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The Wi-Fi only works when it's raining

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Re: The Wi-Fi only works when it's raining

#21

Post by progbits »

smeeth wrote: post #8

I had an experience like this once! My my laptop would inexplicably and intermittently stop connecting to the internet. It turned out my bluetooth headset was using the same band as the wifi but I only figured this out after a few months and a replaced wifi card. I wouldn't wish that experience on my worst enemy.

Same, my macbook had unusable wifi when playing music via Bluetooth headphones. Switched to playing from my phone, somehow that worked - probably problem with the BT radio in the laptop since I didn't change wifi channel.

Re: The Wi-Fi only works when it's raining

#22

Post by tombert »

jordigh wrote: post #15

Let me see if I'm the first one to link to that classic story in the same series, "I cannot send email further than 500 miles" http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html Or the Magic/More Magic switch http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html It's fun when physical reality meets the abstract models that we have built in our heads of these machines.

The 500 mile email story is one of my favorite reminders that, fundamentally, we're still governed by the laws of physics. It's funny, but it's also a reminder that, while networks might be very fast, the latency is still going to be governed by the speed of light.

Re: The Wi-Fi only works when it's raining

#23

Post by amelius »

jordigh wrote: post #15

Let me see if I'm the first one to link to that classic story in the same series, "I cannot send email further than 500 miles" http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html Or the Magic/More Magic switch http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html It's fun when physical reality meets the abstract models that we have built in our heads of these machines.

I came here to see if someone posted that.

Re: The Wi-Fi only works when it's raining

#24

Post by progbits »

Similar but opposite story:

20ish years ago I hung out in an IRC channel in which, during autumn/winter months, one person would frequently get disconnected and when he came back complained about foggy weather.

He had a laser line or sight connection. It could handle rain (with some degradation), but thick fog killed it.

Re: The Wi-Fi only works when it's raining

#26

Post by rrr_oh_man »

hobs wrote: post #13
smeeth wrote: post #8

I had an experience like this once! My my laptop would inexplicably and intermittently stop connecting to the internet. It turned out my bluetooth headset was using the same band as the wifi but I only figured this out after a few months and a replaced wifi card. I wouldn't wish that experience on my worst enemy.

Turns out most consumer electronics operate in the same unlicensed consumer bands, so your bluetooth mouse, headset, wifi, and microwave all tussle for the same stuff. I had a fun one where every time I would get out of my chair my monitors would turn off, turns out the EM fields from the compression/decompression can actually be enormous in some cases.

> I had a fun one where every time I would get out of my chair my monitors would turn off

Wait, can you elaborate? I have the same and I thought I was hallucinating or tripping a cable somewhere.

Re: The Wi-Fi only works when it's raining

#27

Post by tiltowait »

jordigh wrote: post #15

Let me see if I'm the first one to link to that classic story in the same series, "I cannot send email further than 500 miles" http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html Or the Magic/More Magic switch http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html It's fun when physical reality meets the abstract models that we have built in our heads of these machines.

I forgot all about the 500 miles story. My favorite line:

> If the problem had had to do with the geography of the human recipient and not his mail server, I think I would have broken down in tears.

Re: The Wi-Fi only works when it's raining

#28

Post by brazzy »

mschuster91 wrote: post #3

I had more thought of an issue regarding bad grounding (i.e. grounding rods dried out and only work properly when the earth is wet), but trees are even more unexpected.

My guess was that water accumulates somewhere and bends the antenna out of alignment.

Re: The Wi-Fi only works when it's raining

#29

Post by lamontcg »

jordigh wrote: post #15

Let me see if I'm the first one to link to that classic story in the same series, "I cannot send email further than 500 miles" http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html Or the Magic/More Magic switch http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html It's fun when physical reality meets the abstract models that we have built in our heads of these machines.

and previously discussed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9338708

Re: The Wi-Fi only works when it's raining

#30

Post by ctoth »

rrr_oh_man wrote: post #26
hobs wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turns out most consumer electronics operate in the same unlicensed consumer bands, so your bluetooth mouse, headset, wifi, and microwave all tussle for the same stuff. I had a fun one where every time I would get out of my chair my monitors would turn off, turns out the EM fields from the compression/decompression can actually be enormous in some cases.

> I had a fun one where every time I would get out of my chair my monitors would turn off Wait, can you elaborate? I have the same and I thought I was hallucinating or tripping a cable somewhere.

https://old.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/f7g1sa/gas_li...
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