Access Point - Device battery drain

[superleeds27]

Seems like a bit of a weird one this.

I had a tplink RE550 in access point mode and it's been working fine for the last 18 months.

I saw the more recent model was one sale, RE700X, so thought I'd look at upgrading as it offered WiFi6 and all the other bells and whistles.

So what I've noticed is that when I use the RE700X battery drain on my phone (S21) when connected to WiFi is almost double what it was on the RE550. (11% drain over 7 hours, compared to 6% on the RE550)

I've used both stock and the latest firmware and also factory reset

I connected my phone to my main router (Asus AX86s) on the 5Ghz band, WiFi6 and battery drain seemed fine.

So the question is, is the RE700X a dud? Or, if it's not, what's causing the excessive drain?

 

[Orcvader]

Depends how each AP and the router is configured. Only major differences I can see is 160MHz support on 5GHz on the RE700X compared to the RE550's 80MHz. The Asus does have 160MHz support but it's been a while since I last fiddled with WiFi on the Asus, and may be defaulting to either 40 or 80MHz. Another possible difference is the channel the RE700X is using, maybe it's one the S21 doesn't really like? Could drop it to something between 32 to 64 to see if that makes any difference but even then it shouldn't be causing such a huge drain.

There's also WPA3 support which is even more unlikely but I guess you can set it tot WPA2 mode to see if that helps.

 

[superleeds27]

Depends how each AP and the router is configured. Only major differences I can see is 160MHz support on 5GHz on the RE700X compared to the RE550's 80MHz. The Asus does have 160MHz support but it's been a while since I last fiddled with WiFi on the Asus, and may be defaulting to either 40 or 80MHz. Another possible difference is the channel the RE700X is using, maybe it's one the S21 doesn't really like? Could drop it to something between 32 to 64 to see if that makes any difference but even then it shouldn't be causing such a huge drain.

There's also WPA3 support which is even more unlikely but I guess you can set it tot WPA2 mode to see if that helps.

Appreciate the reply!

• RE700X wasn't using 160mhz, it was using 80mhz
• Asus/RE550 were both using 80mhz
• RE550 and RE700X were both set to the same channel, 36 on 5ghz.
• Also tried with and without WPA3. This didn't make a difference either.

I'm baffled. I've raised it with TP-Link and they're trying to replicate the same issues, with the same devices.

My only thought was the AX chipset used in the RE700X (Unfortunately don't know what it is) being a bit 'meh' and the RE550 having a top of the range/decent AC Chipset.

 

[Orcvader]

You might also want to let them know which S21 model you're using, US uses a Qualcomm modem while UK/EU uses Exynos, and Exynos has been usually behind in terms of performance/efficiency.

 

[superleeds27]

You might also want to let them know which S21 model you're using, US uses a Qualcomm modem while UK/EU uses Exynos, and Exynos has been usually behind in terms of performance/efficiency.

Yeah that's a good point.

Saying that, i've just got an S23. I have tested it with that too and it still doesn't seem right. I've let them know about the S23 too.

 

[Orcvader]

Yeah that's a good point.

Saying that, i've just got an S23. I have tested it with that too and it still doesn't seem right. I've let them know about the S23 too.

Just bare in mind the battery drain on a new phone will usually be higher for the first couple of days, you'll need to let it settle for a while before it learns your usage and optimises around that.

 

[superleeds27]

Just bare in mind the battery drain on a new phone will usually be higher for the first couple of days, you'll need to let it settle for a while before it learns your usage and optimises around that.

Yep.

Thats why i was testing originally with the S21. A device that been using the RE550 for 18 months.

Introduced the RE700X and could immediately tell something was off with the battery drain during idle use.

 

[Firegod]

Have you enabled any of the additional settings that come with WiFi 6 on the new device, to help? Target Wake Time comes to mind as the main one. You can also try increasing the Beacon Interval (default is usally 100ms). Perhaps try 150ms or 200ms. That can also improve battery life. However if you get trouble handing off between multiple APs you might need to lower it again. But worth increasing and see how it goes.

My Zenfone 8 battery usage (with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888) is showing, since last charge, 0.1% for Wi-Fi (that's with the phone being turned on for nearly 12 hours now). Biggest hitter for me is the screen and then the web browser. And I have all the background adaptive battery settings and app management stuff disabled.

 

[superleeds27]

Have you enabled any of the additional settings that come with WiFi 6 on the new device, to help? Target Wake Time comes to mind as the main one. You can also try increasing the Beacon Interval (default is usally 100ms). Perhaps try 150ms or 200ms. That can also improve battery life. However if you get trouble handing off between multiple APs you might need to lower it again. But worth increasing and see how it goes.

My Zenfone 8 battery usage (with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888) is showing, since last charge, 0.1% for Wi-Fi (that's with the phone being turned on for nearly 12 hours now). Biggest hitter for me is the screen and then the web browser. And I have all the background adaptive battery settings and app management stuff disabled.

See this is probably the problem, on the RE700X you can't enable or disable any of those things. The software/feature side just doesn't exist either on the web version or the app.

So I'm assuming it's enabled by default but theres no way of knowing!

 

[superleeds27]

Tried the settings they mentioned but theres still random disconnects and battery drain still seems off.

It's either a dud unit or just a really meh product. Shame. Oh well, I'll look at returning it