Does temperature affect network speed?

Clarifications

But there are way too many possibilities here to say defiantly one way or the other.

Things like Poor Maintenance of the Outside network or Bad Connections can cause High Impedance Joints to occur which will limit speed. While this is more common on a Copper Network it's still Possible on a Fiber Network.

So what is the outside connection at these points? Copper or Fiber?

Of course things like Trees falling and breaking the lines isn't covered by any of the above. ;)

Col

a lot of equipment is not rated under 0 degrees.

Not directly an equipment problem. But, loose connections will perform worse in cold weather and you end up with more lost packets and thus a slower net speed.

Of course, depending on your connection and how much extra bandwidth is in the local backbone, it could just be more people inside using the Internet and creating bottlenecks in the dataflow.

Chas

Than what is???? I got this problem a few days, maybe weeks now... My internet is very bad... I tried turning the router of and on again, I tried resetting it to factory settings, I've tried Windows' troubleshooter, but everything I do will fix the problem for like an hour or so... I've created a list with some notable things:
-The event log of the router keeps giving this message: DSL synchronization starting (training)
-The weather is really cold and snowy (but we already covered that...)
-We recently got some work done in our backyard, which might have damaged some lines...

I don't know what type of connections we have here but I would say fiber...

Does anybody have any ideas hat could be the problem in this situation and how to fix it??? You've all gave me some reasonable explanations on what it could be but I want to make sure what it is before I call my provider...

Thanks in advance!

Your buried phone line is probably damaged, whether it's copper or fiber.

Your provider can determine if that is an issue in about 30 seconds by connecting a DSL tester to your NID (network interface device) which is the box on the outside where the phone line comes in.

and tell them your connection is slow and your router log contains "-The event log of the router keeps giving this message: DSL synchronization starting (training)"

(Unless you provide your own "cheapo" DSL router, in which case you might consider an upgrade. If you rent/lease the DSL Modem (i.e. "they" provide it to you) it's their problem to make it work properly. If you bought one, it's your problem. Sometimes the few bucks charged for equipment rental is worth it, because they can't blame your equipment for their problem.)

Of course if the temperature rises before they get it fixed, the problem will go away - until next year, or maybe until a rain storm.

Good luck. These can be a real nightmare to get fixed. People who are supposed to fix it often just point their finger at some other department and pass the blame around.

Don't be afraid to be tenacious - insist on an answer to why the modem is "re-training" and keep insisting until that error stops happening. You'll know because your line speed will be back to normal.

Thank you all for the replies, I know what to do now!

I would suggest that any change in network speed brought about by temperature is too negligible to be noticeable unless physical equipment was damaged by snow or something.

You might want to do a daily speed test and measure the temperature at the same time and see if you can find any trends, but I doubt that it would be statistically significant in any way.

and it is certainly not a stupid question but...

The best thing is:

To know what kind of problem(s) do you really have: and to have weapons before solving or calling your provider's hotline if none of my next tips works.
To know what kind of network do you use: Fiber, Satelite or Copper (check the rear of your router)

If coaxial cable: i am almost sure it is FTTLA fiber (fiber to the last amplifier, not 100% fiber.
If Rectangle metallic plug: SFP plug: FTTH (Yeepee ! Fiber to te home, 250Mbits/s).
Fiber issues are rare, mostly the router (again dont forget its power supply), Subdistributors, Distributors and Optical switches are suspected.
If Satelite: Camaarghh ! i cant help.
If ADSL:
-check ALL your phones plugs: put ADSL Filter on the plugs which are not used by your router. If possible no extension between your router and the phone plug.
-test your connection on other phone plugs (if you have).
- if you can enter your router interface, check the SNR and the Attenuation/Extinction: (for ADSL,SDSL)
SNRs must be 6 mini, and stable (refresh the browser during 30 secs to see if your SNR fall to 4 or worst, if fall, phone your access provider)
Attenuation: 66 dB is the max for ADSL (78-80dB for 128kbit ReADSL), if you know how far is your DSLAM you can have your thorical speed. example: 100 meters with 0,4mm copper section make 3dB, you can have up to 28 megabits/s (with ADSL2+), 1000 meters, 17dB and up to 23 mbits, 2000 m,32dB: 13 mbits, 3000 m: 4 mbits, 4000 m: 0,7mb/sec, 5000 m:65dB and up to 0,256mbits, 6000m: 0,128mbits.... compare this theorical speed (and theorical Attenuation) with your broadband test (and the attenuation results you found in the router interface, if speedtest difference is higher than 50% (and attenuation in the router has >+6dB . Again check the router, its connection, its power supply.
AND other connected computers (only for speedtest because if your wifi is on with a WEP key, maybe a neighbour cracked that key).

NETWORK CONNECTION LOSS:
-target: your provider, your router, or its power supply, your wifi.
PACKET LOSS:
-ping "your router local ip" (example for my router ping 192.168.1.1) if packet loss at your router, change your ethernet cable or turn off your electric heating if wifi.
If all is good, ping www.google.com if packet loss: ping 8.8.8.8 if no loss, maybe change your DNS on the property of your local network connection OR wifi network connection)

Low Mbit/sec, (obviously turn off all the other computers while testing yours with an ETHernet cable, and check your plugs, if possible test another cable between wall plug and your router and test another power supply).

So, I've called my ISP and I explained what was going on... Only to come to a conclusion I already knew... Something was broken in their DSL connection. They called us this morning, they said they fixed the problem.

They haven't... Or I haven't... I simply don't know! I tried everything. Can somebody tell me any other way this could be fixed, other than calling my ISP again? Cuz, I already paid 40 bucks for that last phone call.

My DSL connection is completely not working, I'm now using a mobile telephone network. It's just an emergency network I sometimes use... But because my bandwidth now is about 128 kbit/s (yeah, that's right), I would like to have my network fixed....