Lightning damage has destroyed over 50,000 modems in homes across New South Wales, Australia. As the Guardian reports, NBN Co will be replacing the faulty units. The modems could not handle the surge from lightning storms, generating numerous stories of sparking, burned out equipment.
Many homes in the region have FttC (fiber-to-the-curb) connections that require a modem to bring each individual dwelling into the network. Over 700,000 people have a network where the fiber line only comes up to the edge of the property with homeowners relying on copper wire connections to pull the signal indoors. Lightning traveling along the copper pathway overpowered and destroyed the modems, leaving those households without connectivity.
The mixed technology employed by NBN resulted in over 100,000 modems that had to be replaced in 2020, with 2021 likely to match or exceed that number. The conjunction boxes meant to control the surge have also experienced a high fail rate with 31,000 of them being replaced so far.
The company has acknowledged the problems with the delivery system and says that they have identified the reasons for the faulty performance and are taking steps to correct the problem with the modems. An NBN spokesman said that replacement units are being provided to homeowners, who will be able to install their own equipment.
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