Re: Does Internet Speed Vary by Season?

[Adrian Chadd <adrian () creative net au>]

Please don't forget moisture content. DSL speeds may drop during
wet winters because cable pits fill with water. :)

Those with real statistics, please stand up. I know ISPs who run
large DSL infrastructures have these stats. I've even seen them
at conferences. :)


Adrian


On Wed, Oct 07, 2009, Bryan Campbell wrote:
> No, I did not read the article . . . But,  . . .
>
> Yes, DSL speed varies by season . . . or rather, temperature.
>
> But, this is really only the case for _aerial_copper_plant.  Buried 
> plant is nearly the same temperature year round.
>
> Copper pair resistance changes with temperature.  And, therefore, the 
> link speed of DSL will change depending upon the time of the year 
> (temperature) and geographic location.
>
> If there is a difference of but a few degrees of temperature year round, 
> then no there will be no difference.  But, if you live in the desert 
> southwest or even the mid-west where the temperatures can be 70-120 
> degrees different between seasons or even 40-70 degrees different 
> between night and day . . . you are going to have pronounced differences 
> in link speed.
>
> Worst cast, your link speed might vary 10-20%.  The longer the cable 
> length from the central office, the more the variance will be.  But, 
> this is something that must be measured on a case by case basis.  And, 
> since much of the aerial plant has been replaced with buried plant, this 
> really isn't much of a problem anymore.
>
> BBC
>
> Joe Greco wrote:
> > > http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/magazine/17-10/ts_burningquestion
> >
> > It used to be that we would notice this, except that it had everything to
> > do with temperature *and* dampness.  In the '90's, it was still quite
> > common for a lot of older outside plant to be really only "voice grade"
> > and it wasn't unusual for copper to run all the way back to the CO,
> > through a variety of taps and splice points.  Even though Ma Bell would
> > typically do a careful job handling their copper, the sheer number of
> > potential points of failure meant that it wasn't unusual for water to
> > infiltrate and penetrate.  If I recall correctly, the worst was usually
> > a long, hard cold rain (hey we're in Wisconsin) after which people who
> > had been getting solidly high speed modem connects would see a somewhat
> > slower speed.
> >
> > ... JG

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