It’s sun transit time again

Northern long-distance telephone and Internet users will see short interruptions in service every day from now until Oct. 18, because of satellite problems caused by the sun’s position in the sky at this time of year.

Northern Canada’s telecommunications provider, Northwestel, says the disruptions usually last only a few minutes, from late morning to mid-afternoon, depending on the customer’s geographic location.

These sun transit problems occur twice every year, in the spring and fall, when satellites pass directly between the sun and satellite dishes on Earth. This causes natural radio frequency noise from the sun to overpower radio signals coming from the satellite.

The problem mainly affects long-distance telephone and Internet services.