Despite all advances and optimizations, many users experience technical difficulties associated with weather events such as rain and storms. The exact reasons depend on the type of service, but they basically boil down to one of the harshest enemies electronics and technology in general must face: humidity.
Imagine a heavy rain. The water seems like a curtain, visibility drops drastically, and the wind gives it even more force. If you take out your phone and try to make a call, it's possible that the service has disappeared as if by magic. Other people suffer something similar with electricity, satellite TV... and the internet connection. Whenever we, as users and consumers, develop a certain idea of “stability” in our services, the weather laughs out loud and throws all its hostility. However, sometimes a simple drizzle is enough to ruin our web access. Who's to blame?
Wireless Signals and Humidity
The short answer is humidity. The long answer requires separating connectivity problems by service type. If your internet link is wireless, the propagation of radio waves is affected by the moisture content in the air, which increases attenuation, reduces range and available bandwidth. The higher the frequency, the greater the effects. Of course, engineers have designed antennas and transmission systems with these details in mind, but their anticipation powers can do little when rain becomes a real waterfall. Add to this the wind, false contacts in wiring due to movement, and the possibility of antennas losing their correct alignment, and all that's left is to recognize that the internet is going to cut off.
Infrastructure and Other Factors
Humidity also has the ability to put pressure on certain weak links in traditional infrastructure. First, humidity equals corrosion, and if termination boxes or cables (even those in our home!) are in bad shape, even a downpour can cause intermittent problems. Then there are power supply interruptions. Both servers and repeaters need electricity, and that's what usually affects me during summer: the internet provider doesn't fail, but the electricity distributor does. The last factor I'll mention is the change in user behavior. Rain makes us stay home, go on Netflix or YouTube, download a game on Steam… you get the idea. If the number of users increases when the general state of the connection is weak, the result is a reduction in speed, or a complete outage.
