Does weather affect satellite internet?

With satellite Internet, weather can play a part in the effectiveness of the service. Overall, you should know that secure connectivity will be maintained to your home or business in all but the most severe weather conditions.

Indeed, when compared to the main alternatives of fibre-optic and copper wire connections, satellite Internet is reliable. After all, fibre-optic and mobile Internet can be weather-affected.

Read on to find out about satellite Internet weather interference.

First, with satellite Internet, the weather will usually only make a small difference to your service. In Africa, it may be a matter of extremely dense cloud cover and heavy rainfall. Satellite Internet works by making use of radio waves. Like TV and radio broadcasts, the energy required to transmit data communications can be absorbed by water molecules in the air. As such, heavy rain or a thunderstorm could result in a weaker satellite Internet signal. Wind blowing heavy rain around may also mean you get a signal loss for a short time or, more likely, an intermittent service. However, satellite Internet is not likely to be affected much at all in cloudy weather. 

In the majority of the weather conditions that Africa faces, satellite Internet weather interference is minimal. If a packet of data sent between your Internet dish and the satellite doesn't penetrate a storm, for example, then it will simply be re-sent until it is received. Most users may notice a temporary slowing down in speed but not much more than that. If the signal is lost for a time, it will come back. This is in contrast to a branch falling on a phone line, which can cause long outages. Furthermore, Konnect helps to make sure all services are optimised in Africa even if there is heavy rainfall. This is done by using suitably sized satellite dishes and installing them with the correct alignment to ensure signal strength is maximised.

Although rainfall generally drains directly off a satellite dish, it can accumulate depending on the angle of your dish. Like snow in cool climates, stagnant rain can soak up energy from satellite transmissions. If a suitable location can be found for the installation of the dish which allows the protection of your dish in rainy conditions, such as the eaves of a roofline, this will be chosen. If it is possible to remove accumulated rain without knocking the dish out of alignment this can be done. This will help to restore your Internet service even in monsoon season.

Although bad weather, such as high winds, can push your satellite dish out of alignment, heat doesn't cause any difficulties. However, you should place your router out of direct sunlight so you experience no problems at all. Some people worry about adverse weather, including hot spells, affecting the security of their service. However, as all data is encrypted when it is sent and received, so even if something needs to be resent, it remains secure at all times.