Modem->surgre protecter->wall??

[Madcap]

When I worked for an ISP they always said if a customer was having connection problems (like low connection speed or pages not loading all the way, lots of things) and they had their modem connected to a surge protector to unhook it nad hook it to the wall.

But lately I've been hearing about a lot of computer companys using not having it hooked up to a surge protector as an excuse for why the computer won't work. They say there was a surge and it traveled thrut he phone line and fried the inside of the computer. At my new job (totally unrelated field) Gateway told my boss this is what happened to his week old computer. I looked at it and the only thing wrong with it was the power supply went bad. After I changed that everything worked.

So is not having it hooked up to a surge protector realy a bad move? I've never heard of anyone frying their computer from not doing that. Is there that much of a risj that this can happen?

[brandon184]

The only thing I have my computers hooked up to are power bars. The only reason being is that they provide more than two outlets. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

- Brandon

[NDC]

Hmmmm, I've seen a few of friends who fried their Mainboard, RAM, Videocard from severe thunder storms.

[brandon184]

If lightning strikes phone lines, and your modem recieves the blow, would that be the only component affected?

- Brandon

[Mntsnow]

Not always brandon http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/frown.gif. I have replaced modems that had received surges that ended up also wasting the mobo. Usually if the spike wasnt to bad only the modem gets wasted which is the lesser of two evils. I personally have a Telco surge protector on all my lines that come into my home. (it's located at the distribution box in the basement where the main lines come in) and I have not seen any decrease in speed whatsoever in using both Analog modems and DSL service.

[brandon184]

Are those installed as an option? Or are they standard in new homes?

- Brandon

[Psycho-holic Slag]

if you are in an area that is prone to lightning storms a telephone surge protector is a must. i am not, and do not consider the (albeit ever-so-slight) loss in data quality worth it.

ppl that i have spoken with who get hit w/a surge typically end up with a fried modem, but obviously what Mntsnow is telling us is that it's dependant on the strength of the surge.

[tonym]

The strength of the surge is proportional to how close the strike was to your modem.

Since you can't predict where a strike will occur (unless you have a pre-designed lightning rod), then you're playing Russian roulette with your equipment if you don't have a surge protector on your POTS line. Even if you live in an area not really prone to that many storms, do you really want to take the chance if you had a fairly inexpensive remedy to the situation?

If you have a good quality surge protection device, it presents very little parasitic capacitance to your phone line and therefore neglible effect on your transmission speed. If you buy an "el cheapo", you get what you deserve!

Now, if you MUST use your computer during an electrical storm, then a telehone line (POTS) surge protector is a MUST. Otherwise, if you know there's a storm coming, you can just unplug the RJ connector from the wall and be assured no damage will occur. This isn't always an option because who can be home for every occasion when there's a storm? Unless you get into the HABIT of disconnecting the phone line every time you discontinue use of the computer. Like that's going to happen!!

Safest bet -- buy a GOOD surge protector!!!


Tony

[brandon184]

I'm actually lucky enough to live a few doors down from a guy who has a radio tower in his backyard. Which is probably twice as big as any house, and bigger than any tree in the area. It recieves all the strikes. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

- Brandon

[Underclocked]

Everyone in my area of the woods had better have a GOOOOOOD surge protector, ESPECIALLY on the phone lines. This must be fried modem heaven, and it doesn't always stop with the modem.
Motherboards, power supplies, hard drives, and so on, all fall victim.

[drojman]

A surge in your phone line doesn't have to be related to a lightning strike anywhere... because phone lines are often near regular power lines, and high voltage lines, they can pick up currents and surges through induction.. the magnetic fields of the power lines can cause power to be generated in the phone lines which can then fry your modem...
even on just a windy day, the power lines swaying near the phone lines can cause surges in them.. or if there is a surge in the power line it can transfer to the phone line in the same way...

a surge protector is always a really good idea. especially if you read about a lot of the power problems in the country right now..

[BBA]

Well, surge protectors are good to have.

I had one on my modem (way back when I used a modem, http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif ) and came home one evening to find my phones would not work. I discovered that unplugging my computers modem surge connector allowed the phones to work. This told me that if I did not have it hooked up, the strike that killed it could have killed my modem or 900MHz phone instead ( and back then, they were twice as much as a modem ).


I did find that caller id devices make nice phone line surge protectors also, since none of them last more than a few months before frying... http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/frown.gif

[RampageIII]

This is the first I've heard of the surge protector causing slowdowns but I'll give it a try. If it works I'll take the chance for more speed!

[Julio]

I have a cable modem plugged into my PC (not DSL) and was wondering if I should be concerned about lightning strikes.