Frying PC

I have been reading about protecting my PC from electrical storms. I use a surge protector & also realize I should turn off my PC in a storm. I am on a cable modem. The article suggested disconnecting from the phone line during a storm if it is connected to your PC. I am unclear as to whether my cable modem is directly connected to a phone line? Hopefully you can enlighten me.

Thanks - Monique

 

Technically the cable modem uses the cable tv cable which is seperate from the phone line. However, if you live in a suburban or rural area, most likely both the phone line and the cable tv line are suspended from poles outside your house. So they stand an equal chance of getting hit.

That aside, getting fried by lightning is pretty rare. Haven't heard many tales of this happening in my time in the IT field.

IMO, unless you're in an area that has frequent lightning storms, I wouldn't worry about it. Just do regular backups of your important data.

Someone with more experience in home electrical systems may be able to enlighten you more.

 

about four months ago i had a computer get struck by lightning. it came in through the telephone line because the modem was completely fried (it even got all the phones in my house). the only thing i was able to salvage from the pc was the hard drive. how it managed to survive i have no idea, but it did.

as just a precaution, i would highly suggest buy a good surge protector. a lot of them are made where you can connect your cable or phone line to the device and then connect a cable to your cable modem.

after all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
(i think i said that right!)

just my two cents!