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Does frost affect my connection speed?

foucherois -  
brupala Posted messages 111168 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   -
Hello everyone,
So here it is, whenever I ask a question about computers, I go to this forum and I’m almost sure to find my answer!
Today, it's my turn to ask a question, which I think is very silly, but still worth asking!
So here it is, I currently live in Scotland and we're facing very cold temperatures right now! And whether by chance or not, on the mornings with the lowest temperatures (this morning -13°), our internet connection is "lagging like crazy"! However, even though we are 6 living here, only two of us were using our computers at that time.
I don’t know if you've ever had the chance to go to Scotland, but you have to admit that Scots really don’t like to complicate things, so even right in the city center of Glasgow, you can find almost all the cables (TV, telephone line...) coming from the street, passing through your living room window, just to have a phone line at the foot of the couch! Anyway, all this to say that their networks are quite a mess.
So my (stupid) question is: Is it possible, even in France, that extreme cold affects the telephone network and thus disrupts or slows down internet connections?

Thanks everyone, have a good day
Cheers,

Matthieu

Configuration: Mac OS X / Firefox 3.0.19

2 answers

  1.
    david capelle Posted messages 46 Status Member 12
     
    Hi,
    1°: good luck because winter is just starting and don't overdo it with the local antifreeze production... ;-)

    Otherwise, the cold doesn't affect the performance of electrical cables. Especially with such "high" temperatures. The difference is really felt in the cables starting from -200°C, so you have time, even in Scotland...

    However, the cold causes undesirable effects that are quite picturesque in relation to electronic communication. Indeed, the cold makes the cables "shrink" due to thermal contraction. This shrinkage is more significant for the copper that makes up the cables and less so for the aluminum sheath that serves as shielding, and even less for the insulators that protect them.
    This leads to the fact that connections are made on the copper and not on the plastic. Now, copper retracts faster than the shielding and the plastic, which can therefore cause imperfect contacts. These imperfect contacts can cause "echoes" on the wires. Echoes that, through resonance, will disrupt the passage of information => the network card must send more frames to deliver a message.

    So in summary, the cold doesn't hinder the cables, but it can cause bad connections.
    What to do? Grab your screwdriver and check that all connections are tightly secured. As for what is certified, it's hard to know.
    And I won't even mention all the wires that may be between you and your ISP's server...

    The best solution, although impractical in your case, is to go where it's warm...

    See you, good luck
    David
    2
  2. brupala Posted messages 111168 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   14 454
     
    Hi,
    I think that the "mess" you’re talking about has much more influence than the temperature.
    But it’s better to avoid overhead cables in areas where there’s a lot of frost: the weight of the ice directly leads to cable breaks.
    It may be that in your case the network is no longer fully meshed due to the breakdown of certain links, and that traffic is being rerouted to others, leading to overload; only the operator could confirm this.
    But the cold has no direct impact on transmission; on the contrary: the electrical conductivity of copper increases as the temperature drops, up to complete superconductivity (zero resistance) at -270°C.
    --
    And ... There you go!
    0