Thunderstorm ADSL experience

This has been the first time I've experienced this, after over a year
on Plusnet, and a few months after being Max-ed, during which the
connection has been pretty stable.

I realised something was odd around 19:00, when my ADSL connection
started going up and down like a yo-yo, something it's never done
before, not even in the initial stages of the Max training.

This continued for nearly an hour I guess, without me being able to
understand why; but then there started big flashes and bangs in the
distance, and I guessed the two phenomena were not unrelated!

Before very long the flashes seemed to be getting quite close, so I
decided to unplug from the phone line anyway, to avoid damage to the
equipment.

There followed an almighty thunderstorm here. See
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/4974858.stm

After the bulk of the storm was over, I reconnected the line, and it
has been stable now since 21:46.

Situation is an urban area, with an overhead dropwire from the house
to a nearby distribution pole, but otherwise the line plant is
underground.

Hope that's of interest. I guess it's just the way things are.

--

"Alan J. Flavell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed). gla.ac.uk...
>
> This has been the first time I've experienced this, after over a year
> on Plusnet, and a few months after being Max-ed, during which the
> connection has been pretty stable.
>
> I realised something was odd around 19:00, when my ADSL connection
> started going up and down like a yo-yo, something it's never done
> before, not even in the initial stages of the Max training.
>
> This continued for nearly an hour I guess, without me being able to
> understand why; but then there started big flashes and bangs in the
> distance, and I guessed the two phenomena were not unrelated!
>
> Before very long the flashes seemed to be getting quite close, so I
> decided to unplug from the phone line anyway, to avoid damage to the
> equipment.
>
> There followed an almighty thunderstorm here. See
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/4974858.stm
>
> After the bulk of the storm was over, I reconnected the line, and it
> has been stable now since 21:46.
>
> Situation is an urban area, with an overhead dropwire from the house
> to a nearby distribution pole, but otherwise the line plant is
> underground.
>
> Hope that's of interest. I guess it's just the way things are.

I have never used my adsl in a thunderstorm - thats more out of luck than
good planning. I wonder how this sort of weather would affect those who
have underground phoneline cabling. We have very few telegraph poles around
here and most people are connected up to roadside boxes.

Beck wrote:

> I have never used my adsl in a thunderstorm - thats more out of luck than
> good planning. I wonder how this sort of weather would affect those who
> have underground phoneline cabling. We have very few telegraph poles around
> here and most people are connected up to roadside boxes.

I know someone who had their ADSL router fried by a thunderstorm,
their cable AFAIK is underground all the way back to the exchange
(excluding the green boxes).

--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

In article <(E-Mail Removed). ac.uk>,
Alan J. Flavell <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>This continued for nearly an hour I guess, without me being able to
>understand why; but then there started big flashes and bangs in the
>distance, and I guessed the two phenomena were not unrelated!

I've been involved with installing several WiFi systems in rural areas
for community broadband projects for some time now, and have seen the
damage a good lightening strike can do! (I also work for a local point
to point wireless interconnect equipment manufacturer and have seen some
nicely damaged units returned after being hit by lightening), and where I
live (edge of Dartmoor), we do get the occasional biggy of a thunderstorm!

Stuff that seems to suffer most is equipment installed in remote locations
(bah!) I've used a few of farms as (wireless) staging posts and they
seem to get hit hard - either the power goes down, or their telephone
line... One local farm in particular always unplugs all their phones
whenever they think there's going to be a storm - after losing a computer
to a strike which had a modem connection!

And 10 (ish) years ago when I worked for an ISP in Bristol, I remember
one of our customers (a local reseller) going offline as their office had
suffered a direct strike which knocked a lot of stuff offline...

So I'd say that if you are remote and/or you're phone & power lines come
in overhead then it's probably prudent to unplug everything.

Lightening is fickle stuff. It's a huge pulse of electrickery over a very
short period of time, generating all sorts of local magnetic/electrical
issues for the duration of the pulse, (not to mention the physical force
of the shockwave that generates the sound!) so it's hardly surprising
it can disrupt data flowing down a pair of mouldy old copper wires!

>Before very long the flashes seemed to be getting quite close, so I
>decided to unplug from the phone line anyway, to avoid damage to the
>equipment.
>
>There followed an almighty thunderstorm here. See
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/4974858.stm

Fantastic! Some good photos too! I caught this:

http://www.drogon.net/light1.jpg

during a storm over Bristol many years ago (very old & crappy scan of
a photo, sorry!)

>Hope that's of interest. I guess it's just the way things are.

Indeed!

Gordon

In message <(E-Mail Removed). ac.uk>,
Alan J. Flavell <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>
>Before very long the flashes seemed to be getting quite close, so I
>decided to unplug from the phone line anyway, to avoid damage to the
>equipment.
>
A good move. I have lost count of the number of modems/routers/filters I
have had to replace because of the proximity of strikes. They're the
lucky ones, some lose their line altogether. Nice pics on the link btw.
My sis is in East Kilbride and is a photo nut. I bet she has some
cracking pics of it.
--
Pete Devlin
[{//////news03//////at\\\\\secondrow/////co\\\\\uk}]
"And don’t forget my dog, fixed and consequent"

"Beck" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:445a9a22$0$5923$(E-Mail Removed):

> I have never used my adsl in a thunderstorm - thats more out of luck
> than good planning. I wonder how this sort of weather would affect
> those who have underground phoneline cabling. We have very few
> telegraph poles around here and most people are connected up to
> roadside boxes.

I've got underground phone cables. A few years ago a thunderstorm managed
to knock out my router, a hub and a motherboard.

--
Phil
http://www.philipchung.co.uk/

"Mark Carver" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Beck wrote:
>
>
> I know someone who had their ADSL router fried by a thunderstorm,
> their cable AFAIK is underground all the way back to the exchange
> (excluding the green boxes).
>
> --
> Mark
> Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

I lent my mate an old BT frog which he was quite happy with.
A thunderstorm sent it on its way to modem hell (I guess).
It also destroyed the USB port on the Dell MB, and the power adapter.
His telephone line comes in via a pole.

He's now a happy Netgear router user.

Eric

--
Remove the dross to contact me directly

Alan J. Flavell wrote:
> This has been the first time I've experienced this, after over a year
> on Plusnet, and a few months after being Max-ed, during which the
> connection has been pretty stable.
>
> I realised something was odd around 19:00, when my ADSL connection
> started going up and down like a yo-yo, something it's never done
> before, not even in the initial stages of the Max training.
>
> This continued for nearly an hour I guess, without me being able to
> understand why; but then there started big flashes and bangs in the
> distance, and I guessed the two phenomena were not unrelated!
>
> Before very long the flashes seemed to be getting quite close, so I
> decided to unplug from the phone line anyway, to avoid damage to the
> equipment.
>
> There followed an almighty thunderstorm here. See
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/4974858.stm
>
> After the bulk of the storm was over, I reconnected the line, and it
> has been stable now since 21:46.
>
> Situation is an urban area, with an overhead dropwire from the house
> to a nearby distribution pole, but otherwise the line plant is
> underground.
>
> Hope that's of interest. I guess it's just the way things are.
>

Lightning will produce lots of RF. Even at a distance, it
could add significantly to the noise level on your line. On
a Max line, AIUI, the noise margin will be pretty low
already, so any spike will cause a burst of errors. The
lightning noise will affect many DSL carriers, and will be
of greater duration than the typical impulse noise that DSL
is designed to cope with, even when interleaving is used.

It's a downside of the higher speeds that the lines will be
more vulnerable to disruption. However, as you found out,
it provides a useful storm warning and a reminder to
disconnect equipment, if you're too engrossed in activity to
hear the first crack of thunder (or assume it's just part of
the game!)

After seeing several fried modems and routers after a sever storm I
have now installed one of these:
http://www.clarity.it/acatalog/surge_protectors.html

Not a lot of money for a degree of peace of mind (I hope)

Chris wrote:
> After seeing several fried modems and routers after a sever storm I
> have now installed one of these:
> http://www.clarity.it/acatalog/surge_protectors.html
>
> Not a lot of money for a degree of peace of mind (I hope)

Won't do you much good if the surge is on your pair & not just one leg
as it will have nothing to spark over to. Having said that some
protection is bettern than none & ntohing will protect you if the
lightening strike is that close...