Does the weather affect phone line quality?

Prezatch

Every time I connect to the internet, the first thing I do is visit this page to see how fast my connection is. On a good day, It usually loads in 8.6 seconds or so.

However, during these last few days the weather has been wet and my connection has slowed down dramatically. The page is now loading in 12-13 seconds no matter what time of the day I connect (afternoon, evening, after midnight). Its not the pages fault as the speed is very noticeable when i'm downloading too. So i'm just wondering, is there any link between bad weather and line quality? I'm on IOL Anytime btw

sceptre

It's entirely possible that your line is getting wet somewhere when it rains. And yes, it can and will affect your line quality.

Eircom won't do anything about it if you mention the internet as they don't care really. The usual suggestion is to ring and complain of an intermittant line fault when making voice calls when it's wet.

Moving to Nets/Comms btw

spongebob

intermittent such as crackling on the line , don't mention the Internet to Biddy while you are raising the fault.


M

Capt'n Midnight

Many years ago our phone bill used to be higher during downpours.. - it seems like we were getting crossed lines and cross billing ...

dahamsta

Whip out the trusty Tayto bag!

theciscokid

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Many years ago our phone bill used to be higher during downpours.. - it seems like we were getting crossed lines and cross billing ...

:eek:

Now that is something i have never heard of, how many years ago was this, could you possibly tell us the first three digits of that phone number? (at the time)

just interesting thats all

spongebob

theciscokid wrote:

:eek:

Now that is something i have never heard of, how many years ago was this, could you possibly tell us the first three digits of that phone number? (at the time)

Three Digits ?

It was Ballydehob 24 Cap'n, isnt that so .

M

pyrogenx

may that have been someone phreakin away on ya line ? it might have well been abuse

vibe666

yep, the rain affects it. used to work in the call centre for eircom.net and we always got hammered with calls when it rained a lot.

even heard of a guy who couldn't stay connected cos of an electric fence he used to keep his cows in running across the path of the underground line.

pyrogenx

rain... hmm i don't understand how exactly bad weather or rain can effect a phone line. Its obious how noise such as electric fences, parallel running lines or lightening can interfere with the signal BUT rain ??

Kazu

i had the same problem have a look at the telephone poles and see is there a small white box get eircom out and replace the box on the telephone pole the problem is the box is filling up with water

spongebob

Electric fences are clearly audible on the line , sounds like a slow 'metallic' heartbeat. If they are earthed they are not a problem. The fence charger can also be transferred to the far end of the fence.

Eircoms shoddy workmanship in a WET country is the prime reason for faults....not the Rain.

M

pyrogenx

Shouldn't any electrical stuff be well insulated so things like rain can't get in? ........ nevermind.........we're still in Ireland....right...

sceptre

pyrogenx wrote:

Shouldn't any electrical stuff be well insulated so things like rain can't get in?

Yup. And checked every few years because it's cheaper to replace plastic or rubber than copper when rain rots the insulating material or when rats eat it. Hell,, you could even use the customer as a checker if you're willing to check it when they notice a fault.

........ nevermind.........we're still in Ireland....right...

Nail, hit, head.

It's not so much just that we're in Ireland and more that we've infrastructure owned by a company that appears to have no interest in actually maintaining it in favour of taking the short term gain rather than the long term investment. The "we're still in Ireland" bit comes into play when we just let them do it.

vibe666

the problem is that some of the cables underground can be decades old, and the insulation cracks over time, and water gets in when it rains which causes shorts, hence poor quality signals when it rains.

pyrogenx

jesus i wasn't even thinking of underground cables. Well where i live right now all phone wires are above ground on poles going along the roads.

Capt'n Midnight

[QUOTE=theciscokidNow that is something i have never heard of, how many years ago was this, could you possibly tell us the first three digits of that phone number? (at the time)[/QUOTE]

(01) 26 xxxx since upped to (01) 626 xxxx - a long time ago..

lawhec

Yep, weather does seem to have an effect though in my case it actually gets better in wet weather! My dial-up speed rates between 40 - 44 kbps. In warm, sunny weather the connection speed will be 40 kbps or occasionally even lower, but in wet weather (and even better, cooler) the speed can increase to 44kbps. I've yet to see mine higher than 44kbps though.

pyrogenx

still though even 44k is not that much, my connection speed varies between 34k and about 48k. but after all its all nothing compare to BroadishBand.