Lightning Storms & Internet Outages

[Mirage]

Anybody else live where there is a lot of thunder and lightning? Around this time of year it seems that almost every day during the afternoon there is serious thunder and lightning without fail. It's bad enough that ALSO every day the internet goes down during the storms as well as the occasional power flicker.

The power comes back on instantly so it's just the annoyance of setting every clock again, but, the internet seems to be down for hours at a time during each storm.

Always seems to happen right while I was in the middle of something too..

The worst part is that since lightning is so common here it's highly recommended that computers and other valuable electronic devices be unplugged during lightning storms. So even if the internet isn't down, all computers are. It's not usually until after things settle down and I plug everything back in that I realize that the internet is down. Not much I can do about that but wait.

I don't really know why it happens either except that maybe it has something to do with having DSL instead of cable. Even so the phones still work so it's just strange.

 

[CaliforniaSteve]

I feel your pain. I just now got my internet back. having satellite internet, I lose my connection alot more than an average landline.

Still....better than dial up.

 

[maledoro]

While I haven't had any outages, what's been ticking me off is that we've been getting overnight rain. It doesn't cool us off; it does the opposite. The rain is trapped in the ground during the morning, but when it gets up to the 90s by afternoon, it's a sauna outside.

Plus, it keeps us from mowing our lawns. The grass is too wet in the morning, and it's too damned hot and humid even after sundown.

 

[Mirage]

I just went out and bought a nice surge protector. It's an APC and they say that your stuff is insured up to $100,000 if anything goes wrong with the surge protector.

I got one of these:

CompUSA.com - APC SurgeArrest Performance 3400 Joule 11-Outlet Surge Protector - PF11VNT3 - Accessories » Power Protection » Surge Protectors Suppressors

It protects against 3400 joules and the guy at CompUSA said that 3000+ is lightning grade. I don't have to worry as much now but it's still pretty annoying each afternoon when the thunder and lightning heads this way. At least I'm a big fan of storms. I love them. I'd just prefer to hear them going on and STILL have internet too.

Guess I can't have my cake and eat it too.

 

[Doc]

I just have a regular surge protector, and I've only been through one power supply. It was just a cheap one that burnt up because of a bad bearing.

As for internet, my DSL has never went out. Every once and a while my router needs to be reset, but I figure that's normal.

 

[CaliforniaSteve]

I can haz DSL please?

 

[Gwiz]

Fortunately, I live in Northern Claifornia and storms and outages occur very rarely. However, I'm more worry about earthquakes especially "the next big one". So out here, the ground just shakes. I'm pretty sure other part of thwe country where slightning storms frequently, I'm pretty sure its very annoying but at least you can prepare for them.

 

[Mirage]

That's true. It's easier to die in an earthquake than a lightning storm. It's also probably easy enough to lose your internet connection during an earthquake as well.

How close do you live to any major earthquake areas or fault lines?

 

[Bunny_roses]

When you live in California you are pretty much close to any given fault line

 

[CaliforniaSteve]

I miss fault lines.