smh@mhuxu.UUCP (09/22/87)
In article <14917@topaz.rutgers.edu>, ron@topaz.rutgers.edu.UUCP writes: > Telephone lightening arresters are commonly used on all circuits these > days. Surge protectors for phone lines are also available, but their > use is less common. Yes, the phone company installs primary protectors where the wires enter your home. These are designed to keep the voltage on the phone line from rising above 600 to 1000 volts depending upon the model, and the number of times that it has been zapped. I found out the hard way that this is not good enough to protect some modems. Now I use a secondary lightning protector on all lines with modems. These are available from such places as Inmac for $59. I have had two of the Inmac protectors smoked (burned up) by lightning strikes but they saved the modem in each case. If some one knows of a better protector I would be interested. I am on the end of a long telephone line that runs through a valley. Whenever a storm hits the valley, our phone rings on every strike. However, only when we get a strike in our yard do we get the protectors smoked.
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (09/25/87)
> > Telephone lightening arresters are commonly used on all circuits these > > days... > > Yes, the phone company installs primary protectors where the wires enter > your home. These are designed to keep the voltage on the phone line from > rising above 600 to 1000 volts depending upon the model, and the number > of times that it has been zapped. I found out the hard way that this is > not good enough to protect some modems... It is worth knowing that the phone company does not give two hoots about what happens to *your* equipment. They are only interested in protecting their own; that is what those protectors are for. And by the way, they care a lot more about the lines and the exchanges than about the phone in your house, even if you are renting it from them. Keeping your equipment intact is strictly your problem. -- "There's a lot more to do in space | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology than sending people to Mars." --Bova | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (09/30/87)
> It is worth knowing that the phone company does not give two hoots about > what happens to *your* equipment. They are only interested in protecting > their own; that is what those protectors are for... I've been taken to task for this in private mail, and should amend it slightly. The main purpose of the phone company's protectors on lines is prevention of shock and fire hazards. Protection of subscriber-end equipment actually did play some role in setting their protection standards, but the equipment they were thinking of was the phones and modems that were current at the time... generally rather more robust than much of today's equipment. -- "There's a lot more to do in space | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology than sending people to Mars." --Bova | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry