Why Does The Internet Die When It Rains?

[JetsetBkk]

It's bad enough when Truevisions/UBC goes off, but for the last few months my Maxnet modem has been restarting whenever there's a sudden downpour - all the lights go off except the power light and it takes a minute or two for the Internet to come back.

But if the rain continues to pour down, it's OK - it only restarts once.

Anyone know what's going on?

Is the Internet signal carried to Phuket via satellite?

Do the telephones wires get cold and affect the signal?

[T_Dog]

Jetset, It could be a multitude of things, but a friend up here in Chiang Mai experienced the same symptoms. No internet during heavy downpours. He had the phone company tech visit him and they found he had a 50 HZ signal on his phone line from an adjacent power line. (Apparently a ground loop that shunted out the ADSL signal.) They ultimately did find the problem and correct it. He said he could hear the hum on his phone whenever he had the problem, so you might want to listen to the handset to see if you hear anything. With the way some phone lines are run, these types of problems are not surprising.

[lopburi3]

Do you have your modem on a good UPS? As you say the power light stays on suspect you do but that light may not react to a momentary outage that will disconnect you. Often times storms start with a lightning strike that kills power for a split second.

[Jungian]

Yes, this happens to me as well but it is usually only the first day of rain it goes out, my wife calls TOT and says the internet is not working and they in turn say they know they are working on it. The next day it is business as usual no problems.

[webfact]

Have you ever seen how phone cables are connected together?

Mostly this way - and that is very common "high tech standard" in Thailand...

The wires are twisted together and wrapped around with black scotch tape!

during rain moisture will build up under this "perfect" connection.

Here you have the cause of the evil "signal loss" during rain...

Edited June 8, 2009 by webfact

[Crushdepth]

In my last apartment in Bangkok there was usually a short power blackout accompanying the afternoon rains. Quite often the timing seemed to relate to a lightning strike. Power aside, my connection speed also seems to drop about 90% if the rain is bad.

[TopDogger]

Mine always used to go off for a few minutes whenever it rained at a place I lived many years ago.. At the current place even if it rains so hard the whole buildings power goes off the DSL connection stays active as its connected to a UPS.

I'd blame it on bad telephone wiring between u and the exchange

[h90]

that is when one raindrop hits the cable, it is probable that one Bit is shot out of the cable on the other side.....

no: poor installation: the wired connect together or to ground when they get wet.

[Carmine6]

I think rain makes the internet sad and that's why it stops.

Sorry, I just had to.

What about this? Maybe poor grounding. Big static charge build up or something in the lines. First rain and water closes the connection to ground and the discharge makes some routers reboot. After that, there's nothing to discharge so it doesn't matter if it's raining or stops.

[Veazer]

I think we're missing the most important point, this is new Thai folk song just waiting to be written. "Why Does The Internet Die When It Rains?" will be a classic long after these shoddy copper lines have been taken down.

[JetsetBkk]

Jetset, It could be a multitude of things, but a friend up here in Chiang Mai experienced the same symptoms. No internet during heavy downpours. He had the phone company tech visit him and they found he had a 50 HZ signal on his phone line from an adjacent power line. (Apparently a ground loop that shunted out the ADSL signal.) They ultimately did find the problem and correct it. He said he could hear the hum on his phone whenever he had the problem, so you might want to listen to the handset to see if you hear anything. With the way some phone lines are run, these types of problems are not surprising.

OK, I'll have a listen the next time it happens, but the weird thing is, it only happens for the first minute - even if the downpour lasts for several minutes. It's as if the initial shock of the rain hitting something causes the problem, and then it corrects itself no matter how much more it rains. (Unlike UBC/TrueV that goes off and stays off while the rain is between the dish and the satellite).

[JetsetBkk]

Do you have your modem on a good UPS? As you say the power light stays on suspect you do but that light may not react to a momentary outage that will disconnect you. Often times storms start with a lightning strike that kills power for a split second.

Yes, the telephone line goes to my UPS and from there to my ADSL modem. I've not noticed any lights flickering or power loss when this ADSL problem happens. In fact, I usually see power problems a few minutes before it starts raining, probably because the storm is hitting some power lines elsewhere.

[JetsetBkk]

Have you ever seen how phone cables are connected together?

Mostly this way - and that is very common "high tech standard" in Thailand...

The wires are twisted together and wrapped around with black scotch tape!

during rain moisture will build up under this "perfect" connection.

Here you have the cause of the evil "signal loss" during rain...

Do these ADSL modems have "auto-gain"? I wonder if they lose the signal initially and then boost up the level - like mobile phones? - to help get the connection working.

[JetsetBkk]

I think rain makes the internet sad and that's why it stops.

Sorry, I just had to.

What about this? Maybe poor grounding. Big static charge build up or something in the lines. First rain and water closes the connection to ground and the discharge makes some routers reboot. After that, there's nothing to discharge so it doesn't matter if it's raining or stops.

You may have something there - don't know how to prove it, but it sounds feasible.

[JetsetBkk]

I think we're missing the most important point, this is new Thai folk song just waiting to be written. "Why Does The Internet Die When It Rains?" will be a classic long after these shoddy copper lines have been taken down.

(I'm working on the lyrics right now.)