NationStates Jolt Archive


Lose a Cellphone signal? Blame the Sun...

New Manvir
07-07-2007, 17:42
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070706/cell_phone_study/20070706?hub=TopStories

A new Study says that one of the reasons that cellphones lose a signal or drop a call is because of solar flares from the sun...

"We believe that this is caused by the Sun radiating energy into the Earth's magnetic field," said Queen's professor Dr. David Thomson in a press release issued by the university in Kingston, Ont.

"It's one of those things that people look at and say, 'It can't possibly be,' but a lot of experts have now given a thumbs-up to this theory."

For the sake of our cellphones...we must block out the sun!!!

http://www.slackerastronomy.org/images/simpsons-sun.png
Temurdia
07-07-2007, 18:20
Tough luck, I guess? It doesn't seem that there is very much to do about it :)
Myrmidonisia
07-07-2007, 18:20
I always like to blame neutrinos for unexplained electronic malfunctions -- especially in rock-solid FPGAs or ASICs.
Turquoise Days
07-07-2007, 18:34
Doesn't surprise me, the old radio signals used to be affected by solar flares quite considerably.
Deus Malum
07-07-2007, 18:49
I always like to blame neutrinos for unexplained electronic malfunctions -- especially in rock-solid FPGAs or ASICs.

Do they really present that much of a problem in microwave research?

We tend to blame maintainence for ours...
Myrmidonisia
07-07-2007, 19:05
Do they really present that much of a problem in microwave research?

We tend to blame maintainence for ours...

Again the lack of sarcasm tags kills me... No. The real culprit in unexplained electronic failures is the electronics. Bad soldering, corrosion -- any number of things that are very visible to the naked eye.

I wish it was that easy -- "Sorry DirectTV, you lost 105 minutes of downlink because of a neutrino shower." That would be nice.
Deus Malum
07-07-2007, 19:18
Again the lack of sarcasm tags kills me... No. The real culprit in unexplained electronic failures is the electronics. Bad soldering, corrosion -- any number of things that are very visible to the naked eye.

I wish it was that easy -- "Sorry DirectTV, you lost 105 minutes of downlink because of a neutrino shower." That would be nice.

Hehe. Could be worse. We had a system with 2 years of all sky imager data burn out on us because of a very obvious faulty plug that my boss didn't notice in time.

Yes, it always seems the clearly visible ones are the ones that bite you in the ass.
OuroborosCobra
07-07-2007, 21:46
I voted for everything
New Manvir
07-07-2007, 22:08
I voted for everything

HOW DARE YOU!!!!! YOU'VE DESECRATED THE POLL!!!!!!

...wait, so did I, nevermind...