More and more, our most sensitive data is becoming just that – sensitive. We rely on our computers more and more, but their intneral circuitry can easily be damaged by even the smallest electric shocks. As little as the static electricity created by raising your arm while in a cotton t-shirt can be enough to cause major, irreparable damage to your computer’s internal components, and we live in a world full of power surges. Inside your home or business, a malfunctioning appliance or power tool can send powerful surges throughout the building, and this is to say nothing of what can happen on the grid. Brown-outs and failures at the power station can send reverberations throughout the grid, and the ferocious natural power of thunder and lightning can quite literally melt sensitive electronics.
Many people purchase electrical surge protectors, but there’s another important type too: ethernet surge protectors. Like the power lines, phone lines can also carry a charge, and if lightning strikes the utility pole, the power lines will be affected too. An ethernet surge protector is relatively inexpensive, often costing little more than $20, and when the potential loss caused by a power surge runs in the thousands, it is clearly worth it.
You can even purchase more than one, for additional protection: one between the wall outlet and your router for general protection, then an additional one between your router and a particularly valuable computer, as a failsafe. However, know that each surge protection will result in some loss of signal, as they are insulators. Problems like line insertion loss, phase distortion, crosstalk, degraded common mode rejection, and ground loops are all possible.
One of the most important parts of your ethernet surge protector is the ground. Much as the power companies will install a lightning arrester on their utility poles, which, in case of lightning strikes, re-direct the excess power away from the main power lines and down through a ground wire so it can dissipate into the earth, so must an ethernet surge protector also redirect power surges using a ground. Thankfully, different surge protectors use multiple different options for grounding, allowing you to choose based on what suits your needs and setup. The simplest option for many will be the DIN rail, which serves to both mount the protector and also ground it. Many companies with already established networking setups will have grounded DIN rails already set up. If you don’t, other surge protectors will use a ground wire connected to a UPS ground screw or ground lug system. Many surge protectors even have multiple options, giving you a choice for grounding method. And, should your setup change further down the road – say you later set up a DIN rail system for your network – then you can simply change your grounding method without losing your network surge protector.
On the other hand, you will have to buy a new protector if you change your cables. There are currently three popular standards for ethernet cables. The slowest and oldest is CAT5, followed by CAT5e, the current standard, and CAT6, the up-and-comer. Each new cable offers faster connections and greater bandwidth. The connector remains the same, but the internal wiring of the cable is different. This means that your protector must match your cables. Upgrading to a CAT6 cable system means buying a new CAT6 surge protector.
Another disadvantage can be the grounding. While there are several options for grounding, if you don’t have experience with electrical workings, and you don’t have the infrastructure already in place, it can be a challenge to set up.
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