Wireless bridge as lightning protection: Any hardware recomendations?

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jhaarhoff

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Hello

I am using a Billion BiPac 7300W wireless ADSL router, feeding into a gigabit switch for my home network. The Billion is new since the lightning fried my router, NAS, printer and WDTV media player recently.

I can hear more lightning as I type and am getting very paranoid, so I want to use another wireless AP or router in bridging mode, so my gigabit switch is connected to the ADSL router by the wireless bridge, this way at least protecting the home network from the lightning, with only the ADSL router exposed.

So my plan is: internet <=ADSL line=> Billion ADSL router <=Wireless bridge=> New wireless device <=LAN cable=>gigabit switch etc.

Can this plan work? I do realize the lightning can come through the powerlines as well, but telephone seems most exposed around here, and I will get UPSs for that.

If it can work, what should I buy? So far I saw the following:
Asus RT-N10+ http://www.asus.com/Networks/Wireless_Routers/RTN10Plus/
Asus RT-N13U http://www.asus.com/Networks/Wireless_Routers/RTN13U/
And what seems to have the best specs:
TP-Link WR2543ND http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/?model=TL-WR2543ND

Thanks for any advice,
Johan
 
I would rather just use a Surge Protection unit for both the equipment and telephone line, like the following: http://www.prophecy.co.za/p5btsa-es....html?osCsid=0235965bdf8d3096e3f65d4bc407e9b0

I'm really not sure if it would really protect your equipment.

The best would be to unplug your equipment during lightening storms, and the second best would be to get insurance for this kind of thing. It is a rather expensive insurance option for electrical damage protection (or whatever they call it), but it is worth it if you have a lot of electrical equipment.

Lastly, I usually recommend getting a very cheap ADSL modem (eg. D-Link DSL-2500U @ ~R200) if you know the odds of lightning damaging it is quite high.
Most of the posts concerning lightning damage on this thread was cases where only the network controllers got damaged. Like where only the onboard LAN was malfunctioning, and installing a dedicated network card got everything working again.
 
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I do always unplug when there is a storm, but last time it was the first strike I heard that day that did the damage. 

From what I hear from many people the surge protection would not work in case of an direct strike on the telephone line close to my house, exactly what happened last time. But it cannot hurt to have that, and it looks like a nice one you suggest. I know some provide a free guarantee or insurance option, and that might not have an excess. I will investigate further.

The insurance did pay out, but I had a R1000 excess. My NAS lost onboard LAN, making it useless, printer was connected to NAS and lost USB port, media player lost onboard LAN.... So for none the option of a new network card exist. If I had the wireless bridge at that time I would have spent less than the excess, and have a lot less hassles.

Buying a cheaper wireless ADSL modem is an option, then I can still do the bridge, but I do not think I will get away cheaper than the R334 (At Sybaritic) for the ASUS RT-N10+?
 
Have a look at the APC range (http://www.apc.com)

Try to layer your protection: i.e. power protection plug to ups to power protected strip or something like that.

The APC range seems quite decent, with some guarantees (Think to about R20k).

Best is still to unplug, but APC should help with the initial burst.
 
Ponder's suggestion combined with a cheap ADSL modem only unit would be much better than using a wireless bridge between an expensive ADSL modem with WiFi and another WiFi AP.

I think this Ellies Lightening Barrier uses opto-isolation to protect the RJ-11 signal: http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/45536704/Brand_NEW_Ellies_Lightning_Barrier.html
From what I've seen this would be your cheapest + best solution for protecting your ADSL modem.
 
Pada said:
Ponder's suggestion combined with a cheap ADSL modem only unit would be much better than using a wireless bridge between an expensive ADSL modem with WiFi and another WiFi AP.
Click to expand...

Those media converters (Transition Networks ones anyway) are pretty hardy as well, the most common failure I found was always the external power brick but that's cheap to replace.
 
Thanks everyone, got a few good suggestions and new ideas.

I think there are three options:
1) The original idea which PsyWulf agrees will work, but I need to make sure it is a bridge. The ASUS devices claim to be bridges in the marketing but there is nothing in the manual... Esquire has a special, so I might get some bridge cheap.

2) Ponder's fiber optic media converters will also work, but I already have the better modem so the total cost might be more than buying just a bridge. Real benefit here is it is way easier than setting up a bridge, and since I have heard about compatibility issues with bridging devices, this could be more robust.

3) I was not aware of the Ellies lightning barrier, this could be the cheapest/easiest option yet. I see it is modem compatable, but has anyone used it with an ADSL modem? I am a bit worried that the ADSL modem could use a higher frequency than it is able to pass through.
 
jhaarhoff said:
3) I was not aware of the Ellies lightning barrier, this could be the cheapest/easiest option yet. I see it is modem compatable, but has anyone used it with an ADSL modem? I am a bit worried that the ADSL modem could use a higher frequency than it is able to pass through.
Click to expand...

Phoned Ellies, the lightning barrier does not seem suitable for ADSL modems...
 
jhaarhoff said:
Thanks everyone, got a few good suggestions and new ideas.
The ASUS devices claim to be bridges in the marketing but there is nothing in the manual...
Click to expand...

If the firmware is similar to the ADSL router firmware ( looks so from screenshot ) then it doesn't have AP client capability
2) compatibility issues with bridging devices, this could be more robust.
Click to expand...
Never experienced issues like this,only similar issue I know is with some brands running dissimilar hardware for repeaters if both aren't classed as WDS compatible - which we aren't using
 
Feedback:
Bought the "Intellinet 300N Wireless Acess Point". Got it working after an hour or three, no problems.

Thanks everyone for the advice!
 
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