Solutions for the Annoying “Battery to Low for Radio Use” Error

Radio to low

I was on a call with a friend this week and got the super annoying “Battery to Low for Radio Use” message. For some reason RIM software engineers still think it is a brilliant idea to automatically turn off all radios when you hit below 8% or so battery life. This would make a little sense if your phone was in the holster and you didn’t want it to die. On the other hand if you were on the phone when this happened and receive no warning at all that the phone is about to disconnect you it leaves you wondering what the hell they are thinking. These engineers are so high and mighty that they do not even allow you to turn the radio back on until you charge it up. Even when the phone is plugged in and charging it still will not turn on the radio.

Over the years there have been a few solutions to get around this stupid restriction ranging from simple to kind of risky. Here they are:

  • Dial 911. I am not kidding you. If you dial 911 and hang up right away the battery is all of a sudden no longer to low for radio usage.
  • Go to Options then Advanced Options then Wireless Update page and select Check for Updates. All of a sudden the radio thinks it has a reason to come back on… Go figure.
  • Last but not least there is a free app called ForceRadioOn.

Now if only OS 6.1 would finally add a bug fix to get rid of this annoying “feature.”

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