Probably Stupid Question

[muninnhuginn]

But, can meteorological conditions affect broadband connectivity?

I only ask because yesterday, the first rainy day we've had in a while, Skype and dropped the call I made -- the first time I've had that happen -- and I kept losing my connection whilst editing spreadsheets on Google. I suppose the test is whether things work better today with the rain dripping down outside.

Of course this could be the same kind of coincidence as the apparent change in feline behaviour on rainy days. After all, why should indoor cats behave worse on wet days than dry ones?

Comments

[timill]

Not per se, but a cabinet full of water doesn't help transmission...

[muninnhuginn]

Yes, I was wondering about water getting into the cable or the cabinet. I guess it's something you can't find out about easily as an end-user.

[crazyscot.livejournal.com]

Any wireless links involved? They can be affected by rain.
Otherwise, water in the cable?

[muninnhuginn]

Yup, wireless is indeed involved. I'm using a laptop upstairs talking to the router downstairs. I hadn't thought of that being the weak link. On the other hand, this isn't a new phenomenon: it used to happen when I used to the desktop downstairs, too.

Would that explain the obstreperousness of the wireless mouse too, I wonder.

[crazyscot.livejournal.com]

Upstairs to downstairs shouldn't be a problem; I was thinking of something more along the lines of using wireless to cross an open space where the direct line from A to B was open to the elements. (Rain dampens the radio waves.) Radio propagation can be awfully weird, though!

If you're having problems downstairs on a wired connection, your wifi is pretty much exonerated.

I don't see how rain could affect a wireless mouse (well, as long as you keep it dry, obviously).

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

The answer is probably yes, but not for any particularly good reason.

One mechanism I can think of is that broadband connections are "contended", meaning that you get a much better service when you're the only one using it. Since it is well known that meteorological conditions affect people's behaviour, it would not be unreasonable to suppose that a rainy day might cause the connection to become overloaded.

[muninnhuginn]

Ah, you mean like the sudden increase in road traffic on wet mornings?

I had wondered about whether the fact that at the point when I was googling last night M was using the desktop downstairs was a factor in the connection loss.

It has to be said that I lost almost no data (and let's be honest, losing information from spreadsheets about a perfume collection, next year's vegetable planting schedule, and the hens' laying patterns wouldn't be a great loss to humanity anyway), but the warnings were an annoying interruption.

Actually ...

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

... if it's raining, perhaps more people are staying in and using their computer rather than gardening, shopping and doing other non-computer related stuff, so that the contention goes up.

And yes, humidity changes a lot when it rains, so even indoor cats are going to feel weird.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

Moisture will affect the capacitance of the cables, and will affect the transmaission speed of DSL.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

But ... but ... petty things like atmospheric conditions aren't supposed to affect exciting electronc stuff!

Right, that's it. I'm cancelling my upload, if even that won't get me away from this lousy British weather.

[muninnhuginn]

Ooh yes, just think. A thunderstorm over the storage facility and suddenly you're uploaded personality is merged with an Inuit psychopath and instead of enjoying a gentle stroll in your cybergarden you're playing chess against an Australian grandmaster. By the time they've sorted it out, you've suffered irreparable data loss and hurricane season looms.

[armb.livejournal.com]

> After all, why should indoor cats behave worse on wet days than dry ones?

Responding to a change in air pressure which is correlated with the rain, and detectable inside?
Because they don't like the look of rain even through windows? (Though certain outdoor cats need to go out the door to see it really is raining. And then to check that it really is raining out the other door....)

[muninnhuginn]

Because they don't like the look of rain even through windows?
there's a lot of things they don't like the look of through the windows: hens, other cats, hens, cars, did I mention hens? ...

certain outdoor cats need to go out the door to see it really is raining. And then to check that it really is raining out the other door
I've met that sort of cat.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

I think the original statement contained a redundant word: 'certain'. The presence of that word implies that there exist outdoor cats that don't.

[armb.livejournal.com]

Some outdoor cats have cat flaps and can check for themselves, instead of sitting there meowing at the door until you open it, then deciding they don't like the rain and need to go and meow at the other door until you open that for them to decide that actually they won't go out there either.
Which doesn't actually exclude them from the original description, but does make them less annoying about it.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Ah, good point.

It's just we have three external doors, and the cat flap isn't in any of them (it tunnels through a wall). As a result, the cat will come shooting in through the catflap, and then ask us to check all the doors, please.