Rarely. Sail Internet’s network uses fiber and fixed wireless connections, and both are designed to perform reliably in Bay Area weather.
Fiber connections are not affected by weather. Our fixed wireless connections are engineered to account for heavy rain, so most customers never notice a difference. During rare, extremely intense storms, speeds may be briefly reduced, but your connection is designed to stay up.
The Sail Internet network uses two types of links:
- Fiber links, used mainly in the core and distribution network. Weather doesn’t affect them.
- Wireless links, used mainly to connect customers.
Sail Internet’s wireless links operate in microwave and millimeter-wave bands. Heavy rain can weaken signals in those bands, so Sail designs every link to account for it, using internationally accepted rain models fitted to each link’s local geography.
The design goal is full-speed service at least 99.995% of the time. In a typical year, that means a link runs at full speed for all but about 26 minutes. During those rare, extremely intense downpours, the link doesn’t drop. It keeps working at a reduced speed.
Wind doesn’t affect wireless signals.