Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => ADSL Issues => Topic started by: aesmith on July 27, 2018, 10:47:33 AM
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We had some thunderstorms nearby and overhead this morning. This time it looks like it's taken out the BT faceplate, and definitely the power brick for the router, possibly the router itself as well since it has a very nasty smell. What's a bit of a shame is that we could almost have saved the situation, AA event log shows us going off for good at 0445 after a couple of brief interruptions, and we were up at 0500. As it was the lightning was still going on while I was unplugging stuff, and I saw an actual spark from (I think) the end of the DSL cable. Currently running on back up router and dangly microfilter. More thunder forecast for the next couple of days so I think everything needs to be disconnected overnight and any time we're away.
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We had some thunderstorms nearby and overhead this morning. This time it looks like it's taken out the BT faceplate, and definitely the power brick for the router, possibly the router itself as well since it has a very nasty smell.
Ouch. :o :(
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Router is goosed. I had a spare PSU and it powers up OK, wireless works but DSL doesn't. Just cycles between "Starting ADSL G.992" and "Line down". Even if it did still work, my experience is that things are often fatally wounded in these cases. For example last time the lightning killed two of the Ethernet ports on the router, and the Ethernet interfaces on the devices connected to those ports, but the rest of the router function was OK. Then a couple of weeks later it stopped bridging wireless to Internet, and after a restart stopped working altogether.
And another casualty is reported - our TV recorder. Not sure why that's been singled out. It was sitting with lights indicating it was in standby, but was unresponsive and after power off/on it now appears stone dead.
Just off to hit Ebay for replacements, there's a certain amount of domestic pressure to get the TV thing back in service.
I need to replace the router as well. The backup Thompson 582N works but it only connects at just over three meg, compared to the four and a bit I was getting with the Billion. Of course that could be line degradation. The 582N is reporting line attenuation of 60.5dB compared to 54.5dB.
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Until you have had the the physical line checked and the NTE5 replaced, I would be wary of declaring the death of any of the equipment.
Do you have an insurance policy that covers the effects atmospheric electrical disturbances?
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Until you have had the the physical line checked and the NTE5 replaced, I would be wary of declaring the death of any of the equipment.
Cheers. I'm presuming death of the router because the 582N connects OK using a dangly filter into the test jack socket. Using the same cable and filter and socket, the Billion doesn't see the line. Looking inside the router, C432 doesn't look too happy either ..
On your point .. "the physical line checked and the NTE5 replaced", do you think there's scope for a precautionary visit to test the line and replace NTE5, I mean without charge of course? I'll maybe drop A&A a note to see what they think.
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On your point .. "the physical line checked and the NTE5 replaced", do you think there's scope for a precautionary visit to test the line and replace NTE5, I mean without charge of course?
Yes, that would be preferable.
I'll maybe drop A&A a note to see what they think.
Good idea. Let them know of all the damaged items and they could mention them in the request to Openreach.
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Storm has arrived here, so far my ZyXel VMG-1310-B10A is holding the line, but it brought the Air Show to an abrupt end.
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Worth pointing out that many home insurers, when taking out or renewing a policy, would require you to disclose the fact that you had suffered damage from a lightning strike, regardless of whether you made a claim. If you notify them, again regardless of whether you actually claim, they may increase future premiums on the basis that you are a bad risk because actually, lightning often does strike repeatedly in the same place.
If you don’t notify them they will still be happy to insure you, but will use it as an excuse to refuse payout if your house burns down a few months later for reasons unrelated to lightning, citing “non disclosure” as a reason for voiding the contract.
Insurers do monitor social media and other communications.
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That is a really really good point about disclosing lightning. Otherwise they could easily use that against you, even though absolutely everyone gets lightning events.
I have actually put a claim for lightning damage but did not bother continuing with it in the end because AA gave me a free new Firebrick, which I thought was stunning on their behalf.
The lightning scanner gubbins was doing a good job, it triggered five times last night, picked up a strike on the east coast which hit somewhere near Eilginn - in the direction of Aberdeen. It then picked up another one on Loch Tatha in the central Highlands, then lots more on the east coast later on. Some of that was the badness that hit our own aesmith.
Since I was and still am so far to the west of all the action I did not need to think about unplugging any kit.
I also have internet-based lightning notifications from an app “Blitzortunglive” on my iPad, according to events being within a selected circle on a map. The map in the app shows me strikes as they hit. From the confirmation of the the hardware gubbins it seems that the app does actually get these notifications on my iPad in real time with minimal delay. The app uses a network of hardware sensors and servers somewhere possibly in Germany since that is where the developer is.
So this is a double system of warnings.
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based on all the reports it feels like almost all the country had storms instead of Leicester the past few days.
Still dripping in sweat at 1am and room temp at 31C.
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Had a couple of storms here in North East, room temp 23C but outside still 19C.
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It is raining fairly hard here, not hot.
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We had thunder storms last night, and quite a lot of rain to, which hopefully means I can actually get some landscaping work done in the garden today - last weekend the ground was just too hard.
According to lightening maps there still is some lightening around Sevenoaks and near Chelmsford in the last hour.
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Worth pointing out that many home insurers, when taking out or renewing a policy, would require you to disclose the fact that you had suffered damage from a lightning strike, regardless of whether you made a claim
I've never seen that asked by any of our home insurers, and we've used a number over the years. Which companies ask that? I guess it would also depend on the exact wording of their question.
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I've never seen that asked by any of our home insurers, and we've used a number over the years. Which companies ask that? I guess it would also depend on the exact wording of their question.
It’d be included in the general questions, “have you suffered any loss or damage”.
I didn’t mean to cause undue alarm with my comments, but stories do appear regularly in the papers. A common story is where a person has some small incident, say, he breaks a semi precious vase, and calls his insurer to inquire. He decides not to proceed with a claim, as the process is too much bother or the value would exceed the excess. What’s not so clear is that his inquiry may be recorded as an “event” on a database shared with other companies and so next time he applies for insurance, he’s expected to remember the phone call and disclose the “loss”.
Then again, stories in the press are always one-sided and sensationalised. I like to think that the loss adjusters are decent human beings, and that they would forgive me for an accidental slip up. But these days, I do try to tread carefully.
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I'm quite confident that since the change away from "utmost good faith" they'd need to explicitly ask, and if they don't then they wouldn't be able to apply any sanction if the information wasn't offered. However I'll keep an eye open. I know they do vary, mostly they ask about history of flooding and subsidence, some ask whether or not there is any watercourse within a stated distance, some ask about trees within stated distance. Often these are stated as assumptions with the onus on the customer to state if they are incorrect. I've never seen reference to lightning strike (which we've never had) or indirect lightning damage (which we have had).
Our house insurance is coming up, so I just had a quick look. Aviva asks only about claims in the last 5 years. Direct Line asks about claims and also "Tell us how many claims were made and/or losses suffered in the last 3 years by you and anyone living with you?". In my opinion their reference to "losses suffered" without qualification is so wide as to be meaningless. Last year I lost a penknife, for example.