Does Internet Speed Vary by Season?

[marcoh at marcoh.net (Marco Hogewoning)]

On Oct 7, 2009, at 6:44 AM, Hank Nussbacher wrote:

> http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/magazine/17-10/ts_burningquestion

I'm not sure the effects are so big compared to the actual speed that  
they are noticable for the average user. We also don't have any proper  
data available but we do (operating in NL) notice from time to time  
that periods with loads of rain can have influence on the stabillity  
and speed of DSL lines especially in older areas of towns where they  
still have paper/lead covered cabling instead of more modern PVC  
isolation. This as more visible when everybody still used 56k  
dialup.This may as well be a very local effect, the western part of  
our country is largely at or even below sealevel and very wet already.

However as these effects might get you a few kilobits extra from time  
to time that effect is not visible in overall usage statisctics, as  
soon as the sun comes out we see traffic levels drop to only rise  
again near september when everybody is back to school and the office.  
As far as traffic levels go, it's the rainy winter nights which make  
it into the recordbooks.

Grtx,

Marco