data connection is OFF and my 3G is also OFF....
[Windows Phone 7 General] ammarmalik:
I am shocked people spend so much yet they have ZERO idea about a device they are using, even if its got absolutely nothing in it like WP7.

WiFi TURNS OFF automatically when your switch off the screen when its not on charging. When its off, none of the apps that need data connection work. And no, I dont have any data plan and I am not getting any for this stupid omission from MS. I have long sold this phone and enjoying my Nexus S
[Windows Phone 7 General] aposva:
Just give THE OPTION!!!!! Make it default to sleep, but PLEASE GIVE THE OPTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't care about the battery drain. This is absolutely the only reason i am considering returning to android.

In my HTC Trophy the previously described method (sleep setting to "never") does not work, and i have 3g and data allways off.
[Windows Phone 7 General] CdTDroiD:
LOL what a bull**** thread, nothing fixed nothing gained.

The point is Microsoft have created a cool new OS made for everybody, Regardless of everybody's opinion there should be an option to leave it on, If you get emails all the time and dont want to use mobile data its a pain in the ass. It as nothing to do with moaning and complaining.

You say "if you dont like it buy and android or iphone device" isnt that what Microsoft are trying to avoid? moving to the competition?

There isnt a reg fix, well there probably is but you cant access the one that you need to because its still locked. So really you need to find out what the exact key is so you can make a new one and it will over write the old one, as we have write access but not read in alot of the reg keys.

I have a desire and a trophy, and i just cant use the trophy because of this wifi issue. So instead of fighting like little school girls why dont we try and find the key so we can write another one and get it sorted, i know im looking.

Microsoft... Im sure you will add an option in an update sometime, whats the use in loosing customers over a toggle switch? like it or not (Microsoft and forum users) ALOT of people will stay away just for that issue. what about people on prepay SIM's that just buy data packs when needed, its alot of people...
[Windows Phone 7 General] ammarmalik:
I dont think we're getting this option because if anyone of you saw the Mango preview at MIX, they show the new way apps can access data when the phone is asleep and they were pretty specific. Look for it.
[Windows Phone 7 General] Tass999:
Ignore the config - I have another problem...

OK, so they should have an option, etc. I get it. I still have a problem though. Window 7 Phone HTC Mozart with data disabled (I don't care what everyone's argument is, this is how I want to use it)

If I let my phone lock itself and send through an email withing about a minute, I will get the email. That's great.

If I let my phone lock itself and send through an email about FIVE minutes later, I don't get the email. (we all know this - blah blah)

Here's the catch. If I send the email after five minutes then unlock my phone, open my Outlook, browse through IE (DEFINITELY establish an internet connection over WiFi) I STILL don't get the email.

This doesn't seem right?! :)
[Windows Phone 7 General] zoujialing:
I found many settings had no such a choice for us.
[Windows Phone 7 General] colossus_r:
No mobile data ....(i know this is how you want it ..bla bla bla)

No mail the way you want it .... ( bla bla bla ....)

Its that simple...
[Windows Phone 7 General] Tass999:
I'll ask again....

You're slightly missing my point here. Whether it can or can't do what I want, I think I'm seeing another issue here.

With mobile data off and wifi on, I CAN get emails delivered automatically - while the wifi is still on and active. Simply put, emails are "downloaded as they arrive" over wifi only.

Once I've locked my phone and the wifi has deactivated, the emails stop arriving. Fine - I can accept that. I'll live with it.

If I unlock my phone, re-activate the wifi, use IE and even open Outlook, the outstanding emails still don't arrive. I have to manually sync. If the wifi is active again, shouldn't the email sync start working again?

Can anyone confirm if that's what they're experincing of if I've got an isolated issue?
[Windows Phone 7 General] munkeyphyst:
the email syncs on a schedule. What you're describing seems to suggest that in your case the sync schedule needs to be reset after waking from WiFi sleep.
[Windows Phone 7 General] Tass999:
Right....

Yes, that's the conclusion I've come to
[Windows Phone 7 General] surlary:
hope there is an registry item for doing this...
[Windows Phone 7 General] colossus_r:
@Tass999

After the wifi is on you must wait until the next cycle of sync.

Its not starting rigth away...you have to wait the time you set in the settings for sync period (default is 30 min)

Sent from my WP7 Trophy
[Windows Phone 7 General] jcoob:
I had this same issue. Basically this phone doesn't work well without a data connection. I live on a university campus with free wifi everywhere so its kind of pointless to purchase a data connection. My HD7 however thinks otherwise. With out data, notifications and live tile support is useless. Updates (email, facebook notifications, live tiles, etc) work unreliably and for those apps that require a data connection running under the locked screen (e.g instant messengers) your very much screwed over. After months of suffering like this, and after trying the mango beta without much improvements, I finally bit the bullet and got myself a pricey 500MB data connection. I feel you though, most of my friends with androids use IMs like whatsapp using soley wifi without a hitch. sigh
[Windows Phone 7 General] Tass999:
Thanks jcoob...

Thanks jcoob. You've summed the issue up perfectly!!!
[Windows Phone 7 General] jyusa:
Android and iPone(Insomnia) all got solutions. Any chance WP7 can have this resolved shortly?
[Windows Phone 7 General] PieOfJustice:
Well like Insomnia we are going to have to figure out how to get low level access again.
[Windows Phone 7 General] jordanmills:
Mine already dies every day. Is that not normal?
[Windows Phone 7 General] RogerPodacter:
So much wrong info here. On my nexus one I leave wifi connected for 10 hours over night, with wifi sleep policy set to NEVER. and over 10 hours I only lose 5% battery total.

Also wifi is significantly better for power than 3g. Just look at the official manufacturer specs for any device.

Nexus one

3g web browsing - 5 hours

Wifi web browsing - 7.5 hours

IPhone 4

3g web browsing - 6 hours

Wifi web browsing - 10 hours

Its pretty common knowledge in the industry that wifi is always more power efficient, even if its counter intuitive to you guys.
[Windows Phone 7 General] cool8man:
If you are streaming music with Zune Pass over wi-fi, does it disconnect and the song stop playing when the screen goes off?
[Windows Phone 7 General] xsever:
It's as simple as giving the user the option. I guess I'm returning my Lumia 900 and getting a phone which gives me the option since I am paying money for it and would like to customize it to my lifestyle.

Shame this is happening. My Nokia X7 running symbian anna would keep wifi on all the time fetching emails and whatsapp messages instantly as they arrive and battery would last me 2 days.

Give us the option ffs.
[Windows Phone 7 General] schettj:
No. When the device goes into standby wifi drops shortly after to save power, just like it does in iOS. If you're streaming, it doesn't go into full standby even if the screen blanks. Also just like iOS it does not drop wifi if attached to a power source.
[Windows Phone 7 General] sitizenx:
I think the concerns a lot of people have on this thread are a bit niche. Here in the US most people have contract smartphones. ALL contracts in the US require data. I cannot think of a single time I turned off my data connection. Also most people's standard procedure is to plug in their phone at night and leave it on the night stand. I do this anyway because my podcasts download at night. If you plug in the phone and leave it on stand by at some point in the night it downloads the latest podcasts.

Turning off the data connection, turning on Wifi, putting the phone on stand by and leaving it unplugged just isn't a mass market thing to do.

If this is a feature you want to work optimally then you should definitely make some noise about it. I just don't see Redmond making it a priority unless they are pushed.

---------- Post added at 09:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:46 AM ----------

I think what you are misunderstanding is there is far more 3g coverage than wifi coverage. 3g may have a relatively higher power requirement than wifi in a lab situation but in real life where you are moving around and going in and out of wifi coverage your power usage goes up because the phone is constantly searching for a wifi signal. The same phenomenon happens with 3g. If you go on a rural road trip through some place with crappy cell coverage even if you never actually make a call your power consumption will be higher because your phone is constantly hunting for a signal.

If I am at home or somewhere with a constant strong wifi signal I leave wifi on. When I leave the house wifi goes off.