Lightning Strike Makes Porn Surfing EXPENSIVE! Tech Help Required..!

uniqualz on 12/12/2014 - 14:47

Hey OZB's,

A lightning strike just blew the gizzards out of my FritzBox modem, and the rep says it's not covered for lightning strikes. So now, I'm on my Amaysim data plan working on net stuff (was kidding about the porn), and at 5c Mb, it'll cost me loads of bucks a day that I didn't have to pay before with my home TPG broadband inclusive plan, which now can't be accessed and sits there idly. Anyone know how to access my home TPG account with my phone?? It's the only 'modem' I have remaining! Not possible I suspect.. I have a Nokia 1020.

Many Thanks,

Computing

Comments

  • Jam0864 on 12/12/2014 - 14:54
    +2

    Modems aren't that expensive, just buy another.

  • nailsforlunch on 12/12/2014 - 14:57
    +8

    (was kidding about the porn)

    No you weren't.

    • iridiumstem on 12/12/2014 - 15:12

      Buy a portable hard drive for future?

      "Let's face it, we're not changing the world. We're building a product that helps people buy more crap - and watch porn" - Bill Watkins, ex-CEO of Seagate

      On serious note, buy a new modem, even if it is expensive (which I don't think is), you will get better value from getting the modem than from using 3G.

    • ProjectZero on 12/12/2014 - 15:47

      Indeed, esp according to this

  • djones145 on 12/12/2014 - 15:35

    unluggy
    lightning strike fried my lan card, but modem, comp and ps3 survived!

  • p1 ama on 12/12/2014 - 15:48

    Buy a modem and please invest in surge protection. It's not that much more expensive than a powerboard, if it saves your bacon in situations like this, it would have paid for itself many times over.

    • uniqualz on 13/12/2014 - 11:40

      Sure, but I don't think surge protectors save you from lightning strikes, do they? That's one hell of a surge.

      • scrimshaw on 13/12/2014 - 12:30

        Quote

        TRUTH: Unfortunately not. A common surge protector will stop voltage spikes and surges, but not the violent, catastrophic burst of current from a close lightning strike. Direct lightning current is simply too big to protect with a little electronic device inside a power strip, or even a hefty UPS unit. If your UPS or surge protector is in the way of the lightning's path, all or part of the lightning will just flash over or through the device - regardless of the amount of capacitors and battery banks involved.

        unquote

        Of course having a surge protector is better than none but in the case of a direct strike the energy produced by the lightning can still fry both the surge protector and the devices attached to it.

      • westom on 15/12/2014 - 06:43

        I don't think surge protectors save you from lightning strikes, do they?

        Completely depends on what it is. A surge protector that would somehow block or absorb a surge is bogus. Tpically costs many times more than a completely different device that actually provides protection even from direct lightning strikes.

        Damage was due to a current inside and hunting for earth ground. Best connection from that cloud to earthborne charges many kilometers distant was destructively through an appliance. You all but invite it to hunt for and find that destructive path. A path that means the surge had both an inoming connection and a completely different outgoing connection via electronics. Both paths must exist. Damage is often on the outgoing path.

        Do what Ben Franklin demonstrated in 1752, what costs maybe $1 per protected appliance, has been done for over 100 years, and is virtually unknown by others educated by advertising and hearsay. The only useful recommendation also comes with numbers.

        Connect a surge to earth BEFORE it enters a building. Only then will hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate outside. Then superior surge protection, found in all appliances, is not overwhelmed.

        This 'whole house' solution on cable TV is a hardwire. A low impedance (ie 'less than 3 meter') copper connection from cable to single point earth ground. Then hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate outside.

        Other incoming wires (ie AC electric) cannot connect directly to earth. So we do a next best thing. A 'whole house' protector does what a wire would do better. Protection is always about making a low impedance connection to earth so that a surge is never inside a structure. Protetion is always about where energy dissiipates.

        Often a surge incoming on AC mains destroys a connection to a cable or DSL modem. Because damage can be on the outgoing path to earth. Many recommend only using wild speculation. They see damage on the cable port. That assume that was the incoming path. Useful answers are based in how surges do damage. And where hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate. Protection is never a protector. Protection is single point earth ground. Useful recommendations define it … with numbers. Effective protetion means nobody even knew a direct lightning strike happened. Even the protector is not damaged … costing tens of times less money.

  • Cave Fire on 12/12/2014 - 18:46

    Are you 100% sure the internals have been damaged? I had a similar situation with our modem, it wasn't turning on after a storm. Heard a rattle from the power cord and figured a fuse had gone in the plug. I found an adapter with the same output and got it working.

  • Davo1111 on 12/12/2014 - 18:48
    +2

    Go to a shop, buy a new modem.

    /thread

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