This summer has been particularly harsh, and high temperatures are melting roads, electric cars and even “clouds” along with a horrific succession of fires. The question is, how does this heat affect our mobile phones and other devices? Can they go slower or stop working at these temperatures? The short answer is no, but it’s interesting to mention some of the nuances.

Weather affects mobile communications. Of course there are weather events that can cause interruptions in mobile signal and leave us disconnected. Lightning in a storm can cause electrical interference, and large volumes of water molecules in the air can cause radio waves to break and make the signal erratic.

Strong winds will not directly affect the signal, but may damage mobile antennas. Then there are solar storms that can affect cell phones, but above all satellites and GPS receivers. What about heat?

Don’t say temperature, say humidity. Extreme heat or cold doesn’t have to affect the mobile signal (but will affect devices, we’ll explain later). The problem with temperature is not the temperature itself, but its effect on relative humidity.

If it is too low or too high, the water vapor will freeze or evaporate and this will prevent the mobile signal from spreading easily, but it is rare for this effect to still be high.

High temperatures can cause increased latency in communication between devices and lost packets, reducing effective bandwidth.

A few studies say no more. There aren’t many published studies on the subject, but one published in 2017 analyzed RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator), a way to measure whether temperature affects the quality of mobile signal.

The results showed a “weak positive correlation” between temperature and signal quality, and once again relative humidity was mentioned as the real source of potential problems (although they still didn’t seem excessive).

The heat signal won’t fry, but be careful with your cell phone or router. So it will be very difficult for the temperature to affect your connection, but eventually it can affect your devices. All electronic components – cell phones, computers, routers – are certified to operate within certain temperature ranges, but problems may arise when these ranges are reached or exceeded.

Ideally to avoid problems is to follow some basic advice: in case of a router, place it where it does not receive sunlight. Do not leave the mobile phone in the car and, for example, do not put it in the refrigerator if we see that it is very hot: this can cause condensation inside the mobile phone and make the situation worse. In these cases, it’s almost better to turn it off and leave it in a cool place for its temperature to drop.

Summer crowd, another potential problem. As we can see, it is difficult for the signal quality to deteriorate due to the heat, but in the summer it can be a case that we are in a particularly crowded area.

Huge chunks get coverage into trouble, and indeed in Spain, Movistar, Orange and Vodafone are beefing up their coverage so they can have a conflict-free summer with 5G. Not just at the beaches, but also at events like concerts and festivals where the signal can suffer.