From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: OT Excitement Date: Mon, 13 May 2002 12:51:18 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 28 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: p-749.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-out.spamkiller.net!propagator2-maxim!propagator-maxim!news-in.spamkiller.net!feed.newsfeeds.com!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!151.164.30.35!cyclone.swbell.net!pln-e!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews2 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88602 We had some unwelcome excitement last night. A sudden storm caused a power problem that blew out my computer's surge suppressor box as well as several other surge suppressors around the house. Since they were smoking we called the fire department to check and make sure it was just the blown suppressors and not the outlets. They sent a whole fleet of fire engines etc. and we had firemen stomping all over the place. Then when everyone else's power came back on, ours didn't, and we had to have someone over to figure out why (turned out when the firemen had messed with the circuit breaker box they didn't reset the main breaker so it wasn't actually on like they had said). My computer seems OK except that the modem will now only connect at 31K for some reason, even though it's directly connected to the wall jack instead of going through a surge suppressor at the moment, and that wall jack supports V.90 speeds on two other modems even if I hook them up with the same cable I'm using on this one ... -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### From: "lorz" Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body References: Subject: Re: OT Excitement Lines: 27 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Message-ID: <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com> X-Complaints-To: abuse@usenetserver.com X-Abuse-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly. NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 13 May 2002 13:16:53 EDT Organization: Bellsouth.Net Date: Mon, 13 May 2002 13:15:22 -0400 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!kibo.news.demon.net!demon!diablo.theplanet.net!btnet-peer!btnet-peer0!btnet-peer1!btnet!newsfeeds-atl2!e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com.POSTED!53ab2750!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88591 "Janice" wrote in message news:MPG.1749b90ff8147dd989d95@cnews.newsguy.com... > We had some unwelcome excitement last night. A sudden storm caused a > power problem that blew out my computer's surge suppressor box as well as > several other surge suppressors around the house. Since they were > smoking we called the fire department to check and make sure it was just > the blown suppressors and not the outlets. They sent a whole fleet of > fire engines etc. and we had firemen stomping all over the place. Then > when everyone else's power came back on, ours didn't, and we had to have > someone over to figure out why (turned out when the firemen had messed > with the circuit breaker box they didn't reset the main breaker so it > wasn't actually on like they had said). > > My computer seems OK except that the modem will now only connect at 31K > for some reason, even though it's directly connected to the wall jack > instead of going through a surge suppressor at the moment, and that wall > jack supports V.90 speeds on two other modems even if I hook them up with > the same cable I'm using on this one ... > > That's odd. Something must have happened to that particular modem then, no? You didn't dream this, did you?! ;) ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Mon, 13 May 2002 14:31:24 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 36 Message-ID: References: <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-582.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!fr.clara.net!heighliner.fr.clara.net!opentransit.net!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88600 In article <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com>, lorz@bellsouth.net says... > > My computer seems OK except that the modem will now only connect at 31K > > for some reason, even though it's directly connected to the wall jack > > instead of going through a surge suppressor at the moment, and that wall > > jack supports V.90 speeds on two other modems even if I hook them up with > > the same cable I'm using on this one ... > > That's odd. Something must have happened to that particular modem then, no? Yes, but something weird. It's common for modems to be fried because of storms but not to selectively lose only their high speed capability. All I can see from the diagnostics that I did on it is that it's reporting a poor signal to noise ratio on the phone line and deciding that 31K is the best it can do. But the signal to noise ratio can't really be that bad if other modems connected to the same jack with the same cable do fine, unless maybe it's due to a short in the cable that only causes a problem in certain positions. > You didn't dream this, did you?! ;) I wish! :) -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!not-for-mail From: Neil Franklin Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: 13 May 2002 21:50:40 +0200 Organization: My own Private Self Lines: 43 Message-ID: <6uelgfltdb.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> References: <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: chonsp.franklin.ch X-Trace: chonsp.franklin.ch 1021319440 939 10.0.3.2 (13 May 2002 19:50:40 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@chonsp.franklin.ch NNTP-Posting-Date: 13 May 2002 19:50:40 GMT X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88610 Janice writes: > In article <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com>, > lorz@bellsouth.net says... > > > > My computer seems OK except that the modem will now only connect at 31K > > > for some reason, even though it's directly connected to the wall jack > > > > That's odd. Something must have happened to that particular modem then, no? > > Yes, but something weird. Yes. An not weird at all. > It's common for modems to be fried because of > storms but not to selectively lose only their high speed capability. It partially fried. > that 31K is the best it can do. But the signal to noise ratio can't > really be that bad if other modems connected to the same jack with the Not the S/N of the socket, but of the modem itsself. > same cable do fine, unless maybe it's due to a short in the cable that > only causes a problem in certain positions. Not a short in the cable (they are not selective). That sounds like some analog component in the modem has got itsself killed (or even just its effect reduced or increased). And is now distorting the signal (likely cutting the available frequency range). The error correction is working full power ahead and so managing to at least get 31k out of it. But has no chance of saving more. -- Neil Franklin, neil@franklin.ch.remove http://neil.franklin.ch/ Hacker, Unix Guru, El Eng HTL/BSc, Sysadmin, Archer, Roleplayer - Make your code truely free: put it into the public domain ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Mon, 13 May 2002 16:40:50 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 60 Message-ID: References: <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com> <6uelgfltdb.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-822.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews2 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88628 In article <6uelgfltdb.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch>, neil@franklin.ch.remove says... > Janice writes: > > > In article <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com>, > > lorz@bellsouth.net says... > > > That's odd. Something must have happened to that particular modem then, no? > > > > Yes, but something weird. > > Yes. An not weird at all. I don't remember any cases like it from when I used to hang out at tech support forums, and my ISP guy had never heard of any like it, but if you have then I guess they exist. :) > > It's common for modems to be fried because of > > storms but not to selectively lose only their high speed capability. > > It partially fried. Guess it could have been a lot worse, then. > > that 31K is the best it can do. But the signal to noise ratio can't > > really be that bad if other modems connected to the same jack with the > > Not the S/N of the socket, but of the modem itsself. OK. > > same cable do fine, unless maybe it's due to a short in the cable that > > only causes a problem in certain positions. > > Not a short in the cable (they are not selective). OK. I've had audio cables that got to the point where they would work if held in certain positions but not work in others so I thought maybe phone cables could behave the same way. And I did run over this one with the wheel of my desk. > That sounds like some analog component in the modem has got itsself > killed (or even just its effect reduced or increased). And is now > distorting the signal (likely cutting the available frequency range). > The error correction is working full power ahead and so managing to > at least get 31k out of it. But has no chance of saving more. So the bottom line is replace it? -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### Lines: 18 X-Admin: news@aol.com From: silkdick@aol.commune.net (Dick Silk) Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Date: 14 May 2002 06:23:47 GMT References: Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com X-Newsreader: Session Scheduler (Queue Name: gng-fo) Subject: Re: OT Excitement Message-ID: <20020514022347.24943.00001710@mb-fo.aol.com> Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed1.cidera.com!Cidera!ngpeer.news.aol.com!audrey05.news.aol.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88617 In article , Janice writes: >My computer seems OK except that the modem will now only connect at 31K >for some reason, even though it's directly connected to the wall jack >instead of going through a surge suppressor at the moment, and that wall >jack supports V.90 speeds on two other modems even if I hook them up with >the same cable I'm using on this one ... > it's a miracle with all the smoking protectors that you are even getting on line at all. time to get a new modem. To send personal e-mail, please write to: richardcsilk at aol dot com. Thanks. All mail blocked from yahoo or hotmail accounts. ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 10:24:42 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 16 Message-ID: References: <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-353.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!nntp1.phx1.gblx.net!nntp.gblx.net!nntp.gblx.net!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews1 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88627 In article , pzm@mac.com says... > In article , > Janice wrote: > > All I can see from the diagnostics that I did on it is that it's > > reporting a poor signal to noise ratio on the phone line and deciding > > that 31K is the best it can do. But the signal to noise ratio can't > > really be that bad if other modems connected to the same jack with the > > same cable do fine, unless maybe it's due to a short in the cable that > > only causes a problem in certain positions. > > Have you tried connecting a phone to that line, picking up the handset, > and listening? Yes. I can hear some white noise, but I don't really know if it's worse than it was previously or not. ###### Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!not-for-mail From: Neil Franklin Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: 14 May 2002 21:42:45 +0200 Organization: My own Private Self Lines: 65 Message-ID: <6u7km63496.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> References: <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com> <6uelgfltdb.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> NNTP-Posting-Host: chonsp.franklin.ch X-Trace: chonsp.franklin.ch 1021405365 409 10.0.3.2 (14 May 2002 19:42:45 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@chonsp.franklin.ch NNTP-Posting-Date: 14 May 2002 19:42:45 GMT X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88636 Janice writes: > > > Yes, but something weird. > > > > Yes. An not weird at all. > > I don't remember any cases like it from when I used to hang out at tech > support forums, and my ISP guy had never heard of any like it, but if you > have then I guess they exist. :) It depends on how far away the lightning strook. Far enough gives no damage, near enough total destruction, between it becomes marginal. We once had an strike and some equipment (including my 2400 modem, yes that long ago) was killed, some worked. One of the working things was the TV which packed in about 1 year later. We sent it in for repair and the first question back was: "did you have a lightning strike?" So the TV was damaged by the strike enough for service to see the typical damage pattern, but it still worked in that state for 1 year without us noticing it. Most likely some part compensating for an killed one, until it got worn out. > > > It's common for modems to be fried because of > > > storms but not to selectively lose only their high speed capability. > > > > It partially fried. > > Guess it could have been a lot worse, then. Yes. At least it will limp on, giving you time to get an new one, without being off-line. > > > same cable do fine, unless maybe it's due to a short in the cable that > > > only causes a problem in certain positions. > > > > Not a short in the cable (they are not selective). > > OK. I've had audio cables that got to the point where they would work if > held in certain positions but not work in others so I thought maybe phone > cables could behave the same way. And I did run over this one with the > wheel of my desk. If you have an wire broken, that can happen with any cable carrying analog signals (includes phone/modem). But then that would hit all modems with the same statistical pattern. > > That sounds like some analog component in the modem has got itsself > > killed (or even just its effect reduced or increased). And is now > > distorting the signal (likely cutting the available frequency range). > > The error correction is working full power ahead and so managing to > > at least get 31k out of it. But has no chance of saving more. > > So the bottom line is replace it? Is usually neccessary after lightning. -- Neil Franklin, neil@franklin.ch.remove http://neil.franklin.ch/ Hacker, Unix Guru, El Eng HTL/BSc, Sysadmin, Archer, Roleplayer - Make your code truely free: put it into the public domain ###### Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement From: d00p@petitm0rte.net (jfred) Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 16:17:40 -0400 Message-ID: <1fc6kui.fj9xt74tl406N%d00p@petitm0rte.net> References: Organization: Am I supposed to be impressed? =?ISO-8859-1?Q?m=28=B7=BF=B7?= =?ISO-8859-1?Q?=29m?= X-No-Archive: Yes X-Wollmann-makes-spurious-complaints: http://www.smbtech.com/ed/ X-Face: #&$Ojz_|WS+)nSdP,'%XcC(#:4v>|7k]yXb8q3Nw3MY~^U\NC[=R]3tPsV&\o ^4y4vPg&$$pMspY3V]R>-0VwHO?&mW)XF|p85XgW_k~ZfzS=(`V%8f2KajG\O>$bj3@L &S6Kpc*Hw8j%$ERU?2]9$4K|KrO2`\,DN Q\_P8O- User-Agent: MacSOUP/2.4.5 NNTP-Posting-Host: nopics.sjc Lines: 64 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!fr.clara.net!heighliner.fr.clara.net!news-out.newsfeeds.com!propagator2-maxim!propagator-maxim!news-in.spamkiller.net!telocity-west!TELOCITY!nopics.sjc!d00p Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88661 Ian H Spedding wrote: > In article , not-me@not- > here.net says... > > We had some unwelcome excitement last night. A sudden storm caused a > > power problem that blew out my computer's surge suppressor box as well as > > several other surge suppressors around the house. Since they were > > smoking we called the fire department to check and make sure it was just > > the blown suppressors and not the outlets. They sent a whole fleet of > > fire engines etc. and we had firemen stomping all over the place. Then > > when everyone else's power came back on, ours didn't, and we had to have > > someone over to figure out why (turned out when the firemen had messed > > with the circuit breaker box they didn't reset the main breaker so it > > wasn't actually on like they had said). > > > > My computer seems OK except that the modem will now only connect at 31K > > for some reason, even though it's directly connected to the wall jack > > instead of going through a surge suppressor at the moment, and that wall > > jack supports V.90 speeds on two other modems even if I hook them up with > > the same cable I'm using on this one ... > > What an exciting life you lead! > > Something similar happened to a friend of mine some years back only in > his case he had no surge protection installed. Lightning hit a > telegraph pole outside his house and fried his whole system. > > The nearest I came was once, when I was online, lightning came down > quite close and I lost the connection immediately, although > fortunately no damage was done. A power surge hit my last computer, and the modem and part of the hard drive got fried. It worked, but it was goofy and unreliable. Now I use an airport network, so my computer's not at risk, except for the power cord, which I unplug when bad weather strikes (and at night). I can work through storms since I'm on a notebook computer with a battery -- as long as the DSL line stays up, I'm good to go. > Now I have surge protection and if the lightning starts getting too > close I unplug the machine from the mains and the phone socket. I > also unplug the TV from the mains and the aerial because I know of > someone whose set blew up in their face when the house took a direct > hit. Scary! Some friends of mine lost 3 TVs, an answering machine and a couple of phones last year when lightening struck a power line near their home. Fortunately, their computers were all behind surge protectors, and were none the worse for being zapped. The surge protectors survived as well. > Still, it could be worse: > > > Shazam!!!! The scientists say that humans are unlikely to be harmed by the strangelets -- I assume that's if no one takes a direct hit. ;) -- *jfred -- Habent Abdenda Omnes Praeter Me ac Simiam Meam* If Ed Wollmann whines about this post, see www.smbtech.com/ed You can send email to me if you change the 3 zeros to lower case "o"s ###### From: w_tom Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 17:29:42 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: <3CE181C5.C040A986@usa.net> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.75 [en] (WinNT; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 75 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!sn-xit-01!sn-post-02!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88672 The question is what creates that white noise. If the modem is unplugged and the phones still have white noise, then suspect something else interior damaged OR the telephone line surge protector is partially damaged. Yes, phone lines already have 'whole house' surge protection installed free by the phone company. It is only one reason why modem destructive surges typically don't come from phone lines. But if that surge protector is partially damaged, or if one of the two has failed, then noise will occur. First determine if the noise is inside or from the telco line. The premise interface box, typically labeled Network Interface Device (NID) has a phone jack on the customer side. Simply unplug the wire to your home and plug a phone into that jack. If you still have noise, then most likely source is the telco provided surge protector. The telco will fix same free. However if noise is not present when connecting to the NID, then you want to disconnect items in the home until you find that failed, noisy device. Your plug-in surge protector were so grossly undersized that they quit working before the surge did. Fortunately the surge was so small that your appliance's own internal protection was sufficient. Notice the bottom line. A surge too small to damage an appliance destroyed those grossly undersized surge protectors. Furthermore, surge damage is directly traceable to human failure. Now is time to purchase effective 'whole house' surge protection for AC electric that starts at about $1 per protected appliance. How much did you pay for those grossly undersized plug-in protector? $20 for ineffective protection of one appliance? Effective surge protection safely shunts the direct lightning strike to earth ground AND remains functional for future surge protection - for much less money. IOW properly sized surge protection does not burn - does not also threaten human life - and does not charge excessive money. Home Depot sells two minimally sized 'whole house' surge protectors - Intermatic EG240RC and Siemens QSA2020 - both for less than $50. Of course surge protectors are only as effective as the earth ground. The central earth ground may need be upgraded to post-1990 National Electrical Code (NEC) requirements. That earthing is both for human safety and to make 'whole house' surge protectors effective. Surge protection is earth ground. Surge protectors connect incoming surges to earth so that surges don't seek earth, destructively, through appliances. Effective surge protection is so reliable that one need not disconnect for bad weather. The concepts have been understood and repeatedly proven since the 1930s. However, plug-in surge protection can even contribute to damage of a powered off appliance. When is a surge protector ineffective? Often when it forgets to mention critical earth ground and has no dedicated connection to central earth ground. Iterated is much work. First determine and correct the reason for telephone white noise - maybe the telephone 'whole house' surge protector has failed. Second, purchase effective 'whole house' protection for AC electric. Third, verify and upgrade, if necessary, that critical and essential central earth ground. No earth ground means no effective surge protection. Janice wrote: > In article , pzm@mac.com > says... > > In article , > > Janice wrote: > > > All I can see from the diagnostics that I did on it is that it's > > > reporting a poor signal to noise ratio on the phone line and deciding > > > that 31K is the best it can do. But the signal to noise ratio can't > > > really be that bad if other modems connected to the same jack with the > > > same cable do fine, unless maybe it's due to a short in the cable that > > > only causes a problem in certain positions. > > > > Have you tried connecting a phone to that line, picking up the handset, > > and listening? > > Yes. I can hear some white noise, but I don't really know if it's worse > than it was previously or not. ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 18:42:51 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 23 Message-ID: References: <20020514022347.24943.00001710@mb-fo.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-256.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.he.net!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!199.106.71.17!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews3 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88673 In article <20020514022347.24943.00001710@mb-fo.aol.com>, silkdick@aol.commune.net says... > it's a miracle with all the smoking protectors that you are even getting on > line at all. > time to get a new modem. Or take one of the two from Jay's computer. The replacement surge suppressor I ordered is going to have a good connected equipment warranty, fer shure! :) -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### From: w_tom Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 11:06:22 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: <3CE2796D.3DCD88E@usa.net> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.75 [en] (WinNT; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <20020514022347.24943.00001710@mb-fo.aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 32 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp!sjc-peer.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88671 Currently are TV commercials where a less reliable car is better than a Toyota because it has a better warranty. Same is true in surge protection. A better warranty often means less reliable surge protection. The benchmarks in surge protection don't even offer a warranty. The dirty little secret about that warranty- good luck getting it honored. It has fine print exemptions which are not included with the surge protector nor required to be provided, and are often not honored. Want a warranty? Buy insurance from a licensed broker who must meet federal regulations. A previous post notes that a surge protector that does not discuss earth ground and does not have a dedicated connection to earth ground, then is not effective surge protection. Even the joules rating is undersized. To be equivalent to 1000 joules in effective 'whole house' protection, the plug-in unit must have 3000 joules. 3000 joules would hurt their profit margin - which is the only thing that the plug-in surge protector provides. Again, this is well proven by example since the 1930s. A surge protector is only as effective as its earth ground. Plug-in surge protectors are too far to have effective earthing. No earth ground means no effective surge protection. Cheap plug-in surge protectors are electrically equivalent to expensive plug-in protectors with the big bucks warranty. Neither mention critical earth ground and both have insufficient joules ratings. Janice wrote: > Or take one of the two from Jay's computer. > > The replacement surge suppressor I ordered is going to have a good > connected equipment warranty, fer shure! :) > ###### From: Ian H Spedding Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 21:56:38 +0100 Lines: 35 Message-ID: References: <1fc6kui.fj9xt74tl406N%d00p@petitm0rte.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: modem-3865.chimpanzee.dialup.pol.co.uk X-Trace: newsg2.svr.pol.co.uk 1021496066 18810 217.134.127.25 (15 May 2002 20:54:26 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: 15 May 2002 20:54:26 GMT X-Complaints-To: abuse@theplanet.net X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!feedme.news.mediaways.net!itgate.net!news.it.colt.net!peernews2.colt.net!colt.net!newsfeed.esat.net!diablo.theplanet.net!news.theplanet.net!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88767 In article <1fc6kui.fj9xt74tl406N%d00p@petitm0rte.net>, d00p@petitm0rte.net says... > Ian H Spedding wrote: [...] > Scary! Some friends of mine lost 3 TVs, an answering machine and a > couple of phones last year when lightening struck a power line near > their home. Fortunately, their computers were all behind surge > protectors, and were none the worse for being zapped. The surge > protectors survived as well. > > > Still, it could be worse: > > > > > > Shazam!!!! > > The scientists say that humans are unlikely to be harmed by the > strangelets -- I assume that's if no one takes a direct hit. ;) I'd have thought that if you _were_ hit by a grain-sized particle that weighs several tons and is travelling at a million miles per hour there wouldn't be anything left of you but a smoking hole in the ground. So unless someone happened to be watching we'd never know. Looks like those aluminium foil hats aren't going to be much protection against this sort of extra-terrestrial attack. Ian -- Ian H Spedding A difference which makes no difference is no difference. ###### Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement From: d00p@petitm0rte.net (jfred) Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 18:56:15 -0400 Message-ID: <1fc8mxs.pyo3hyu2lo1kN%d00p@petitm0rte.net> References: <1fc6kui.fj9xt74tl406N%d00p@petitm0rte.net> Organization: Am I supposed to be impressed? =?ISO-8859-1?Q?m=28=B7=BF=B7?= =?ISO-8859-1?Q?=29m?= X-No-Archive: Yes X-Wollmann-makes-spurious-complaints: http://www.smbtech.com/ed/ X-Face: #&$Ojz_|WS+)nSdP,'%XcC(#:4v>|7k]yXb8q3Nw3MY~^U\NC[=R]3tPsV&\o ^4y4vPg&$$pMspY3V]R>-0VwHO?&mW)XF|p85XgW_k~ZfzS=(`V%8f2KajG\O>$bj3@L &S6Kpc*Hw8j%$ERU?2]9$4K|KrO2`\,DN Q\_P8O- User-Agent: MacSOUP/2.4.5 NNTP-Posting-Host: nopics.sjc Lines: 40 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news-fra1.dfn.de!news-han1.dfn.de!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!netnews.com!xfer02.netnews.com!newsfeed1.cidera.com!Cidera!telocity-west!TELOCITY!nopics.sjc!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88766 Ian H Spedding wrote: > In article <1fc6kui.fj9xt74tl406N%d00p@petitm0rte.net>, > d00p@petitm0rte.net says... > > Ian H Spedding wrote: > > [...] > > > Scary! Some friends of mine lost 3 TVs, an answering machine and a > > couple of phones last year when lightening struck a power line near > > their home. Fortunately, their computers were all behind surge > > protectors, and were none the worse for being zapped. The surge > > protectors survived as well. > > > > > Still, it could be worse: > > > > > > > > > > Shazam!!!! > > > > The scientists say that humans are unlikely to be harmed by the > > strangelets -- I assume that's if no one takes a direct hit. ;) > > I'd have thought that if you _were_ hit by a grain-sized particle that > weighs several tons and is travelling at a million miles per hour > there wouldn't be anything left of you but a smoking hole in the > ground. So unless someone happened to be watching we'd never know. This could explain a lot! Disappearances without a trace, alien abductions, spontaneous combustion... > Looks like those aluminium foil hats aren't going to be much > protection against this sort of extra-terrestrial attack. Damn! And I just upgraded to the thicker aluminum. :-/ -- *jfred -- Habent Abdenda Omnes Praeter Me ac Simiam Meam* If Ed Wollmann whines about this post, see www.smbtech.com/ed You can send email to me if you change the 3 zeros to lower case "o"s ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Thu, 16 May 2002 01:11:53 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 55 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: p-899.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!feedme.news.mediaways.net!priapus.visi.com!news-out.visi.com!hermes.visi.com!hub1.meganetnews.com!newsfeed.sjc.globix.net!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!151.164.30.35!cyclone.swbell.net!pln-e!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews1 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88753 In article , harry@spedding53.fsnet.co.uk says... > What an exciting life you lead! > > Something similar happened to a friend of mine some years back only in > his case he had no surge protection installed. Lightning hit a > telegraph pole outside his house and fried his whole system. There was a lightning strike near my mom's house once, the one next door to this one. When the power came back on, it came on too powerfully and blew out a couple of surge suppressors, blackening a wall--another occasion for the fire company to visit. The guy who lived in my present house at the time actually got the electric company to take responsibility for restoring the power in such a way as to cause a bad surge, and they replaced his toasted microwave oven. > The nearest I came was once, when I was online, lightning came down > quite close and I lost the connection immediately, although > fortunately no damage was done. > > Now I have surge protection and if the lightning starts getting too > close I unplug the machine from the mains and the phone socket. So do I, normally. I wasn't quick enough this time. :( Tonight I discovered three more surge supressors in the house that didn't blow out, but which were compromised enough for their indicator lights to go out. I hadn't noticed at first because they were delivering current and the lights in their switches were on, but they have separate protection indicator lights which went out. So all told this time around I had five blow out, four which were compromised, and one which was flickering so I decided to replace it too. And two blew out in my mom's house. :) > I > also unplug the TV from the mains and the aerial because I know of > someone whose set blew up in their face when the house took a direct > hit. Ouch. We unplugged the TV and everything in sight once the power stayed off, but nevertheless that was one of the protectors that was compromised enough by the preceding power disturbances to lose its light. -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### From: w_tom Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Thu, 16 May 2002 15:15:56 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: <3CE4056B.E6AA5594@usa.net> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.75 [en] (WinNT; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 72 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!uni-erlangen.de!news-nue1.dfn.de!news-lei1.dfn.de!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!newspeer1-gui.server.ntli.net!ntli.net!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88769 Power never comes on too powerful. To damage a properly functioning surge protector, the 120 VAC must rise to well over 300 volts. That just does not happen. I believe it is even law that the voltage must never exceed 130 VAC. More likely, those surge protectors were so undersized as to be damaged by the surge. Then when power came on, those damaged surge protectors burned. If power came on too powerful, then every appliance - especially GFCI outlets, dimmer switches, and electronic timers switches would require replacement. Furthermore, if power did come on too powerful, then the 'whole house' surge protector would have made protected you without any human action or knowledge. Just another reason why plug-in surge protectors are so ineffective - overpriced, undersized, mislocated, and overhyped. Considering the number of ineffective plug-in surge protectors damaged, one could have purchased a standard 'whole house' surge protector twice over or already purchased a major, expensive 'whole house' surge protector. Either way, no damage even to the surge protector would have occurred and no reason for the fire department. Check all GFCI outlets. Because they cannot be protected by a plug-in surge protector, then those $10+ items may also require replacement. Janice wrote: > There was a lightning strike near my mom's house once, the one next door > to this one. When the power came back on, it came on too powerfully and > blew out a couple of surge suppressors, blackening a wall--another > occasion for the fire company to visit. The guy who lived in my present > house at the time actually got the electric company to take > responsibility for restoring the power in such a way as to cause a bad > surge, and they replaced his toasted microwave oven. > > > The nearest I came was once, when I was online, lightning came down > > quite close and I lost the connection immediately, although > > fortunately no damage was done. > > > > Now I have surge protection and if the lightning starts getting too > > close I unplug the machine from the mains and the phone socket. > > So do I, normally. I wasn't quick enough this time. :( > > Tonight I discovered three more surge supressors in the house that didn't > blow out, but which were compromised enough for their indicator lights to > go out. I hadn't noticed at first because they were delivering current > and the lights in their switches were on, but they have separate > protection indicator lights which went out. So all told this time around > I had five blow out, four which were compromised, and one which was > flickering so I decided to replace it too. And two blew out in my mom's > house. :) > > > I > > also unplug the TV from the mains and the aerial because I know of > > someone whose set blew up in their face when the house took a direct > > hit. > > Ouch. We unplugged the TV and everything in sight once the power stayed > off, but nevertheless that was one of the protectors that was compromised > enough by the preceding power disturbances to lose its light. > > -- > > One sees clearly only with the heart. > Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. > --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery > > My homepage: > http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html > > The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: > http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Thu, 16 May 2002 21:20:21 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 39 Message-ID: References: <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com> <6uelgfltdb.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> <6u7km63496.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-294.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!nntp1.phx1.gblx.net!nntp.gblx.net!nntp.gblx.net!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews1 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88748 In article <6u7km63496.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch>, neil@franklin.ch.remove says... > Janice writes: > > I don't remember any cases like it from when I used to hang out at tech > > support forums, and my ISP guy had never heard of any like it, but if you > > have then I guess they exist. :) > > It depends on how far away the lightning strook. Far enough gives no > damage, near enough total destruction, between it becomes marginal. I see. ... > > OK. I've had audio cables that got to the point where they would work if > > held in certain positions but not work in others so I thought maybe phone > > cables could behave the same way. And I did run over this one with the > > wheel of my desk. > > If you have an wire broken, that can happen with any cable carrying > analog signals (includes phone/modem). But then that would hit all > modems with the same statistical pattern. Hey, guess what? It connected at 48K just now. I'll have to run the diagnostic again after I get off and see what the reported S/N ratio was for this connection. -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Thu, 16 May 2002 21:32:02 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 86 Message-ID: References: <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com> <3CE181C5.C040A986@usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-589.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!nntp1.phx1.gblx.net!nntp.gblx.net!nntp.gblx.net!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews1 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88745 In article <3CE181C5.C040A986@usa.net>, w_tom1@usa.net says... > The question is what creates that white noise. If the modem is unplugged > and the phones still have white noise, then suspect something else interior > damaged OR the telephone line surge protector is partially damaged. I'm not sure whether or not I had the modem unplugged when I checked the phones. I'll check them again sometime with it out to see if I still hear anything. > Yes, phone lines already have 'whole house' surge protection installed free > by the phone company. It is only one reason why modem destructive surges > typically don't come from phone lines. But if that surge protector is > partially damaged, or if one of the two has failed, then noise will occur. > > First determine if the noise is inside or from the telco line. The premise > interface box, typically labeled Network Interface Device (NID) has a phone > jack on the customer side. Simply unplug the wire to your home and plug a > phone into that jack. If you still have noise, then most likely source is the > telco provided surge protector. The telco will fix same free. > However if noise is not present when connecting to the NID, then you want to > disconnect items in the home until you find that failed, noisy device. Our 50-year-old old neighborhood doesn't have interface boxes at the houses. > Your plug-in surge protector were so grossly undersized that they quit > working before the surge did. Fortunately the surge was so small that your > appliance's own internal protection was sufficient. Notice the bottom line. > A surge too small to damage an appliance destroyed those grossly undersized > surge protectors. Quite a number of them! :) > Furthermore, surge damage is directly traceable to human failure. Now is > time to purchase effective 'whole house' surge protection for AC electric that > starts at about $1 per protected appliance. How much did you pay for those > grossly undersized plug-in protector? $20 for ineffective protection of one > appliance? Effective surge protection safely shunts the direct lightning > strike to earth ground AND remains functional for future surge protection - > for much less money. IOW properly sized surge protection does not burn - does > not also threaten human life - and does not charge excessive money. Does it also help with day-to-day surges caused by central air conditioning coming on and that kind of thing? > Home Depot sells two minimally sized 'whole house' surge protectors - > Intermatic EG240RC and Siemens QSA2020 - both for less than $50. Of course > surge protectors are only as effective as the earth ground. The central earth > ground may need be upgraded to post-1990 National Electrical Code (NEC) > requirements. That earthing is both for human safety and to make 'whole > house' surge protectors effective. I would have to have that checked out, because I have no idea whether what we have is up to spec or not. The guy who owned the house before us had a lot of electrical work done so it *may* already be up to spec, but I'm not sure. > Surge protection is earth ground. Surge protectors connect incoming surges > to earth so that surges don't seek earth, destructively, through appliances. > Effective surge protection is so reliable that one need not disconnect for bad > weather. The concepts have been understood and repeatedly proven since the > 1930s. However, plug-in surge protection can even contribute to damage of a > powered off appliance. > > When is a surge protector ineffective? Often when it forgets to mention > critical earth ground and has no dedicated connection to central earth ground. > > Iterated is much work. First determine and correct the reason for telephone > white noise - maybe the telephone 'whole house' surge protector has failed. > Second, purchase effective 'whole house' protection for AC electric. Third, > verify and upgrade, if necessary, that critical and essential central earth > ground. No earth ground means no effective surge protection. Thanks for all the tips! I'll have to print this. -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Thu, 16 May 2002 21:39:29 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 52 Message-ID: References: <20020514022347.24943.00001710@mb-fo.aol.com> <3CE2796D.3DCD88E@usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-779.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!pln-e!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews1 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88736 In article <3CE2796D.3DCD88E@usa.net>, w_tom1@usa.net says... > Currently are TV commercials where a less reliable car is better than a Toyota > because it has a better warranty. Same is true in surge protection. A better > warranty often means less reliable surge protection. The benchmarks in surge > protection don't even offer a warranty. > > The dirty little secret about that warranty- good luck getting it honored. It > has fine print exemptions which are not included with the surge protector nor > required to be provided, and are often not honored. Well, there are risks with any kind of warranty or insurance that it won't be honored. Still I'd rather have it than not. > Want a warranty? Buy > insurance from a licensed broker who must meet federal regulations. I would file a claim with my homeowner's insurance if I ever lost my whole system. I need to increase the coverage amount, come to think of it. > A previous post notes that a surge protector that does not discuss earth ground > and does not have a dedicated connection to earth ground, then is not effective > surge protection. Even the joules rating is undersized. To be equivalent to > 1000 joules in effective 'whole house' protection, the plug-in unit must have > 3000 joules. The one I just got for the PC has 2000-some, which I'm sure is better than what I had before, at least. > 3000 joules would hurt their profit margin - which is the only > thing that the plug-in surge protector provides. Again, this is well proven by > example since the 1930s. A surge protector is only as effective as its earth > ground. Plug-in surge protectors are too far to have effective earthing. No > earth ground means no effective surge protection. > > Cheap plug-in surge protectors are electrically equivalent to expensive plug-in > protectors with the big bucks warranty. Neither mention critical earth ground > and both have insufficient joules ratings. How do you know all this stuff? :) -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Thu, 16 May 2002 21:54:30 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 54 Message-ID: References: <3CE4056B.E6AA5594@usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-137.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!pln-e!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews1 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88756 In article <3CE4056B.E6AA5594@usa.net>, w_tom1@usa.net says... > Power never comes on too powerful. To damage a properly functioning surge > protector, the 120 VAC must rise to well over 300 volts. That just does not > happen. Wonder why the electric company said it was their fault and replaced my neighbor's appliance, then? > I believe it is even law that the voltage must never exceed 130 > VAC. More likely, those surge protectors were so undersized as to be damaged > by the surge. Then when power came on, those damaged surge protectors > burned. I saw that happen with one this time. We unplugged it while the power was out, then when the power came back on we plugged it back in and it went kerblooey. It was an old one so it may have lost a lot of whatever capacity it ever had over time. > If power came on too powerful, then every appliance - especially GFCI > outlets, dimmer switches, and electronic timers switches would require > replacement. Furthermore, if power did come on too powerful, then the > 'whole house' surge protector would have made protected you without any human > action or knowledge. Just another reason why plug-in surge protectors are so > ineffective - overpriced, undersized, mislocated, and overhyped. > > Considering the number of ineffective plug-in surge protectors damaged, one > could have purchased a standard 'whole house' surge protector twice over or > already purchased a major, expensive 'whole house' surge protector. Either > way, no damage even to the surge protector would have occurred and no reason > for the fire department. Yes, if I have to replace a dozen surge suppressors every time there's a particularly bad surge it would certainly seem more cost effective to get one good unit. > Check all GFCI outlets. Because they cannot be protected by a plug-in > surge protector, then those $10+ items may also require replacement. We only have three GFCI outlets, and they seem OK. I did have to press the reset button on one, but it's possible that the firemen had pressed the test button on it and left it unreset when they were monkeying with the kitchen outlets. -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Thu, 16 May 2002 22:10:21 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 45 Message-ID: References: <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com> <6uelgfltdb.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> <6u7km63496.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-572.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!HSNX.atgi.net!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!199.106.71.17!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews1 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88726 In article , not-me@not- here.net says... > In article <6u7km63496.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch>, neil@franklin.ch.remove > says... > > Janice writes: > > > > I don't remember any cases like it from when I used to hang out at tech > > > support forums, and my ISP guy had never heard of any like it, but if you > > > have then I guess they exist. :) > > > > It depends on how far away the lightning strook. Far enough gives no > > damage, near enough total destruction, between it becomes marginal. > > I see. > > ... > > > > OK. I've had audio cables that got to the point where they would work if > > > held in certain positions but not work in others so I thought maybe phone > > > cables could behave the same way. And I did run over this one with the > > > wheel of my desk. > > > > If you have an wire broken, that can happen with any cable carrying > > analog signals (includes phone/modem). But then that would hit all > > modems with the same statistical pattern. > > Hey, guess what? It connected at 48K just now. I'll have to run the > diagnostic again after I get off and see what the reported S/N ratio was > for this connection. Still the same relatively low S/N stat of 29. But I'm on at 48K a second time ... -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### From: w_tom Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 00:49:08 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: <3CE48BC3.EC0FECC8@usa.net> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.75 [en] (WinNT; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com> <3CE181C5.C040A986@usa.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 56 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88772 I believe the telco will upgrade the NID at the premise interface for free the telephone interface has not been upgraded since the mid 80s. But you want the phone lines to enter the building so that the NID can earth to the same ground rod used by AC electric, CATV, and satellite dish. This would be the central earth ground so necessary for surge protection. Air conditioners don't create surges. If they did, then we would all be trooping to hardware stores daily (even before computers existed) to replace dimmer switches and other appliances. Air conditioners can cause a slight brownout (lights dim for a second). But if air conditioners (and any appliances) create surges, then the surge protection should be on the air conditioner OR the air conditioner must be removed as a threat to human safety. Furthermore a surge protector never sees any transient from air conditioners. Any such transient would be well below the threshold or let-through voltage (330 volts). But if air conditioners did create a 330+ volt transient, then the surge protector would be degraded to toast by the end of the week or month. Surge protectors are installed for events that occur typically once every 8 years (although your neighborhood appears to be more active). It is why the let-through voltage is 330 volts for 120 electric. The code (NEC) only addresses human safety. Surge protection is for transistor safety. We still build new homes as if the transistor did not exist. Therefore even an upgraded electric system often does not have any surge protection. Most homes have no effective surge protection since 'whole house' surge protectors are not required and in some cases, the earth grounds are sufficient for human safety but insufficient for surge protection. Every incoming utility should first connect to central earth ground, either directly or via a surge protector, before the wire enters the building. Janice wrote: > In article <3CE181C5.C040A986@usa.net>, w_tom1@usa.net says... > ... > > Our 50-year-old old neighborhood doesn't have interface boxes at the > houses. > ... > > Does it also help with day-to-day surges caused by central air > conditioning coming on and that kind of thing? > > > Home Depot sells two minimally sized 'whole house' surge protectors - > > Intermatic EG240RC and Siemens QSA2020 - both for less than $50. Of course > > surge protectors are only as effective as the earth ground. The central earth > > ground may need be upgraded to post-1990 National Electrical Code (NEC) > > requirements. That earthing is both for human safety and to make 'whole > > house' surge protectors effective. > > I would have to have that checked out, because I have no idea whether > what we have is up to spec or not. The guy who owned the house before us > had a lot of electrical work done so it *may* already be up to spec, but > I'm not sure. ... ###### From: w_tom Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 01:07:07 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: <3CE48FFA.9D5827D9@usa.net> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.75 [en] (WinNT; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <20020514022347.24943.00001710@mb-fo.aol.com> <3CE2796D.3DCD88E@usa.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 24 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!news-hog.berkeley.edu!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88771 I was trying to learn this stuff even before I took engineering. We lived where surges were quite common. However some of my experiments over the decades were quite educational. Those little MOVs in Radio Shack will shunt a direct strike to earth - although some vaporized so that only the two leads were left. Like looking at a skeleton. I saw lightning strike cast iron and leave no marks. How can this be since the many tell us how many millions of volts and amps are in lightning? Actually lightning is not the high energy transient of urban myth. Probably the best collection of this information was Dr Uman's books. Protection schemes are not difficult since they similar in the design that Ben Franklin used in 1752. The same grounding techniques used for buildings are similar to grounding of analog and digital printed circuit board designs so that the noise does not bury the music. The concept is also used in computer motherboards so that static electric shocking to a computer case never causes damage or a software crash. Just decades of experience and reading. Janice wrote: > How do you know all this stuff? :) > ###### From: w_tom Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 01:17:32 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: <3CE4926B.F1E1E933@usa.net> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.75 [en] (WinNT; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <3CE4056B.E6AA5594@usa.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 17 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!unlisys!news.snafu.de!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!62.112.0.25!newsfeed.online.be!sn-xit-01!sn-post-02!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88770 After massive ice storms took down all transmission lines in IN, the electric company was in a hurry to get power restored. When loads become heavier, some transformers compensate by increasing voltage so that voltage remains constant at your location. Someone forgot to push the transformer voltage back down before powering up. Voltages in excess of 185 volts were experienced by my design. However that unit was designed to shunt excessive voltages long enough for the fast blo fuse to eventually open. Humans do make mistakes especially after working too many hours. These human created voltage extremes are infrequent, but may have taken out your neighbor's appliance. Janice wrote: > ... > Wonder why the electric company said it was their fault and replaced my > neighbor's appliance, then? > ###### From: "Silver Blade" Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body References: Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 01:39:13 +0100 Lines: 47 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Message-ID: <3ce996a2_3@news2.vip.uk.com> X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 62.60.42.144 NNTP-Posting-Host: 10.250.101.2 X-Trace: 21 May 2002 01:36:59 GMT, 10.250.101.2 X-Report: Report abuse to nntpabuse@vip.uk.com Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.icl.net!iclnet!news1.vip.uk.com Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88778 Funny... I had exactly the same thing happen to my modem. There was a really violent storm a while ago, that blew up two houses near where I live, cut out the power, and, even though I'd switched everything off, I forgot to unplug my modem from the phone line, and the next day, my modem was connecting at around 19 kbps, and would no longer hang up. I got a new modem, and had to replace the phone cable going into the room where the computer is. Also had to get the phone company to increase the gain on the line. All back to normal now... I think... "Janice" wrote in message news:MPG.1749b90ff8147dd989d95@cnews.newsguy.com... > We had some unwelcome excitement last night. A sudden storm caused a > power problem that blew out my computer's surge suppressor box as well as > several other surge suppressors around the house. Since they were > smoking we called the fire department to check and make sure it was just > the blown suppressors and not the outlets. They sent a whole fleet of > fire engines etc. and we had firemen stomping all over the place. Then > when everyone else's power came back on, ours didn't, and we had to have > someone over to figure out why (turned out when the firemen had messed > with the circuit breaker box they didn't reset the main breaker so it > wasn't actually on like they had said). > > My computer seems OK except that the modem will now only connect at 31K > for some reason, even though it's directly connected to the wall jack > instead of going through a surge suppressor at the moment, and that wall > jack supports V.90 speeds on two other modems even if I hook them up with > the same cable I'm using on this one ... > > -- > > One sees clearly only with the heart. > Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. > --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery > > My homepage: > http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html > > The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: > http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Mon, 20 May 2002 22:15:25 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 30 Message-ID: References: <3ce996a2_3@news2.vip.uk.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-657.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!fr.clara.net!heighliner.fr.clara.net!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!4.1.16.34!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!cambridge1-snf1.gtei.net!news.gtei.net!bos-service1.ext.raytheon.com!cyclone.swbell.net!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!199.106.71.17!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews3 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88804 In article <3ce996a2_3@news2.vip.uk.com>, silverblade_uk@hotmail.com says... > Funny... I had exactly the same thing happen to my modem. > > There was a really violent storm a while ago, that blew up two houses near > where I live, cut out the power, and, even though I'd switched everything > off, I forgot to unplug my modem from the phone line, and the next day, my > modem was connecting at around 19 kbps, and would no longer hang up. > > I got a new modem, and had to replace the phone cable going into the room > where the computer is. Also had to get the phone company to increase the > gain on the line. > > All back to normal now... I think... > My modem went back to normal. It's been fine for days now. Maybe it was all due to a bad wire in the cable after all? -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!not-for-mail From: Neil Franklin Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: 22 May 2002 22:26:10 +0200 Organization: My own Private Self Lines: 15 Message-ID: <6ur8k4c4kd.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> References: <3ce996a2_3@news2.vip.uk.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: chonsp.franklin.ch X-Trace: chonsp.franklin.ch 1022099170 1140 10.0.3.2 (22 May 2002 20:26:10 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@chonsp.franklin.ch NNTP-Posting-Date: 22 May 2002 20:26:10 GMT X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88819 Janice writes: > My modem went back to normal. It's been fine for days now. Maybe it was > all due to a bad wire in the cable after all? If it were a bad wire, then it would only improved by you replacing it, which you did not do. Perhaps some phone Co equipment that has now been repaired? -- Neil Franklin, neil@franklin.ch.remove http://neil.franklin.ch/ Hacker, Unix Guru, El Eng HTL/BSc, Sysadmin, Archer, Roleplayer - Make your code truely free: put it into the public domain ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 21:59:04 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 27 Message-ID: References: <3ce996a2_3@news2.vip.uk.com> <6ur8k4c4kd.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-601.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!newscore.univie.ac.at!news-hub.siol.net!news.stealth.net!news.stealth.net!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88871 In article <6ur8k4c4kd.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch>, neil@franklin.ch.remove says... > Janice writes: > > > My modem went back to normal. It's been fine for days now. Maybe it was > > all due to a bad wire in the cable after all? > > If it were a bad wire, then it would only improved by you replacing it, > which you did not do. Or just possibly by repositioning it, which I did do? > Perhaps some phone Co equipment that has now been repaired? Wouldn't bad telco equipment have affected the other two modems? -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### From: silkdick@aol.commune.net (Dick Silk) Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Lines: 10 NNTP-Posting-Host: ngpost-m1.news.aol.com X-Admin: news@aol.com Date: 23 May 2002 05:29:16 GMT References: Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com X-Newsreader: Session Scheduler (Queue Name: gng-mu) Message-ID: <20020523012916.08779.00000036@mb-mu.aol.com> Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!ngpeer.news.aol.com!audrey04.news.aol.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88845 In article , Janice writes: >Wouldn't bad telco equipment have affected the other two modems? depends upon the quality of the modems To send personal e-mail, please write to: richardcsilk at aol dot com. Thanks. All mail blocked from yahoo or hotmail accounts. ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 12:46:23 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 25 Message-ID: References: <20020523012916.08779.00000036@mb-mu.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-627.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!newscore.univie.ac.at!194.25.134.126.MISMATCH!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!eusc.inter.net!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!out.nntp.be!propagator2-SanJose!propagator-SanJose!in.nntp.be!news-in-sanjose!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!199.106.71.17!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews1 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88878 In article <20020523012916.08779.00000036@mb-mu.aol.com>, silkdick@aol.commune.net says... > In article , Janice > writes: > > >Wouldn't bad telco equipment have affected the other two modems? > > depends upon the quality of the modems One of them is decent, being an external one, but the other is a cheap OEM-issue winmodem similar to the one that was acting up. And this other winmodem at least used to be very sensitive to bad line conditions, which is why I bought the external one for that system in the first place. -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### Lines: 26 X-Admin: news@aol.com From: silkdick@aol.commune.net (Dick Silk) Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Date: 24 May 2002 05:29:23 GMT References: Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com X-Newsreader: Session Scheduler (Queue Name: gng-md) Subject: Re: OT Excitement Message-ID: <20020524012923.21171.00000113@mb-md.aol.com> Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed1.cidera.com!Cidera!ngpeer.news.aol.com!audrey04.news.aol.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88840 In article , Janice writes: >> >Wouldn't bad telco equipment have affected the other two modems? >> >> depends upon the quality of the modems > >One of them is decent, being an external one, but the other is a cheap >OEM-issue winmodem similar to the one that was acting up. And this other >winmodem at least used to be very sensitive to bad line conditions, which >is why I bought the external one for that system in the first place. > back a month ago, when I was at my parents' home, I was only getting 44k modem speeds, at the most 45k. I moved a mile away to an MTSU dorm room, and I was getting 53k ! the point to remember is: CHECK -- pay attention -- to the speeds right after a rainstorm, and then around 3 days after the sun comes out. If the rain is killing your connection speeds, you need to get the phone company out PRONTO as soon as the rain quits to check the line quality. To send personal e-mail, please write to: richardcsilk at aol dot com. Thanks. All mail blocked from yahoo or hotmail accounts. ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 13:10:47 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 22 Message-ID: References: <20020524012923.21171.00000113@mb-md.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-569.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.he.net!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!199.106.71.17!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88880 In article <20020524012923.21171.00000113@mb-md.aol.com>, silkdick@aol.commune.net says... > the point to remember is: CHECK -- pay attention -- to the speeds right after > a rainstorm, and then around 3 days after the sun comes out. If the rain is > killing your connection speeds, you need to get the phone company out PRONTO as > soon as the rain quits to check the line quality. Yep, I will watch for that possibility. -- It is much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself, it's because you are truly a wise man. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### From: silkdick@aol.commune.net (Dick Silk) Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement / phone line quality Lines: 24 NNTP-Posting-Host: ngpost-m1.news.aol.com X-Admin: news@aol.com Date: 23 May 2002 02:51:11 GMT References: <6ur8k4c4kd.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com X-Newsreader: Session Scheduler (Queue Name: gng-md) Message-ID: <20020522225111.21171.00000032@mb-md.aol.com> Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!newscore.univie.ac.at!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed1.cidera.com!Cidera!ngpeer.news.aol.com!audrey04.news.aol.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88837 In article <6ur8k4c4kd.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch>, Neil Franklin writes: >> My modem went back to normal. It's been fine for days now. Maybe it was >> all due to a bad wire in the cable after all? > >If it were a bad wire, then it would only improved by you replacing it, >which you did not do. > >Perhaps some phone Co equipment that has now been repaired? > note: sometimes there are phone lines which get *wet* following extreme periods of rainfall. When this happens, the modem connection deteriorates considerably, if not entirely, and after the wires dry out, the connection improves. If you notice this pattern repeatedly / consistently following rainstorms, you need to call the phone company and report that they have lines between your house and "the switch" which are getting soaked from rain, and they need to locate the weak spot(s) and repair it (them). To send personal e-mail, please write to: richardcsilk at aol dot com. Thanks. All mail blocked from yahoo or hotmail accounts. ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement / phone line quality Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 23:22:56 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 24 Message-ID: References: <6ur8k4c4kd.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> <20020522225111.21171.00000032@mb-md.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-123.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!216.148.52.16!pln-e!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88863 In article <20020522225111.21171.00000032@mb-md.aol.com>, silkdick@aol.commune.net says... > note: sometimes there are phone lines which get *wet* following extreme > periods of rainfall. When this happens, the modem connection deteriorates > considerably, if not entirely, and after the wires dry out, the connection > improves. If you notice this pattern repeatedly / consistently following > rainstorms, you need to call the phone company and report that they have lines > between your house and "the switch" which are getting soaked from rain, and > they need to locate the weak spot(s) and repair it (them). Hm, guess I can watch for that. -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement / phone line quality Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 23:26:30 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 29 Message-ID: References: <6ur8k4c4kd.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> <20020522225111.21171.00000032@mb-md.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-320.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed-west.nntpserver.com!nntpserver.com!209.10.34.151!newsfeed.sjc.globix.net!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!199.106.71.17!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88861 In article , not-me@not- here.net says... > In article <20020522225111.21171.00000032@mb-md.aol.com>, > silkdick@aol.commune.net says... > > > note: sometimes there are phone lines which get *wet* following extreme > > periods of rainfall. When this happens, the modem connection deteriorates > > considerably, if not entirely, and after the wires dry out, the connection > > improves. If you notice this pattern repeatedly / consistently following > > rainstorms, you need to call the phone company and report that they have lines > > between your house and "the switch" which are getting soaked from rain, and > > they need to locate the weak spot(s) and repair it (them). > > Hm, guess I can watch for that. P.S. Could some modems be much more sensitive to bad line conditions than others? Considering that two others in the house were OK ... -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### Lines: 19 X-Admin: news@aol.com From: silkdick@aol.commune.net (Dick Silk) Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Date: 23 May 2002 22:58:27 GMT References: Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com X-Newsreader: Session Scheduler (Queue Name: gng-dh) Subject: Re: OT Excitement / phone line quality Message-ID: <20020523185827.01543.00000113@mb-dh.aol.com> Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news.stealth.net!news.stealth.net!ngpeer.news.aol.com!audrey04.news.aol.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88841 In article , Janice writes: >P.S. Could some modems be much more sensitive to bad line conditions than >others? Considering that two others in the house were OK ... did you test them out on the *same jack*? using the *same modem cord*? that makes a good test to see if you have a bad wire *in the house*. Testing the same modem at 2 different jacks w/2 different wires is a good test for the modem itself. And yes, 2 different modems *can* have different qualities making them better or worse at cutting thru static. That's why some modems cost $20.oo and others cost $200.oo. To send personal e-mail, please write to: richardcsilk at aol dot com. Thanks. All mail blocked from yahoo or hotmail accounts. ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement / phone line quality Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 22:28:23 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 37 Message-ID: References: <20020523185827.01543.00000113@mb-dh.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-527.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed-west.nntpserver.com!hub1.meganetnews.com!nntpserver.com!209.10.34.151!newsfeed.sjc.globix.net!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!199.106.71.17!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88873 In article <20020523185827.01543.00000113@mb-dh.aol.com>, silkdick@aol.commune.net says... > In article , Janice > writes: > > >P.S. Could some modems be much more sensitive to bad line conditions than > >others? Considering that two others in the house were OK ... > > did you test them out on the *same jack*? using the *same modem cord*? Yes and yes. > that makes a good test to see if you have a bad wire *in the house*. > Testing the same modem at 2 different jacks w/2 different wires is a good test > for the modem itself. That would be far more trouble than it's worth. > And yes, 2 different modems *can* have different qualities making them better > or worse at cutting thru static. > > That's why some modems cost $20.oo and others cost $200.oo. The one that was getting the best connection rate during all this was the $20 one. -- One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### Lines: 32 X-Admin: news@aol.com From: silkdick@aol.commune.net (Dick Silk) Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Date: 24 May 2002 07:57:38 GMT References: Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com X-Newsreader: Session Scheduler (Queue Name: gng-fi) Subject: Re: OT Excitement / phone line quality Message-ID: <20020524035738.29986.00000474@mb-fi.aol.com> Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!news-peer-east1.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!nntp1.roc.gblx.net!nntp.gblx.net!nntp.gblx.net!ngpeer.news.aol.com!audrey04.news.aol.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88844 In article , Janice writes: >> Testing the same modem at 2 different jacks w/2 different wires is a good test for the modem itself. >That would be far more trouble than it's worth. not necessarily. Moving your desktop is a GREAT way to clean out the dust it has accumulated. It's AMAZING when I go to a person's home and have to crack the case: 19 times out of 20 the interior of the system is CHOKED with dust! and of course, the table and surrounding area is no picnic either.... then, if your modem *is* bad, you'd have to crack the case and move the system and clean and dust it *anyways*... so you may as well go ahead, do the test, clean the system, re-seat the modem down onto/into the motherboard, dust the table and cables, and give it a test :) Other modem notes: many a times the person complaining their modem is not fully functional turns out to have harnessed their modem cable with all the other cables in an attempt to keep the backside of their system "neat and tidy." -- WRONG! *Never* clip or strap your modem cable with other cables. Let it hang free. Keep it as close to 6' long or shorter to the wall jack. (Many many reasons for that.) DO NOT run it around or under or over other appliances, like refrigerators, microwaves, stoves, anything carrying an electric current, as these currents can seriously affect the signal running thru that line. To send personal e-mail, please write to: richardcsilk at aol dot com. Thanks. All mail blocked from yahoo or hotmail accounts. ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement / phone line quality Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 13:30:47 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 52 Message-ID: References: <20020524035738.29986.00000474@mb-fi.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-187.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.he.net!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!199.106.71.17!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88876 In article <20020524035738.29986.00000474@mb-fi.aol.com>, silkdick@aol.commune.net says... > not necessarily. Moving your desktop is a GREAT way to clean out the dust it > has accumulated. It's AMAZING when I go to a person's home and have to crack > the case: 19 times out of 20 the interior of the system is CHOKED with dust! > and of course, the table and surrounding area is no picnic either.... > > then, if your modem *is* bad, you'd have to crack the case and move the system > and clean and dust it *anyways*... so you may as well go ahead, do the test, > clean the system, re-seat the modem down onto/into the motherboard, dust the > table and cables, and give it a test :) I did clean the dust off the external cables, dust out the modem's jacks, open the case, look over the modem and make sure it was tight (didn't take it out and put it back in though). That's not hard. Hauling the system to another room to test it would be. There doesn't seem to be any point now that the modem is doing fine again, and even if it wasn't I'd sooner buy a new one than give Jay or myself a hernia. :) > Other modem notes: many a times the person complaining their modem is not > fully functional turns out to have harnessed their modem cable with all the > other cables in an attempt to keep the backside of their system "neat and > tidy." -- WRONG! *Never* clip or strap your modem cable with other cables. > Let it hang free. Keep it as close to 6' long or shorter to the wall jack. > (Many many reasons for that.) I know about the short cable recommendation, but it's impossible to do in our office short of going to the trouble and expense of adding another line or extension. One or the other system has to be on the far side of the room from the single existing jack. So I get 48K and Jay gets 52K. :) > DO NOT run it around or under or over other > appliances, like refrigerators, microwaves, stoves, anything carrying an > electric current, as these currents can seriously affect the signal running > thru that line. Not doin' that. :) -- It is much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself, it's because you are truly a wise man. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### Message-ID: <3CEEE4EA.7080009@infostations.com> From: richard walton Reply-To: ""\"rbwalton\"""@\"no-spam\"bigfoot.com User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; CDonDemand; rv:0.9.4) Gecko/20011128 Netscape6/6.2.1 X-Accept-Language: en-us MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement / phone line quality References: <20020524035738.29986.00000474@mb-fi.aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 76 Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 18:12:10 -0700 NNTP-Posting-Host: 66.81.59.126 X-Complaints-To: support@infostations.com X-Trace: news.abs.net 1022289292 66.81.59.126 (Fri, 24 May 2002 21:14:52 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 21:14:52 EDT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!nntp.abs.net!news.abs.net!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88835 Janice wrote: > In article <20020524035738.29986.00000474@mb-fi.aol.com>, > silkdick@aol.commune.net says... > > >>not necessarily. Moving your desktop is a GREAT way to clean out the dust it >>has accumulated. It's AMAZING when I go to a person's home and have to crack >>the case: 19 times out of 20 the interior of the system is CHOKED with dust! >>and of course, the table and surrounding area is no picnic either.... >> >>then, if your modem *is* bad, you'd have to crack the case and move the system >>and clean and dust it *anyways*... so you may as well go ahead, do the test, >>clean the system, re-seat the modem down onto/into the motherboard, dust the >>table and cables, and give it a test :) >> > > I did clean the dust off the external cables, dust out the modem's jacks, > open the case, look over the modem and make sure it was tight (didn't > take it out and put it back in though). That's not hard. Hauling the > system to another room to test it would be. There doesn't seem to be any > point now that the modem is doing fine again, and even if it wasn't I'd > sooner buy a new one than give Jay or myself a hernia. :) > > >>Other modem notes: many a times the person complaining their modem is not >>fully functional turns out to have harnessed their modem cable with all the >>other cables in an attempt to keep the backside of their system "neat and >>tidy." -- WRONG! *Never* clip or strap your modem cable with other cables. >>Let it hang free. Keep it as close to 6' long or shorter to the wall jack. >>(Many many reasons for that.) >> > > I know about the short cable recommendation, but it's impossible to do in > our office short of going to the trouble and expense of adding another > line or extension. One or the other system has to be on the far side of > the room from the single existing jack. So I get 48K and Jay gets 52K. > :) > > >>DO NOT run it around or under or over other >>appliances, like refrigerators, microwaves, stoves, anything carrying an >>electric current, as these currents can seriously affect the signal running >>thru that line. >> > > Not doin' that. :) > > Seems to be a bit of trouble going around with modems and phone lines. I have been having trouble the last couple of weeks. I can connect sometimes, and not others. SOmetimes one minute I am on at full speed, I hang up, and the next minute if I can re-connect at all, I am back to 9600. Right now I am about half speed and afraid to disconnect because I amy not be able to re-connect. . . technology. . . can not life with it, can not live without it being a pain in the @##. -- Richard Hello Maiacg, wherever you are. For Out of Body Links, try http://www.angelfire.com/ca/onestepbeyond Out of Body FAQ. . http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/obe-faq.html Join a "virtual" supercomputer as part of the 3.5 million around the world searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at home. http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ Take out "no-spam" to reply ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement / phone line quality Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 23:44:54 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 28 Message-ID: References: <20020524035738.29986.00000474@mb-fi.aol.com> <3CEEE4EA.7080009@infostations.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-336.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed-west.nntpserver.com!hub1.meganetnews.com!nntpserver.com!209.10.34.151!newsfeed.sjc.globix.net!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!199.106.71.17!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews2 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:88879 In article <3CEEE4EA.7080009@infostations.com>, rbwalton@infostations.com says... > Seems to be a bit of trouble going around with modems and phone lines. > I have been having trouble the last couple of weeks. I can connect > sometimes, and not others. SOmetimes one minute I am on at full speed, I > hang up, and the next minute if I can re-connect at all, I am back to > 9600. Right now I am about half speed and afraid to disconnect because I > amy not be able to re-connect. . . > technology. . . can not life with it, can not live without it being a > pain in the @##. Ugh. I can remember getting rates that bad occasionally with the original modem on what's now Jay's computer. Luckily these were passing phases. :) -- It is much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself, it's because you are truly a wise man. --Antoine de Saint-Euxpery My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/ced.html The alt.out-of-body newsgroup homepage: http://www.geocities.com/janice240obe/index.html ###### From: Janice Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: OT Excitement Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2002 22:22:00 -0400 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 19 Message-ID: References: <9ySD8.205983$tt4.15368547@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com> <3CE181C5.C040A986@usa.net> <3CE48BC3.EC0FECC8@usa.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-117.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.he.net!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!199.106.71.17!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews2 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.out-of-body:89025 In article <3CE48BC3.EC0FECC8@usa.net>, w_tom1@usa.net says... > Air conditioners don't create surges. If they did, then we would all be trooping > to hardware stores daily (even before computers existed) to replace dimmer switches > and other appliances. Air conditioners can cause a slight brownout (lights dim for a > second). Yeah, that's what it does--makes the lights dim briefly. Surge is the wrong term for that. The guy who inspected our house before we bought it told me that upgrading the electric service from 60 amp to 100 amp should help with that, but it didn't seem to. > Surge protectors are > installed for events that occur typically once every 8 years (although your > neighborhood appears to be more active). The last surge suppressor destruction prior to this recent event occurred in 1993, so it's been nine years.