Quote:
Originally Posted by Mir
I thought the coax came straight in like your phone line does. Looks like my problem has been solved then, thanks!
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Neither phone nor cable enter unprotected. Cable must have a copper wire that connects that cable low impedance (ie 'less than 10 feet') to earth. Better protection without any protectors. A connection to what harmlessly absorbs hundreds of thousands of joules - earth ground - is best done with a wire.
Telephone wires cannot cannot directly to earth. So all phone lines already have a 'whole house' protector installed for free. Many who make recommendations do not even know about this existing protection. How good is that telco protector. Only the homeowner is responsible for installing and maintaining better earthing electrodes.
What does a protector do? Does a 2 cm part inside a protector stop (or isolate) what three miles of sky could not? Of course not. But many actually believe that.
Best protection is a wire connected low impedance (ie no sharp wire bends) to earth. A protector only makes that same connection when an incoming wire (ie telephone, AC electric) cannot be earthed directly. What is a protector? A connecting device to what does protection.
Far more imporant is the quality of what does protection. It must be a single point ground. IOW any wire inside any incoming cable must connect low impedance (ie no splices) to the same earth ground used by everything else. Because the quality of earthing and connections to that ground determine protection.
Either a surge connects low impedance (ie as short as possible) to earth ground. Or that surge is inside hunting for earth destructively via appliances. Only a homeowner makes that choice.
Why was your DSL modem damaged. A surge was incoming to every household appliance (even dishwasher and furnace) via AC mains. Was everything damaged? Of course not. A surge current must also have an outgoing path. Otherwise no damage. What has a better incoming and outgoing path? DSL modem and cable appliances.
A protector is only as effective as what does the actual protection - earth ground. Protectors are simple science. Earthing is the art that defines all protection. Any one wire not properly earthed means protection is compromised.