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We had a thunderstorm earlier this week and one of the flashes was obviously extremely close. There was an almighty bang and an orange flash. We looked but could see no obvious damage anywhere. Later that evening however I found that my modem was no longer working and was as dead as a Dodo. Luckily I still had an old modem from a previous broadband supplier and that still worked OK.
It appears that lightning struck telephone wires and the charge came down through the line and caused quite a bit of damage in our street. A number of people have had to buy new phones and, at least one other person, had his modem destroyed.
I always switch my computer off at the mains when it is not in use and, thankfully, that was not affected but I have never thought to unplug the phone especially if there are storms about. I will in future.
Here in France we can have seriously impressive electrical storms and people in the village have lost TV sets, not only phones. We have all our sensitive equipment go through surge protected blocks which may or may not help. Whenever we hear thunder we switch everything off as it can be right on top of you in no time. Good photo opportunities though 
A few years back, when I was photographing a wedding, the epicentre of a thunderstorm was right over the church. Partway through the register shots, I wondered why the shutter speed had suddenly become an awful lot longer. The electrical field had reprogrammed the F100 that I was using. I switched to the F2 that was my ultimate backup to complete the register shots and do the recession.
All our F100 bodies needed to be set up again from scratch but there was no lasting damage.
Same here Dogsbody, Neighbours modem 2 weeks ago; And another neighbour last week whilst home working - modem and PC for him.
Our virgin fibre also went out last week but i can't see how this is related to lightening.
11 years ago I was chatting to a lady friend online when a thunderstorm took out my modem. That lady is now my wife and on the day of our wedding 4 years ago another thunderstorm broke as we wed. Do you think somebody was sending a message? Lol. Good thing I don’t believe in portents, omens or prophetic events
I remember when I was a youngster at home my Old Mum you to switch every thing off during a storm from Tv to lights just to be safe.
We don't seem to do that now?
Tony
Quote: First and last time Adrian......takes a lightning strike to shut her up nowadays...lol....just kidding dear. And yes, she is very easy going
I like it! Me and "her" got engaged on Friday 13th March, married on 15th July. This July we'll be celebrating 40 years married life!
Speaking of lightning strikes; I remember years ago they had a picture on the front page of the local paper of this poor old man lying in a hospital bed. He had been going to get in his truck during a thunderstorm, and when he grabbed the door handle, he was struck by lightning. They found him lying in his driveway beside the truck with smoke rising off him. The journalist asked him what it felt like to be hit by lightning. He replied; "It smarts!"
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