Several years ago, my built-in dial-up modem was evidently damaged by static electricity from a nearby lighting discharge. Anyhow - it no longer worked and I had to get an external modem. Since then I always unplugged the phone line from the modem during stormy times or when the computer is not in use. Normally I don't use the computer if thunder is in the area.
Now I have DSL. Should I unplug the phone line from the CenturyLink (Actiontec) C1000A modem as I did with the other or is it protected? Anyone know? Or found out the hard way?
Proper surge protection pretty much eliminates these problems.
At a bare minimum be sure the Telco surge protection at the Demark is connected to your electric service electrode. Be sure that electrode is effective. If in doubt, drive another rod and connect everything together. That is just the first step. The next thing I would do is put a surge protector on the PC that also picks up the phone line if you have a regular modem. A whole house protector is a good addition to that. A lot depends on where all of your utilities come in. If they are in a central location, add grouped protection for all of your "inputs", connected to the ground electrode with as short a wire as you can between them. I added a bus bar in the wiring closet where my stuff comes in and have all of my protectors tied to that. I still have point of use protectors tho.
I do live in a place where daily ass kicking thunderstorms are the norm all summer and I never unplug anything.
We lost both a watchguard firewall and aSMC CABLE modem to a ground strike 3 weeks ago. Total cost of damaged equipment was over $8000. It was underground service. I'd want a good lightning arrestor on the dsl / phone line if above ground. Ground strike taking out equipment on an underground feed is a pretty rare occurrence, apparently.
Twenty years ago, my mother lost a computer because it was connected to the phone line; probably there was a thunderstorm. The phone company and power company used separate grounding electrodes. With an extension cord and a voltmeter, I found they were not bonded. I dug a shallow trench and bonded them.
Afterwards, I learned that the phone company prefers not to bond electrodes, although this violates the electrical code. When a neighbor kept having to replace modem cards, I found that his electrodes were not bonded. Instead of connecting them with a few cents' worth of wire, he decided to depend on a surge protector and disconnecting everything in the event of a storm. That meant he began losing surge protectors as well as modems.
Lightning hit my house, causing $3500 in structural damage and destroyed electronics. I was online. I restarted my computer and found everything fine. Across the street, the ground surge wiped out my neighbor's computer, modem, surge protector, phone system, and satellite TV system (connected to the phone line). He still refused to bond.
I like to disconnect everything in threatening weather, but it hasn't worked. I was online when lightning hit a tree 30 feet from my service entrance. The phone man had to replace a protector on the pole across the street, but I had no damage. When a tree 70 feet from my service entrance was hit, it lit the neighborhood and blew bark 50 feet. I continued surfing the web. Lighting hit the house a second time, destroying the control board of my HVAC system and a battery-powered thermometer. I kept surfing.
Bonding between the phone system and the power system is vital. I do run my internet cable (used to be the phone line) through the same surge protector as the computer, and I do have a whole-house protector that I installed on the breaker box about 1983. (I wonder if it still works.)
Agree with the above, except I'd put the whole house surge protector at least equal to, if not ahead of point-of-use protectors. In general, the DSL modem is like any other modem or piece of equipment connectd to the phone line. If a surge got the analog modem, it could also blow a digital one.
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