However, although the sea ice is shrinking -- covering less total area as well as becoming thinner -- the Arctic is still a world ruled by ice, a lesson well learned when the Polar Pioneer encountered heavy pack ice between Svalbard and the eastern coast of Greenland, forcing the captain to divert the boat and drop speed to just a few knots.

BBC: Life in the fragile, frozen Arctic

But in the winter, the number of journeys drop, the speed on the roads also drops, and voila!

FORBES: Why It's Actually Safer To Drive In The Winter

The company and analysts say the drop in data speed won't be as noticeable as a network switch on Verizon or Sprint.

WSJ: iPhone Will Stress-Test LTE Networks