🚀 go-pugleaf

This is deception:
> I like to tell callers that the modem has acted as a fuse, 
> and saved the rest of their P.C.
   Lightning has traveled many miles through non-conductive
air.  Is a silly little 'fuse' going to stop what miles of air
did not?  Of course not.  But basic technology also says a
fuse (response time > 10 milliseconds) cannot possibly protect
from a surge (typically < 100 microseconds).  No fuse is
installed to provide such protection - as demonstrated twice
over. 

  First, surge passed through modem's off-hook relay circuit
and other components including motherboard ground plane.  Only
then does something fail; typically a modem off-hook relay. 
Typical reason for so many computer peripherals damaged -
surge entered on AC electric and exited to earth ground via
other paths.  No damage can occur without both incoming and
outgoing path.  One traditional path that causes "No Dialtone
Detected" message is incoming on AC electric and outgoing on
phone line to earth ground.  Damage that has often been
demonstrated by replacing off-hook PNP transistor; making
modem work again.

  Surge damage is traceable to wires that entered building
without a connection to central earth ground.  Modem never
acts like a fuse nor protected anything.  That surge, as
taught in primary school science, first must have passed
through everything in a complete electric circuit.  Many
forget primary school science when rationalizing about surge
damage.  Many say the surge entered on phone line, damaged
modem and stopped - a direct violation of primary school
science.  It is that simple.  Modem was damaged because surge
first took a complete circuit path through that computer - and
only then damaged something.

Richard Unsworth wrote:
> All I know is that many people I have spoken to while answering technical
> support lines have suffered blown modems due to a nearby lightning storm.
> eg. 1. It worked and connected 2. There was thunder and lightning nearby 3.
> It says 'No dial tone'.
> And this happened to my pc - I heard just one spectacular bang the April
> before last - I was about a mile and a half from home. The next day I
> switched on the pc - dead. Nothing. Having left my diagnostic brain at work,
> it didn't dawn on me until a local child said 'Have you seen where the
> lightning blew the paving stone into the road?' This was sixty yards down my
> street. Result? Modem, motherboard, memory, graphics card, sound card -
> every component attached directly to the motherboard was dead. w_tom can say
> all he likes about electrical theory, but experience has shown me that
> lightning surges down the phone line blow modems up! After my own
> experience, I like to tell callers that the modem has acted as a fuse, and
> saved the rest of their P.C. - they seem to find this reassuring!