July 8, 2007
Scientists find reason for dropped calls
An interesting post from SMSTextNews, who reports on a study by scientists at Canada’s Queen University on why mobile calls drop for no apparent reason. "The good news is they think they’ve got an answer. The bad news is - there’s not a lot you can do about it.
The problem is caused by solar flares – the fiery storms on the sun’s surface that create the Northern Lights effect. Thomson and his team found that during solar flares, phones routed through cellphone towers with antennas facing the sun had higher rates of dropped calls.
"The rate could be as high as nine per cent, calculated during one morning rush hour in the U.S. Midwest. This connection between the sun and dropped calls", says Thomson, explains why the number of dropped calls increase in the summer compared to winter."
Related:
-- Solar bursts may threaten Global Positioning System
-- Solar Flares Could Disable Mobile Phones
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