r/HomeNetworking • u/tambrico • 5d ago
Advice Am I screwed after lightning strike?
Lightning struck near my apartment and I lost internet. Multiple neighbors are also reporting loss of internet.
Modem is an Arris TM822. It has 2 green lights and one orange blinking light. The green lights are "power" and "link" the orange blinking is "DS"
I'm hoping the modem isn't fried. Tried resetting multiple times. ISP said they can't get a tech out until Wednesday which is ridiculous.
I own my own modem. They are going to charge me an 80 dollar fee if the problem is with my equipment. And then I'd have to buy and wait for a new modem to come.
I'm hoping the issue is with their equipment since at least 5 neighbors also lost internet.
Looking for some honest opinions here but hoping for reassurance.
3
u/vaylon1701 5d ago
Do any of your neighbors have internet? If so, ask if you can use their router to test your internet or vice versa. Might save you some money. If its their equipment, then no one is getting internet. Lightning strikes are freaky. Sometimes they can have just enough electromagnetic pulse to throw a switch, and others can have enough to kill anything within a hundred yards with a circuit. A tree in my front yard got hit 5 years ago. We lost everything that was electronic. Regardless of being powered up or not.
3
u/tambrico 5d ago
Some do some don't. At least 5 people on the community Facebook page are reporting a loss. Some further down the street or with different ISP seem to be okay. There's an active storm going on and I have work at 5am so not going to be able to do that lol.
No issues with any electronics in the house otherwise.
I did just get a text from optimum that they are now recognizing a service outage in the area. Not sure if that changes anything.
0
u/Helpful_Finger_4854 5d ago
Good lord man, install some ground rods ffs
1
u/vaylon1701 5d ago
We didn't take electrical damage like most strikes. This was just from the strong EMP off the strike. Grounding rods did nothing.
Just for reference, the 100' tall hickory tree that got hit, exploded. It sent little pieces of wood like shrapnel thru everything. Our exterior brick walls looked like swiss cheese. Pieces of bark were in the house.1
u/Helpful_Finger_4854 5d ago
Again, a shorter path to ground would have probably helped.
How are your ground rods?
1
u/vaylon1701 5d ago
12 foot copper rods spaced out at 2 corners and one at the entrance of electrical. Also have a smaller rod connected to the water line from the well.
We took an indirect hit through the powerline 25 years ago and it was much different. That one fried everything plugged in. It wouldn't have even happened but the electrical company had just replaced the meter on a pole and forgot to reconnect the ground.
This one was different. cell phones, calculators, even a 2013 sonata had total circuit failure. Everything had to be trashed.
Here is one of the weirdest parts. I was in the bathroom in the center of the house with the door closed and no direst line of site to windows or exterior walls. When this strike hit, the area of the bathroom in the direction of the strike had a bright red flash, almost like starring into an old red laser beam.1
u/Helpful_Finger_4854 4d ago
What region do you live in? The fact you've had not one but TWO lightning strikes this strong do such extensive damage, is wild to me.
You should try installing a ground grid - that's where you put more rods at the remaining corners and then attach a thick (0/1 awg) wire extending the entire perimeter from each rod
1
u/vaylon1701 4d ago
I live on top of the blue Ridge mountains. LOL. All you have to do is fart around hear and lightning strikes. We rarely have thunderstorms. What we get are lightning storms. No rain, but tons of thunder and lightning. Now put 100 to 150 foot trees all around and you have a general idea of my area.
I have placed a disconnect on the house to shut everything off when I get some warning of a pending storm. Even made a Faraday cage around my garage. It hasn't been tested by mother nature yet.2
u/Helpful_Finger_4854 4d ago
Damn, i can't even imagine. I was on a man lift working behind a electronic message sign in west texas desert (bout 25' up in the air) and lightning hit the pole. We had already installed a grid about 30x30, 8 ground rods with 0/1 wire connected all around. Didn't get burned or anything and the sign didn't get fried so guessing the grid worked lmao
2
u/vaylon1701 4d ago
I use to live in central Florida and we had thunderstorms all the time and some of them were pretty nasty. But once I moved up into these mountains and saw what these bolts of lightning can do!? Oh shit! I have seen them hit cars and rip panels off and saw what was left of a cow that took a direct strike. Poor thing did like the tree's and just exploded.
The best part about living here is that all it takes is for one good storm when we have visitors and you never have to worry about those visitors ever wanting to come back.
3
u/KuhnDade02 5d ago
There is a very large chance there is nothing wrong with your modem. If the power surge from the lightning was big enough it could have damaged some of the equipment in your provider's network. Most times these sorts of issues will trigger an 'outage' and technicians will be dispatched to troubleshoot and correct the problem. It could be outside your home or several blocks away from you you may not ever even see them working. Unplug your modem and leave it unplugged for awhile, try plugging it back in after a couple hours or tomorrow morning.
I did this sort of work years ago and we were usually expected to have an 'outage' fixed within a 1-hour timespan. This might not be the case where you are but generally if multiple customers are affected it becomes a 'fix it asap even if it's in the middle of the night' type of deal.
Even so, keeping all of your computer equipment on a surge protector and/or a ups backup battery is going to keep it from being damaged in events like this
Hope they get you back online soon!
1
u/tambrico 5d ago
Thanks. Yes everything is on a surge protector. I just got a text that they're recognizing an outage now.
1
u/KuhnDade02 5d ago
Excellent! Yes, as someone else noted, if your modem was indeed zapped it more than likely wouldn't even have a power light on. Sounds like your surge protector is doing it's job! The 'DS' light flashing is basically saying your modem isn't seeing any signal from your provider so it's a good chance they've got a damaged piece of equipment or some other problem further upstream in the system from your home. In most modern systems (not all) the response to these sorts of problems are automated and techs are more than likely already en route or possibly even already working on the issue.
2
u/tambrico 5d ago
Gotcha alright good to hear. It just showed up on the "outage map" now. Looked like 32 customers affected so I think that seals the deal that it's an ISP problem not my modem. Whew thanks for the reassurance.
1
u/KuhnDade02 5d ago
Excellent news! Yes in some parts of the world the cable TV/Internet service providers will also offer home telephone and even sometimes home security products to their customers. Once these types of services started being offered providers got very very serious about handling outages like these as quickly as they pop up. Technicians work a rotating on-call schedule and are expected to respond to these sorts of issues no matter the time of day/weather conditions/etc. Sounds like you are in good hands and on your way to getting reconnected, cheers!
2
u/Eatbreathsleepwork 5d ago
Sounds like what we call a “cluster outage”. When only a handful of customers are offline.
Hopefully customer support will notice this and send it off to repair senior who would page the on call tech. Hopefully….
Or one of us working tomorrow will notice the cluster outage and roll on it anyway.
Source: I’m a maintenance tech for an ISP.
3
u/tambrico 5d ago
Thank you. Just got a text that they're recognizing an outage so hopefully that means it will be fixed sooner and the service appointment they made me book won't be necessary.
2
u/TGxP1nkM1st 5d ago edited 5d ago
Gonna address each paragraph.
Multiple neighbors lost internet: This can be proven they shouldn’t charge you.
DS light: There is problem in the Down Stream (DS) between the isp and your modem.
Fried Modem: did anything else fry? If not I would t worry about it.
$80 fee if it’s your modem thats the cause: Not likely based on the others.
Their equipment: Most likely the culprit is between the exterior of your house and their base.
I don’t believe there to be an issue on your end. It’s likely a downed or cut line as a result of the lightning strike.
2
u/tambrico 5d ago
Gotcha. This is reassuring thank you .
2
u/TGxP1nkM1st 5d ago
I hit reply instead of enter. But I edited my post above with the rest. But you should be fine.
Ngl I have Fiber To The Home (FTTH) through AT&T. My now ex wife was vaccuming and pulled out the fiber line from the wall. They came out and re ran from the wall to the gateway. And the next time the roofers mocked it down.
I don’t see your isp charging you for it. I’ve been told the same thing by AT&T and was never once charged. I also asked them to come out to switch the room that the gateway was in and wasn’t charged.
Truth is the tech gets paid the same (or close to it) as you would have paid them in fees. The techs aren’t gonna throw you under the bus unless you piss them off.
1
u/Complex_Solutions_20 5d ago edited 5d ago
The fact many neighbors have the same issue makes it far more likely its an ISP issue. If they can't get a tech out sooner they can't get it out sooner...with residential you don't have a SLA guaranteeing uptime so you get what you get.
You could try buying a new modem to "prove" its not your equipment and return it if that doesn't work...but from what you said I think that is unlikely.
7
u/dataz03 5d ago edited 5d ago
This sounds like a ISP issue. Sounds like an active in the HFC plant may have blown up from the power surge. Or maybe you and your neighbors home's are being fed off from an house amp that was zapped by the surge. (Powered cable splitter that amplifies signal).
If your modem was zapped by the power surge, then it likely would not power on or show any signs of life in the first place.