# Do surge protectors slow down your internet?



## Theloudtrout

Short answer yes they do slow it down and add ping time but it is very minimal and you would not notice it doing a speedtest.


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## TwoCables

Probably. My surge suppressor has inputs/outputs for both cable and ethernet, so of course I was using them. One day I started having internet problems that seemed rather sudden, so I ended up having to have a Comcast tech come out. He fixed the problem, and then just before he left, he noticed that I have both the cable and the ethernet connection going through my surge suppressor and told me to disconnect it because it can hurt internet performance. He also assured me that this extra layer of protection is mostly a gimmick to help sell the surge suppressor.

You had to be here, but the way he explained it made me realize that there's no good reason to have any internet-related stuff going through the surge suppressor (or phone-related stuff for that matter).

I'm not saying that the internet problems were caused by having my connection going through the surge suppressor, but I'm saying that just before he left after fixing the problem, he mentioned that I didn't have to have anything going through the surge suppressor. I guess you could say that he was just doing me a favor by giving me that helpful tip.


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## blupupher

Two Cables, funny thing, I had lost my internet 2 weeks ago and had called Comcast about it. The first thing they asked was if I had the cable running through any other device (splitter, surge protector etc), and I said no. They were going to send out a tech in a few days. After I got off the phone, I realized I had it running through my surge protector by the computer. I disconnected it and put it straight from the wall to the modem and the internet stated working.

As for speed, I noticed no difference between the 2 connections.


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## TwoCables

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *blupupher*
> 
> Two Cables, funny thing, I had lost my internet 2 weeks ago and had called Comcast about it. The first thing they asked was if I had the cable running through any other device (splitter, surge protector etc), and I said no. They were going to send out a tech in a few days. After I got off the phone, I realized I had it running through my surge protector by the computer. I disconnected it and put it straight from the wall to the modem and the internet stated working.
> As for speed, I noticed no difference between the 2 connections.


Nice edit. Quack, quack! hehe 

Anyway, I think I remember the tech saying something now about how I might end up with connectivity problems in the future if I leave it connected through the surge suppressor.


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## BulletSponge

I had a similar issue with connectivity problems when connected through my surge suppressor. Suddenlink came out, connected my modem directly and the problem was solved.


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## blupupher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TwoCables*
> 
> Nice edit. Quack, quack! hehe
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anyway, I think I remember the tech saying something now about how I might end up with connectivity problems in the future if I leave it connected through the surge suppressor.


LOL, I love when I have multiple windows open.

I don't know what the deal was though, I had it set up that way with the same modem, cables and surge protector untouched for 3+ years without an issue, then suddenly connection was gone.


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## Rabid1

lighting hit us just last week, had a surge protector for my power but not earthnet or cable, the modem blew out and 1 usb in the rear of my pc, so i,m not sure which way to go but going to try a surge protector that has both earthnet and the cable options, buddy of mine uses the brand monster says his internet works fine using cable into the surge protector then a small cable from surge protector to modem, mite be worth a try


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## PCSarge

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rabid1*
> 
> lighting hit us just last week, had a surge protector for my power but not earthnet or cable, the modem blew out and 1 usb in the rear of my pc, so i,m not sure which way to go but going to try a surge protector that has both earthnet and the cable options, buddy of mine uses the brand monster says his internet works fine using cable into the surge protector then a small cable from surge protector to modem, mite be worth a try


monster stuff is horribly overpriced but actually quite reliable


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## TwoCables

Ethernet, not earthnet. 

Earthnet would be a cool name for an ISP!

Anyway, it's not that your internet connection is ruined by having it go through the surge suppressor, but it's that it can be slowed down a little. The only way to find out is by doing a few Before & After tests (one isn't enough).


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## [email protected]

Yea i would never use it on a surge. I seen those things in the past and it did cross my mind but i always had a hunch it has to be a stunt scam.

Best bet is to use your modem. Otherwise buy your own BETTER modem and get hooked up easily instead of relying on a surge protector that doesn't really do much for anything but a slow down performance.


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## ReSpawNnL

I'm gonna bump this since I've got a question (and I saw TwoCables was active in this topic, I remember this guy being very helpful in choosing a SuperFlower PSU).

I was looking at Brennenstuhl's main show horse, the Premium-Protect-Line 120.000A with Master/Slave and RJ45 protection. The rest (RJ11 and COAX) are so old skool that makes me wonder why they put it on there, but OK.
http://www.brennenstuhl.com/en-DE/lightning-und-surge-protection/premium-protect-line-surge-protection/premium-protect-line-120.000a-automatic-extension-socket-with-surge-protection-9-way-duo-3m-h05vv-f-3g1-5-rj11/rj45/coax-1-master-4-slave-4-permanent-3.html

Now the only real problem I have is that it is a bit expensive and I am wondering if those RJ45 sockets will slow down my up and/or downlink at all. I'll be running shielded CAT6 cables into the protector which will be pumping out nearly 1GBps. Now if I for some reason see a 10% downgrade I'm cool with that as 900Mbps is still more then plenty for network traffic, but I'd hate for my fibre ping to go through the roof due to a silly protector.

What do you guys think and/or do you guys have any experience with this specific block, the brand or the question posed above?

Regards,
ReSpawN


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## TwoCables

When I had an actual tech out for a problem I was experiencing with horrible internet speeds, he saw my cable and phone line connected to my Tripp-Lite HT10DBS before the connection was made to the Comcast cable modem. He told me that this was absolutely unnecessary because phone lines and cable lines are already protected before they get to the house. He said that the only thing my HT10DBS might be doing is, it might be introducing noise into my internet connection and thus reducing my performance. He had me disconnect the cables and go directly into the modem and to my surprise, that improved things immediately - but not completely. I still had very old cabling in the walls that he bypassed with a very brand new cable that was designed for the much higher bandwidth and that fixed my problem entirely. He added a Subscriber Amplifer for good measure, which actually helped even more.

So, just experiencing the improvement after connecting directly taught me that yeah, there's a chance you could get inferior performance if your lines aren't connected directly to the cable modem or whichever.

After that, now I kinda believe that these protections exist because of demand, not because of necessity. I think the true experts who design these things know they're not helping anything, but customers would demand them if they didn't have them and it's easier to just manufacture them instead of educating the customer. If I'm wrong about this, then so be it, but my experience above tells me I might be right. The tech wasn't surprised my performance improved right away after connecting the wire and cable directly from the wall to the modem instead of going through my surge suppressor first, high-end as though it may be it still didn't help.


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## ReSpawNnL

Exactly what I expected. In the Netherlands we call it a "broodje aap" which loosly translates to "monkey sandwich". I realise that doesn't translate that well, so we just call it an urban legend.









I am still on the fence however. On the one side I am only looking for a master/slave block and on the other I'd still like a bit more protection. Brennenstuhl even offers a 5.000.000 euro's reimbursement if things go sideways. I've talked to a lot of people and it's evenly divided. The one camp says you better do it and protect your gear and the other side says it rarely happens, if it does you can get your money from the insurance back and they even say that when there is only that one single plug that isn't protected you're still screwed.

So basically the answer to my question is this: yes, surge protectors can interfere with your connection, stability and speed.
The other question remains: it is wise to buy a surge protector.

I'd have to more research as to find out of this is wise or not...


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## TwoCables

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ReSpawNnL*
> 
> Exactly what I expected. In the Netherlands we call it a "broodje aap" which loosly translates to "monkey sandwich". I realise that doesn't translate that well, so we just call it an urban legend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am still on the fence however. On the one side I am only looking for a master/slave block and on the other I'd still like a bit more protection. Brennenstuhl even offers a 5.000.000 euro's reimbursement if things go sideways. I've talked to a lot of people and it's evenly divided. The one camp says you better do it and protect your gear and the other side says it rarely happens, if it does you can get your money from the insurance back and they even say that when there is only that one single plug that isn't protected you're still screwed.
> 
> So basically the answer to my question is this: yes, surge protectors can interfere with your connection, stability and speed.
> The other question remains: it is wise to buy a surge protector.
> 
> I'd have to more research as to find out of this is wise or not...


It's only beneficial to protect things that plug into an electrical outlet. Other things like phone lines and cable lines for TV/internet/digital phone don't need protection because they are protected outside. They have to be because these things are very sensitive and carry audio signals, data signals and TV signals, but your electrical power lines do not and so they are probably not protected outside. Thus, you should use a surge protector inside for plugs that go into electrical outlets.

Of course, if you find absolutely 0% difference in your internet performance (even after extensive testing and benchmarking, tracerouting, etc. etc. etc.) between having your lines connected to the surge protector and having them connected directly, then there's nothing wrong with having them connected to the surge protector. However, if you find inferior performance due to having the surge protector on the signal path, then you have to decide if it's worth it even though you know your lines are already protected outside.


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## CynicalUnicorn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TwoCables*
> 
> It's only beneficial to protect things that plug into an electrical outlet. Other things like phone lines and cable lines for TV/internet/digital phone don't need protection because they are protected outside. They have to be because these things are very sensitive and carry audio signals, data signals and TV signals, but your electrical power lines do not and so they are probably not protected outside. Thus, you should use a surge protector inside for plugs that go into electrical outlets.
> 
> Of course, if you find absolutely 0% difference in your internet performance (even after extensive testing and benchmarking, tracerouting, etc. etc. etc.) between having your lines connected to the surge protector and having them connected directly, then there's nothing wrong with having them connected to the surge protector. However, if you find inferior performance due to having the surge protector on the signal path, then you have to decide if it's worth it even though you know your lines are already protected outside.


I suppose if you have a closed network and every single switch, router, and computer is surge-protected, then no, you don't really need to run Ethernet through the surge protector.

However, any single wire coming in from the outside world can be overloaded and fry components on the other end. Phone lines, coax cable lines, whatever. They're all vulnerable. Best practice is to sacrifice a bit of speed over safety. Did the tech specify where the surge protection was? If it was dealt with in a box on your house, you're probably safe. If it's somewhere at a box on your street, maybe not.

Granted, the chance of having a surge fry your system is low, but whether taking the risk is worth an extra 5% download speed is up to you. I can run some tests using my UPS' Ethernet protection ports, actually, but I don't expect it to be significant.


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