Dropped calls? Spotty internet? Texas weather might be to blame

Weather can absolutely be a nuisance sometimes, particularly when it interferes with cellular service and internet connections, including causing a few dropped calls to even a complete signal outage.

You may notice sometimes that when the weather is especially active, like in heavy rainstorms, the strength of cellular signals are a bit lower than on clear, sunny days with blue skies. It’s all because of the chemical properties of water.

While pure water is not a good conductor of electricity, rainwater is much better because it contains minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Because of this, rain often interferes with radio waves used by cellular networks to transmit signals. This can cause the cell signal to take longer to travel between your phone and the cell tower. The more time it takes for the signal to travel, the worse the connection will be, and it can even be the reason for dropped calls.

The effects are maximized when rain is heaviest between your phone and the cell tower. Light rain usually doesn’t cause big connection problems, but heavy downpours will. These disruptions normally do not last a long time, you’ll just have to wait a few minutes for the heaviest rain to pass to regain signal strength.

Other weather-related factors can create poor cell service, too. Fog, clouds and snow all contain water, meaning they can interfere with signals as well. However, the density of water molecules in fog and snow is far less than it is in liquid raindrops, which keeps interference at lower levels.

In a similar way to how cell service is interfered with, weather also causes problems for internet connections. Many satellite, 5G, and WiFi internet signals fall under microwave wavelength frequencies, which can be absorbed by water. If rain or clouds come between the transmitter and receiver, some of the signal will be absorbed, and your internet connection will suffer. This phenomenon is known as “rain fade.”

Weather creates far more problems for satellite internet signals than cable internet services. In the case of satellite internet, the signal travels through the air and can cover thousands of miles between your personal satellite dish, a ground station, and the satellite out in space. Rain, large thunderstorms, or even just clouds and dust can interfere with these signals regularly. During the winter, snow or ice can build up on your satellite dish as well, causing interference with the signal.

Cable and fiber internet services are typically much more resilient and won’t have the same issues that satellite internet customers encounter. But internet outages are still possible because of severe weather in the area.

Large-scale severe weather events can have a bigger effect than a typical rainstorm. Major hailstorms, severe winds, tornadoes, hurricanes and extreme heat or cold can cause signal loss for millions of people at a time. This has less to do with the signal itself and more to do with the damage weather can do to the infrastructure that transmits the signal. 

For example, severe wind gusts can damage power lines, phone lines, and internet servers. This is especially true with extreme winds that tornadoes or hurricanes deliver. Extreme cold can freeze or crack internet cables, resulting in a loss of service. Extreme heat can cause electronic equipment to overheat, especially in the case of satellite internet customers that have equipment outside their home.

Radio can be affected in similar ways to cell service, as both use radio waves to transmit signals. When those waves move through objects, such as raindrops, attenuation occurs, and signal quality is lowered.

The relationship between atmospheric pressure and radio waves can cause poor reception under certain circumstances. Whenever air pressure is especially high, this can result in temperature inversions. That is when cooler air is trapped near the ground under a layer of warmer air. This can cause radio signals to be reflected or refracted. While that does allow the signals to be transferred a farther distance, it also produces high levels of interference with neighboring radio stations, something we interpret as radio static.