What is the best way to power surge protect a Shaw modem and devices attached to it?

[muse2u]

I want to protect my Shaw modem and devices attached to it from power surges and lightning. The Shaw modem has two risks: power surge coming from hydro power (e.g. an unclean hydro source or a power startup after an outage) and coax cable from Shaw (lightning, power surge). I plan to purchase a power surge bar that has hydro power plugs, coax in/out, internet cable in/out, telephone in/out (e.g. telephone direct connect or fax connection for PC).

For most home devices, using the hydro power protection is sufficient. For the modem its more complicated. You would certainly use the hydro power protection by plugging the modem power cable into the power surge bar. But what is the better way to protect the modem and/or the devices attached to the internet cable, from power surges in the coax feed from Shaw..

You could use the power surge bar coax in/out between the Shaw coax and the modem. This would protect both the modem and any devices attached to the modem internet ports.

Or, you could use the power surge bar internet in/out between the modem and attached device (i.e. the attached device could be a direct connect to one device or to a switch/bridge that connects several other devices). All of the devices mentioned would also be hydro protected by the power surge bar. This option would sacrifice the modem but would protect the attached devices.

I assume that inserting any electronic device (power surge bar) between two components has the potential of degrading the signal. Depending on the circuit design/quality, that may be minimal or significant.

Due to the nature of the Shaw coax signal, I assume that the greatest risk of degradation is if the power surge bar is inserted between the Shaw coax and the modem in. I don't know if Shaw has a way of accessing the modem and measuring that interference.

If the power surge bar is inserted between the modem internet out and the attached devices, there may still be risk of degradation, probably increasing as the speed of the internet connection to the attached device increases.

I have not seen any documentation on the Shaw site identifying the best way to protect our devices from a power surge coming from the Shaw modem.

Does anyone have experience using a power surge bar, that has been designed to protect coax and internet connections, with a Shaw modem?

[mdk · Accepted solution]

>  I don't know if Shaw has a way of accessing the modem and measuring that interference.

Shaw can remotely access your modem -- that's how they configure the Internet speed that you pay for.

I would:

1. Shaw coax -> COAX-IN on the power-bar, and COAX-OUT on the power-bar to the Shaw modem. This protects the Shaw modem from any "spikes" coming-in on the COAX.

2. Connect the power-cord's "male" cord to BC Hydro (or your local provider).

3. Connect power-cord from the Shaw modem to the power-bar.  This protects Shaw's modem.

4. Connect your devices (computer & monitor & external disk-drive & printer) to the power-bar. So, everything that you own is protected.

[mdk]

One more:

5. Connect the CAT5/CAT5E/CAT6 network cable to the Shaw modem and to your computer. Since both the Shaw modem and your computer are protected by the same power-bar, there will not be any surges across that cable.

[muse2u]

Thanks for your input mdk.

When I originally posted, I was trying to establish whether buying a premium priced power bar that included coax, internet (CAT) and phone (RJ11) cable protection, was a good investment. The additional features were either effective at protecting the attached devices or simply a marketing differentiation. I didn't realize, when I started looking into this, that there were many variables to consider.

I have had several conversations with Shaw first and second level support since posting. They were not able to provide me documented recommendations, so it was hard to distinguish between anecdotal and experienced engineering recommendations. Here are some comments that I made note of (and if there are any Shaw engineers in the audience, please feel free to correct because I am just relaying what I heard and my interpretation):

1. If you have optical fiber to your home, power surges or lightning strikes down your Shaw cable feed should not be an issue.

2. Shaw coax cable feeds are grounded at point of house entry.

3. The Shaw coax cable grounding is typically between a "special" cable splitter at point of house entry and the closest ground (in our case a water pipe).

4. The cable splitter has its own "power surge protection" properties (?).

In practice, because of 2 - 3, power surges or lightning strikes down your Shaw cable feed have not been found to be an issue.

5. Shaw confirmed mdk's point that they have the ability to connect to the modem to monitor coax cable errors.

6. There was no consensus to whether putting the coax feed into the power bar would result in no signal deterioration, in some signal deterioration (with subsequent packet errors), or the modem would simply stop to work.

Some other non-Shaw specific observations:

7. The effectiveness of the surge protector power bar, is only as good as the path to ground:

a. If you don't have a grounded (3 wire) home circuit, it will not afford protection.

b. If your power spike exceeds the "joules" rating protection, it may not afford protection.

c. If we are talking an extreme spike (or lightning), the distance between the power bar and the electrical system's ground and the effectiveness of the electrical conductor becomes a factor. If the distance is too far and the conductor "not appropriate", the electricity my decide to take a more destructive path to ground.

8. Many conversations on the internet about surge protection suggest using a "whole house surge protector", in addition to the individual power surge power bars. I checked our hydro power provider.. no mention on their web site.. talked to customer service "What is that?..Protecting the whole house from power surges from our service does sound like a good idea!..Oh, no we don't install that!"

9.  Depending on which Windows version you have, you can evaluate the impact of attaching the internet feed to the power surge bar by monitoring the packet loss using the Ethernet Connection Status Activity. The loss used to be displayed by default Windows 8 and down. In Windows 10 there is a registry hack to accomplish this display but I have yet to see it work.

What really be useful is a Shaw engineer formally documenting the protection of the Shaw Modem and customer devices attached to it.