Satellite Internet vs Satellite TV

We’ve all been there. Its gameday, you’re over at your friend’s house who has satellite TV to the watch the guys in blue annihilate the guys in white, and as your favorite player throws the game winning pass- “waiting on signal”- is all you see. Subsequently, you and your friends are in an uproar about the quality of service you are getting from your satellite TV provider.  You curse their name, calling them things that Richard Pryor would be proud of, when suddenly you realize, it’s raining outside. 

Satellite internet Service, on the other hand, doesn’t have that problem.  While some of the web content I’ve read on the subject claims that satellite internet service has NO “rain fade”, I have found this simply cannot be true.  What happens is, as a storm gets progressively worse your connection speed starts to slow down. Think about it, you have a satellite internet dish that is facing the Southern sky.  As the sky gets more and more polluted with clouds that are filled with participation, it creates a barrier between your dish and the satellite in orbit. Obviously, if it’s just light clouds and/or light rain, you can expect a much slighter degradation in speed than during a serious thunderstorm with little or no actual “cut-off”. But if it’s the kind of storm that makes you want to turn off your computer because you don’t have a good surge protector, then you should most definitely go with your gut instinct.

The fact of the matter is, satellite internet services DO have rain fade, it is simply the nature of the beast.  Fortunately, for the rural American’s who are using satellite internet, the worst that could happen is their speeds might slow down or shut down until the worst part of the storm passes.

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