Does Roaming use more battery?

Among a few connectivity options that you may be subjected to use when travelling overseas so that your smartphone can access the internet is data roaming. However, there are times when you may notice a sudden battery drainage on your smartphone when you turn on the roaming feature.

Our phones seem to be the most active devices while travelling. We rely on our phones to post terrific views or videos on social media, phrase translators to interpret any native languages that we may come across but barely understand and perhaps GPS to locate nearby restaurants and markets, among other things. Unfortunately, all these are inaccessible without the internet.

As mentioned earlier, data roaming is among the few ways through which your phone can access the internet when overseas but there are times when you would notice a notification identifying battery drainage. Who is to blame in this case? Is it the data roaming feature or the multiple apps we tend to use?

While different applications have to potential to actively drain your smartphone’s battery, data roaming too has the potential to drain your battery faster than most applications on your phone.

What is Data Roaming and how does it work?

Data roaming is a connectivity option that enables your smartphone to seamlessly connect to the internet when you are not in your home network. It comes in handy when you are travelling abroad and are away from your home network coverage range. For your smartphone to roam and successfully access the internet, you would need to turn on both the Mobile Data Roaming option and the Mobile Data option.  These two options give you total control over when, how and where you use mobile data.

In as much as data roaming seems a great way to access the internet abroad, it may be a very costly option to work with. Technically, almost all telecommunications companies levy additional charges on all their customers to access any internet services outside their home network so keeping the data roaming feature off has the potential to save you from paying a great amount of money.

When you are travelling abroad, it may be a better option for you to keep the data roaming feature turned off at all times or leave your SIM card at home and use it when you are back. This is quite beneficial because it helps you avoid certain situations where your telecommunication company begins to charge your internet usage even when you have not intentionally accessed the internet. All in all, you may want to consider alternative connectivity options such as using international calling cards when travelling overseas.

So, when does roaming use more battery?

Generally, roaming mobile devices tend to consume a lot more power than day-to-day operations on our phone. At the same time, roaming, as a feature in and of itself, does not necessarily make your battery drain faster. However, when you find yourself in an area where you can only get a weak signal then your battery life is susceptible to faster drainage. This is because when roaming, the network unit/ radio inside your mobile smartphone may need to search for signals a bit more aggressively than usual thus needing to use a lot more power.

How can I make my phone battery last much longer when roaming?

The real reason as to why the battery drain in this particular situation is higher, as stated in earlier parts of the article, is because the network switch is higher and multiple apps seem to be running in the background. In as much so, there are multiple ways through which you can increase your battery life when roaming. Among these are;

Try to disable mobile data access on background apps when on roaming

Here, you would need to open settings and access the wireless and networks option. Once you click on it you should see the mobile data feature that connects you to the networked apps. Clicking on this option should list down all the apps on your phone, both installed and system apps, which can use both mobile data and Wi-Fi. The next thing you would need to do is to tap on the networked apps option at the top that afterwards reveals advanced network settings.

The advanced network settings then displays a list of all your apps that are running in the background and the ones that consume background data when on roaming. At this point, you should choose which apps should run, rather, which apps should use mobile data when roaming. You should always ensure that these are priority apps such as messenger services that you may need for communication. All in all, the lesser apps there are in the background, then the more battery percentage you are able to save when roaming.

Turn on Data Saver Mode

To access the data saver option, you would need to check the Mobile Network section in your phones settings. Turning on the data saver option helps reduce data usage on your mobile smartphone by limiting the data access frequency of all running apps and preventing any background apps from sending or receiving data.When you turn this feature on, you should be able to see it on the top part of your screen.

When turning on data saving mode, you should always identify the important services that you cannot go without, therefore you can turn on the access to mobile data for the important applications that you prefer running in the background.

A Summary Table

Final Thoughts

In as much as the best idea would be to carry a portable battery pack when you choose to travel abroad, it gets even easier and better when you are able to control what exactly is consuming your phone’s battery.

FAQs

1. Should I always leave roaming on?

You may way to turn this option off when you are done using the internet to avoid any charges on your monthly bill.

2. At what percentage should I charge my phone?

All you need to do is try to keep your battery percentage between 30 and 80.