Telephone connection protection - does it work?

I'm interested on picking up on a comment I made earlier about a Belkin surge protection unit which also protects my socket-to-router cable.

Is such protection necessary?

Indeed does it actually work?

Any downsides? (clearly the potential exists for performance degradation)

And, purely as a matter of interest, how does it work?

Cheers

Many surge protectors will slow an ADSL line, and some will stop it working completely. Surge protectors will have some level of protection against high voltages induced into the wiring from nearby or overhead cloud-to-cloud strikes, but if you get a direct hit, the surge protector will just add to the molten plastic on the floor.

In reply to a post by zebedeee:

Many surge protectors will slow an ADSL line, and some will stop it working completely. Surge protectors will have some level of protection against high voltages induced into the wiring from nearby or overhead cloud-to-cloud strikes, but if you get a direct hit, the surge protector will just add to the molten plastic on the floor.

But at least Belkin will pay out a few thousand to replace hardware and cover costs of data recovery.

Before switching on this morning I rerouted to connect my router direct to the wall socket. I'll see what happens performance-wise over the next week or three.

In reply to a post by MHC:

In reply to a post by zebedeee:

Many surge protectors will slow an ADSL line, and some will stop it working completely. Surge protectors will have some level of protection against high voltages induced into the wiring from nearby or overhead cloud-to-cloud strikes, but if you get a direct hit, the surge protector will just add to the molten plastic on the floor.

But at least Belkin will pay out a few thousand to replace hardware and cover costs of data recovery.

If that's what they end up doing. Trouble is that there are so many get-out clauses on insurance policies. I was listening to our local radio station on Friday - someone had already put in a claim for roof damage caused by high winds on a flat roof, and before the claim had even been sorted, a torrential downpour caused the person's kitchen to to be flooded. The insurance company refused to pay out, because there was "no evidence of heavy rain that day". Let's hope that the Belkin policy doesn't require evidence of lightning ?

To be honest, if you get a direct hit from a lightning strike, a fried PC may be the least of your worries !

To find out what your line can do with no problems from internal wiring you have to connect to the test socket on the wall at the back of the master socket in this pic.

If you do things in this order:
- do a reconnection immediately before;
- take the stats;
connect to the test socket;
take the stats,

then barring one variable that we will see from the stats we know all there is to know about the current and potential performance of the line.

(Oh dear - current and potential - what's that! It wasn't intentional).

Avoid more than the final re-assembly connection during the hour.

In reply to a post by MHC:

But at least Belkin will pay out a few thousand to replace hardware and cover costs of data recovery.

Remember that to claim you need all the reciepts from everything you are claiming for.....

Nice read

Policy

Belkin Components will spend, to repair or replace the damaged connected equipment, at Belkin�s option, an amount equal to the fair market value of thedamaged equipment or the original purchase price of the equipment, whichever is less

This warranty is valid only for the original purchaser of the product. All damage claims against the product must be made within 15 days from the date ofthe occurrence and must be accompanied by a receipt for the damaged equipment or the warranty is void.

In reply to a post by cheshire_man:

I'm interested on picking up on a comment I made earlier about a Belkin surge protection unit which also protects my socket-to-router cable.

Is such protection necessary?

Indeed does it actually work?

Any downsides? (clearly the potential exists for performance degradation)

And, purely as a matter of interest, how does it work?

Cheers

Necessary, nope not really, i just unplug my router in a storm or similar.

Yes they do work..... HOWEVER, many will only work for a specific period of time, i have a surge protection 8 way device here thats never been outside, never been used in a storm, etc etc but after 2 years its surge protection LED no longer illuminates.

No downsides really apart from cost, my broadband works just as well through one as connecting directly to the wall socket. My current 10 way socket extension i got from maplins who had them on offer for something like £12

No idea how it works in detail, i imagine its similar to how a fuse works, but obviously slightly different if that makes any sense (which i doubt lol)

Edited by deleted (Mon 14-Sep-09 15:47:19)

My router is now (after taking the Belkin out of circuit) connected directly to the one and only BT socket in the house. It's an NTE5 type master socket, with the lower half replaced by a filtered faceplate.

I don't think I can get the router any nearer the incoming line. For what it's worth, the cable from the master socket to the BT box on the outside wall is well under 1 metre in length.

In reply to a post by CARPETBURN:

Yes they do work..... HOWEVER, many will only work for a specific period of time, i have a surge protection 8 way device here thats never been outside, never been used in a storm, etc etc but after 2 years its surge protection LED no longer illuminates.

My Belkin unit is (probably) 12-13 years old. The 'protected' led is still operating fine. I seem to recall hearing some years ago that they work on an air gap principle, but haven't yet found anything on the web (did Google for it, and the first suggestion was this very thread )
[Edit, my reference to an air gap looks as if it should have been referring to a gas arrestor which can be used in surge protection circuits]

As an aside, I got an analogous unit for our TV & radio. The aerial was connected through the protection unit. Freeview reception was poor with many channels not found. Direct connection all fine and lots more channels - not necessarily a good thing though

Edited by cheshire_man (Mon 14-Sep-09 22:25:23)