Usage Tips & Guides

Cellular phones are expensive and sophisticated electronic devices. They require care if they are to last throughout the life of the contract. The phone’s warranty will cover equipment defects, but it will not cover abuse or negligence. The following tips will help ensure that your phone will provide long lasting reliable service, and help you successfully use all the features it has to offer. If you have questions, you can reach a customer service representative whenever you dial *611 on your wireless device. 

Increase Time between Charges

• Turn the phone off. This is probably the most effective and simplest way of conserving your battery’s power. If you don’t plan on answering the phone while you’re sleeping or after business hours, just turn it off. Do the same if you are in an area with no reception (such as a remote area) or in a roaming area, since constantly searching for service depletes the battery fairly quickly.
• Stop searching for a signal. When you are in an area with poor or no signal, your phone will constantly look for a better connection, and will use up all your power doing so. The best way to ensure longer battery life is to make sure you have a great signal where you use your phone.
• Switch off the vibrate function on your phone, and use just the ring tone instead. The vibrate function uses up a lot of battery power. Keep the ring tone volume as low as possible.
• Turn off your phone’s back light. The back light is what makes the phone easier to read in bright light or outside. However, the light also uses battery power. If you can get by without it, your battery will last longer. If you have to use the back light, many phones will let you set the amount of time to leave the back light on. Shorten that amount of time.
• Avoid using unnecessary features. If you know it will be a while before your phone’s next charge, don’t use the camera or connect to the Internet. Flash photography can drain your battery especially quickly. If your phone has bluetooth capability, disable it when not in use.
• Keep calls short. This is obvious, but how many times have you heard someone on their mobile phone say, "I think my battery’s dying," and then continue their conversation for several minutes? Sometimes, the dying battery is just an excuse to get off the phone (and a good one, at that), but if you really need to conserve the battery, limit your talk time.
• Turn off Bluetooth. BT will drain your battery very quickly. Same goes for WIFI and GPS if your phone has these features built in. Keep them off, save more power.

Prolong the Life of Your Battery

• Keep the battery cool. Your battery will last longest if used near room temperature, and nothing wears on a battery like extended exposure to high temperatures. While you can’t control the weather, you can avoid leaving your phone in a hot car or in direct sunlight, and you don’t have to carry your phone in your pocket, where your body heat will raise its temperature. In addition, check the battery while it’s charging. If it seems excessively hot, your charger may be malfunctioning. When using a car charger, do not charge the battery when the inside temperature of your car is hot. Wait until the car has cooled before you plug in the phone.
• Allow a battery to warm to room temperature prior to charging. Permanent damage to the cells can occur if the battery is not warmed up before attaching any battery charger, as well as potentially causing a short circuit. Try to keep it between 59 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold batteries may temporarily fail to deliver any energy to your cell phone, despite being fully charged.
• Charge your battery correctly. Read the technical specifications in the manual to determine proper care.
• Use only a charger rated for your battery, and discontinue use of a charger that causes the battery to heat up excessively. Avoid cheap, knockoff chargers as they may cause excessive battery heating.
• Clean the battery contacts on the battery and on the phone. Over time, contacts may accumulate dirt. Clean them with a cotton swab and rubbing alcohol to maximize the efficiency of energy transfer.
• Unplug your battery charger if you are not using your cell-phone. Batteries that sit idle for extended periods of time without charging, begin to lose their ability to hold a charge, and will self-discharge, so remember to charge them again before use.

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