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I hope this is a general enough question that doesn't vary too much by phone model, but suppose at school or work you have a WiFi connection, which would use less battery power over the course of a day?

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This question is too broad and doesn't really belong here. It isn't a question about the Windows Phone, but instead Power Consumption between two data technologies. – Joe Aug 16 '12 at 0:03
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Yes, two technologies that are used by Windows Phone. I though the question is covered under "Using your Windows Phone device". Based upon the answer I would enable or disable WiFi. – Louis Aug 16 '12 at 0:17
Well, my thought was this fell under Windows Phone-independent questions of the off-topic section. It is independent of the device. You can always take this to Windows Phone Meta and ask there. I don't have the final say here. I just act on behalf of the community. If the general consensus is that this type of question is OK then we can take action. – Joe Aug 17 '12 at 4:11
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@Joe Windows Phone does handle the different networks differently, so you may get different results to (say) Android, or iOS; As an example, I would normally recommend leaving WiFi disabled except when you want to use it, to avoid excessive power drain. On a Windows Phone, the OS automatically disables it when the device is locked, so you're no worse off, and can happily leave it enabled. – Rowland Shaw♦ Aug 20 '12 at 11:54
3G connection use a lot more battery than WiFi and 4G uses even more, when sending packets. Through WiFi, it only takes a few milliWatts to reach the wifi access point, but a 3D tower may be miles away, requiring a much stronger transmission signal. Also, remember that even when downloading stuff on your phone, acknowledgement packets are still uploaded on TCP connections. – paradroid Aug 22 '12 at 12:30

closed as off topic by Joe Aug 16 '12 at 0:01

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