Proven: Sun causes drop calls. Really!

If you do a search for "Sun dropped calls" you will actually come across something interesting: a 40 year research does prove that our very own sun can cause dropped calls due to the way it affects cell sites.

When a solar radio flare occurs and cell-site antennae are facing the sun, the number of dropped calls that go away for no apparent reason increases dramatically, the researchers found. In one well-studied example this figure reached nine per cent, while some systems have dropped more than 20 per cent of their calls during flares. [source]

In a telephone interview, Gary explained that the problem has to do mostly with the fact that cell phone towersneed to face the horizon in order to communicate with users and other towers.Those that face east or west look directly into the Sun at sunrise or sunset.If a burst occurs then, the tower sustains a direct hit and is unable to sortout wireless calls from unwanted signals.

Which, for commuters, could meanisolation during drive-time. The events can last anywhere from a few minutes toa couple of hours.

"If you have poor servicenormally, you'll have worse service when there's an event like this goingon," Gary said, adding that there is no way for you to know if your callsare cut off due to spotty service or an solar event. [source]

A little pun intended.