topic Snow storm affects mobile broadband speeds in Mobile Broadband

Snow storm affects mobile broadband speeds

FurryEwok — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 19:16:22 GMT

Hi all,

We have been using EE mobile broadband a few days now and it's been really good. We use the 4G smart hub just because we are very rural in Scotland and only have 4G masts in the area. I've been getting 120 Mbps down and 30 Mbps up for days, even with 8 devices connected.

But suddenly this massive snow storm hit Aberdeenshire the last 2 days and now our download speed is around 800Kbps - 1.5Mbps, while upload strangely is still pretty good around 20 Mbps.

My question for anyone who is in very rural Scotland or similar, if you are on EE mobile broadband, have you found that the server snowy weather affects your download speeds?

My research on Google has revealed that snow can absorb electromagnetic signals causing issues with 4G and 5G signals in general, especially if the ground is covered in thick snow, since signals tend to bounce off obstacles but the snow supposedly dampens it.

Hoping that is all it is, would be good to get some insights or advice.

Thanks!

Re: Snow storm affects mobile broadband speeds

bristolian — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 20:15:31 GMT

Your Google research is a little off-base, though I understand your motivations.

Far more likely is either a traffic uplift in your area, potentially combined with a site outage which could cause some of the lost traffic to be spread around remaining sites.

The best first-line check is the "check status" option on https://coverage.ee.co.uk/coverage/ee

Re: Snow storm affects mobile broadband speeds

FurryEwok — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 20:38:43 GMT

Thank you that was spot on! Seems there is an issue in my area and it will be fixed within next 16 hours or so. Did not realise there was a way to check status so I’ve learned something new, thank you 🙏