APC Surge Protector for Ethernet Data Port (10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet lines), ProtectNet (PNET1GB)

I always wondered if this item would truly do it's job. Some of the reviews have not been favorable and some are. Now I have real world experience with this Surge Protector. My signal comes in via coaxial to the modem which is connected to old Asus router I was using as my wi-fi access point. This Asus Router was connected, via an Ethernet cable, to an expensive Cisco Commercial Router. I parked the APC Surge Protector at the end of that Ethernet Cable and then plugged the other end of the APC into my commercial router's WAN. It sat there for quite a while and I had no idea if it was actually going to work. Sometime in the last week the coaxial cable coming into my home experienced some type of surge (probably lightning) that ran up the line to the modem, then through the Ethernet Cable connected to the Asus Router, through the outgoing Ethernet cable connected to the APC Surge Protector. That surge evidenced itself as follows: Burnt connections in the outside coaxial cable as well as my inside coaxial cable running to the alcove where my equipment is installed. It then proceeded to fry the modem (owned by the ISP, so no harm no foul) thru the Ethernet Cable (which was also burnt out) connected to the Asus Router. It fried the Asus Router then and ran down the Ethernet cable with the APC Surge Protector at the end which was connected to the Commercial Router. Bottom line is the lightning strike took out everything (including Ethernet Cables) all the way up to the APC Surge Protector. It protected that router as well as my expensive CAT 6 cabling throughout the residence. In other words, the APC Surge Protector DID IT'S JOB.

We have a lot of electrical storms here, and because we have devices outside connected with CAT6 cable (generator, 5Ghz dish for our internet etc.) I wanted those incoming connections to go through a surge suppressor before plugging into my network switch, even though they are also fully shielded and grounded connections. It never hurts to be save with all the electrical storms we have around here.I bought a couple of these things back in 2015 and took the time to mount and properly ground them well. Then in 2017 I bought a couple more for additional devices, trusting that they still do the job but never really knowing since despite all the electrical storms we've had, nothing has been struck and nothing has gone out. Perhaps that in itself is a testament to these things... but I still wasn't sure if these had capability to absorb multiple hits, or if they are single use.That changed this past weekend. We had a killer electrical storm right above our house and at the same moment we saw a massive lightning strike, the power went out for a few seconds and our internet went out and stayed out. (We get our internet from the 5Ghz dish outside from a nearby mountain since there is nothing else available in our area.)The dish seemed okay. The POE injector was still sending power, the radio on the back still had activity and RX lights, the link on my switch port was still showing 100Mbps full duplex, but no internet. I tried everything... replacing the POE injector, rebooting the dish and even leaving the dish's radio unplugged for 24h to drain it completely. I was about to go order a new radio and then thought, "hey, why not remove the surge suppressor" even though network and power seemed to be passing through it just fine. That was it! the lightning must have caused enough of a surge to trigger it. Once I removed it and replaced it with a new one, my dish was back online.So, here's some proof that these things actually work. Happy to buy a replacement for $23 vs. a new switch for hundreds (assuming it would have gone through to my switch... and if that's true, where would it go from there!)

Lightning took out my last router but since I’ve installed this my electronics have been spared. Outstanding performance and good quality for the money

I picked up 3 of these for providing surge protection between my Xfinity cable modem/router (rented from Comcast) and my equipment. The cable modem has 4 ethernet ports. I am a bit paranoid about having only the cable modem between the incoming cable and my equipment. Why? Over the last few years I've had 3 surges through the cable coax (probably from lightning) that resulted in damaged equipment downstream from the modem. It seems apparent that whatever protection Comcast has out at the street is not effective. My UPS has a surge protector for an ethernet connection, but that covers only one device; hence, the need for 3 of these to cover the remaining ports.The nice thing about these surge protectors is their small footprint and single purpose design, exactly what my scheme needs. A short cat-5 cable comes in the package so in some sense nothing extra is required for adding one of these protectors to an existing cat-5 line. What I mean by "in some sense" is that you do have to attach the green pig tail wire to a grounding line, and a duplex plug may or may not be close enough for you to hook onto its center screw. A solution to consider is as follows: pick up a 3 prong repair plug and hook up 12 gauge wire to the ground pin connection (leaving the power blades floating). That provides a secure, pluggable ground which can be extended to where it can be connected to the surge protector across a bus bar. Assuming these surge protectors are as effective as other reviews indicate (something I hope to never find out), I couldn't be more pleased.