Battery drainage with no/less reception?

[kiddingguy]

I have this feeling on my iPhone 4S that when the cellular reception of my provider is low to none, that my battery (percentage) drops very quickly.

Is this "theory" correct? Possible explanation I can think of is that my phone is constantly looking -more than usual- for good signal, but doesn't get it...

[Salty Wagyu]

Probably is, trying to boost the radio chip more to reach a signal. My HTC Desire is the same, at home with good signal standby time is 5 days, but if I have a sleepover at a friend's with no signal whatsoever it only lasts just under a day.

[Jose_49]

I have this feeling on my iPhone 4S that when the cellular reception of my provider is low to none, that my battery (percentage) drops very quickly.

Is this "theory" correct? Possible explanation I can think of is that my phone is constantly looking -more than usual- for good signal, but doesn't get it...

That's what I've been said too. It has some sense to it... because the phone DOES keep looking for the signal, since you can see that there are sometimes that it goes from S.O.S. to EDGE/3G/LTE

[SMELTN]

Mine does it like crazy at work. My office is in the middle of the building and enclosed in concrete and sure enough my signal is almost none in it. My phones battery drains extremely fast in there, compared to when I am not working, in which I use my phone 80% more when I am not at work yet the battery lasts 2x as long, so yes, it definitely drains it faster with poor to none signal.