I have a friend that is a tech for VZ and goes around replacing cell gear hit by lightning. Even with the protection that VZ puts on their equipment, grounding, surge arrestors, etc., let's just say he gets a lot of overtime during the summer. ;-) No matter what you do to try to protect the gear, you will still see some failures. Of course, those failures can be reduced by adding surge protection.
I think you have to look at the numbers to see if they work for you. If you can estimate your failure rate and the cost each failure costs, then you can compare with the $30~50 more you will spend to try to protect it. Also, you can compare the cost to the cost of a radio that has built-in surge protection (usually a few $$ more to pay for the protection device). If the numbers work out, then add the protection. If it does not, then don't. Of course there is also the health aspect I suppose... ;-) -Hal ______________________ Harold Bledsoe Deliberant LLC 800.742.9865 x205 http://www.deliberant.com -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of KyWiFi LLC Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 3:53 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] lightning Lightning is by far the largest threat to our WISP. It would be interesting to know the typical CPE failure rate (due to lightning) experienced by WISP's. I know that we'll replace 10% (+/- 5%) this year due to lightning. We use the $30 Citel brand Cat5 surge protectors on both ends of the outdoor shielded Cat5 and we also ground the mounting arm to an approved earth ground via 10 guage copper wire. I don't believe we've taken any direct strikes, mainly blown Ethernet ports on the CPE or AP. IMO, owning a WISP would be a LOT less stressful if wireless gear was not so prone to damage caused by lightning. BTW, if you would like to share your own CPE-lightning-failure-rates with the list, please do so. Same goes for lightning protection tips, tricks and wisdom. Anyone using coaxial surge protection on 50% or more of your CPE installations? If so, would you say that it is worth the extra $15 - $20 per install? How do your failure rates with coaxial surge protection compare with installations where there is none? Shannon D. Denniston, Co-Founder KyWiFi, LLC - Mt. Sterling, Kentucky "Your Hometown Broadband Provider" http://www.KyWiFi.com Call Us Today: 859.274.4033 =========================== $29.99 DSL High Speed Internet $14.99 Home Phone Service $19.99 All Digital Satellite TV - No Phone Line Required for DSL - FREE Activation & Equipment - Affordable Upfront Pricing - Locally Owned & Operated - We Also Service Most Rural Areas =========================== ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brent Hegerfeld" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'WISPA General List'" <wireless@wispa.org> Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 5:06 PM Subject: RE: [WISPA] lightning Lightning has not been very kind to us the past few months. Knocked a backhaul out on our main tower, another tower hit 3 times (twice in 1 week), another tower hit this past week, going on 10+ CPE's. I'm told the probability of lightning over the next 4 months is low. Let's hope. Brent Hegerfeld East Allen High Speed Internet, LLC. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of KyWiFi LLC Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 1:31 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] lightning We offer an optional $4.99 Equipment Protection Plan for residential subscribers and it's $9.99 for Commercial and Non-Profit accounts. If they wish to waive it, they must furnish us with documentation from their insurance agency stating that it will be covered. No exceptions. As a result, approx. 95% of our subscribers purchase our EPP. The added revenue allows us to cover the cost of CPE that gets taken out by lightning and the associated service call fees we incur. Shannon D. Denniston, Co-Founder KyWiFi, LLC - Mt. Sterling, Kentucky "Your Hometown Broadband Provider" http://www.KyWiFi.com Call Us Today: 859.274.4033 =========================== $29.99 DSL High Speed Internet $14.99 Home Phone Service $19.99 All Digital Satellite TV - No Phone Line Required for DSL - FREE Activation & Equipment - Affordable Upfront Pricing - Locally Owned & Operated - We Also Service Most Rural Areas =========================== ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marlon K. Schafer (509) 982-2181" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 1:00 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] lightning If it's your equipment and the customer didn't damage it (hit it with a rock etc.) then it's your problem to deal with. The cheaper the gear, usually the easier it is to break :-). I've had much less trouble this year with cpe from Tranzeo than from any other brand I've used. Marlon (509) 982-2181 Equipment sales (408) 907-6910 (Vonage) Consulting services 42846865 (icq) And I run my own wisp! 64.146.146.12 (net meeting) www.odessaoffice.com/wireless www.odessaoffice.com/marlon/cam ----- Original Message ----- From: chris cooper To: 'WISPA General List' Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 7:55 AM Subject: [WISPA] lightning We had the lightning storm of the century here 2 days ago. It was an awesome spectacle to witness. It was a much more distressing spectacle to watch our network map begin to blink red all over the place. Which leads me to a couple of questions: How do you handle customer installations that get fried? We install and own the gear. We are taking the external ones on the chin. We took down one panel that has a big black hole right in the center. Another customer has a hole in his roof- our gear died along with the roof. What do you do if the customer AC takes a shot, and burns your equipment? Do they pay because it came in on their side or do you take the replacement and the truck roll on the chin because you own the equipment? We have multiple brands of products on the same towers. The tower that took a hit was populated with, among other things, some B-14s, proxim QB, and some Tranzeos. All units are grounded to the same structure/bussbar. The Tranzeos seem much more sensitive to lightning than some of the other products. Has anyone had any similar experiences with them? Thanks Chris -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
