LTE tethering as 4G replacement ( my own test )

[jocampo]

Well,

Decided to make my own test and tethered my iPad air for over of 3 hrs using my Tmobile iPhone 5. And while not impressed, the cellphone's battery consumption was not too bad. It used an average of 15% power every hour. Extrapolating those numbers, I would say the iPhone should give around 9 hrs of tethering.

Here's what I got:

LTE hotspot test (via Bluetooth )

77% at 7:41pm
62% at 8:43 pm
48% at 9:45 pm
40% at 10:58 pm
27% at 12:00 am

Few clarifications: cellphone was not fully charged, and 1st two hours I browsed Internet a lot. I didn't stream videos.

I also used Bluetooth, not wifi, to save some power. It wasn't shocking fast, but good enough for downloading webpages.

[Jessica Lares]

LTE drains batteries like crazy. It's a known problem. My S2 Skyrocket suffered huge batty drain whenever I used it. If it was just 3G or 4G on its own, it probably would be close to 2-5% battery usage.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

LTE drains batteries like crazy. It's a known problem. My S2 Skyrocket suffered huge batty drain whenever I used it. If it was just 3G or 4G on its own, it probably would be close to 2-5% battery usage.

But ...

Based on those numbers, it looks it can be a good substitute if wifi is not near close.

I kind of had an idea was going to use a lot of battery, but wanted to do my own test. It was not too bad, in my opinion. For a one hour usage, like an emergency or at lunch time, when taking a break, it may do the trick.