One quick question please, due to past experience, I always shut down my computer during a thunderstorm.

Is it ok to use my smartphone with wifi during a thunderstorm without risking any damage?

I will be interested to hear the responses to this and have a feeling it was discussed before a while ago?

I never shut down and continue to use both.

What's life without a little risk.........

9 minutes ago, topt said:

I will be interested to hear the responses to this and have a feeling it was discussed before a while ago?

I never shut down and continue to use both.

What's life without a little risk.........

 

10 minutes ago, topt said:

I will be interested to hear the responses to this and have a feeling it was discussed before a while ago?

I never shut down and continue to use both.

What's life without a little risk.........

I have had my modem blown up twice in thunderstorms, that's why I asked the question.

Just now, possum1931 said:

 

I have had my modem blown up twice in thunderstorms, that's why I asked the question.

I agree with you about taking certain risks in life, but not if something bad happening is almost a certainty.

Just shutting down your computer might be a false sense of security.  To be safe, you really need to unplug all cables (power, Ethernet, phone line, etc) from the computer and all attached devices like monitors and speakers.

1 hour ago, wpcoe said:

Just shutting down your computer might be a false sense of security.  To be safe, you really need to unplug all cables (power, Ethernet, phone line, etc) from the computer and all attached devices like monitors and speakers.

Exactly.  I had a home office 20 years ago.  Though I had installed surge protectors on my power lines, I had never even thought about phone, ethernet and cable lines.

During a big electrical storm, a utility pole in front of my house was directly hit by a lightning strike.  $10,000 worth of fax machines, 2-way radio gear, computers, ect went "PFYZZTT"

During thunderstorms, anything plugged in should be unplugged. You don't have to worry about wireless stuff.

As mentioned above the reasoning is that if your power lines gets struck the surge can go through all of your electric devices  and burn them.  The same goes for phone lines.

 

To answer the OP, yes and no. It is safe to use the phone on WiFi, but it is not safe to have your WiFi router plugged in.

 

 

The danger in Thailand is that your power cables are above ground so there is a risk of a lightning strike on the cables feeding your house. We have TOT fibre to home now so it's removed the risk of a telephone line being struck although still running the same risks if the power lines are hit to take out modem and router. So many Thais are scared of having their mobile phone switched on during a thunderstorm but I presume this is a throwback to telephone lines being struck and has become part of folklore now.

Someone was struck by lightning a couple of days ago in the village next to mine (south Surin). Haven't managed to find out yet what the late person was up to at the time - mobile phone, computer, sheltering under a tree ...

WI-FI connection is as unlikely to cause issues as the phone network connection, Only concern would be having the charger connected or a USB connection to a device that is currently 'plugged in'. There is also the concern of getting water in the device!

21 hours ago, possum1931 said:

I agree with you about taking certain risks in life, but not if something bad happening is almost a certainty.

 

Don't understand.....if you think it is almost a certainty that something bad will happen....why are you posing the question?......just asking.

The only risk is to your health and getting struck by lightning  if you are standing out in the open. Without a wired connection there is nothing that is going to conduct damaging current to your smartphone.

35 minutes ago, dotpoom said:

 

Don't understand.....if you think it is almost a certainty that something bad will happen....why are you posing the question?......just asking.

OK, I'll give you an example, if some authority made some law or rule that I do not agree with, and I thought I would get away with it, I would break it, but only if I was not going to interfere with anyone else.

 

Using Using your mobile is not a risk. It is a risk if you use it in a thunderstorm whilst it is plugged in and charging.

6 hours ago, wpcoe said:

Just shutting down your computer might be a false sense of security.  To be safe, you really need to unplug all cables (power, Ethernet, phone line, etc) from the computer and all attached devices like monitors and speakers.

And don't forget to turn the mirrors fo face the wall!!??:-)

 

1 hour ago, sandrabbit said:

The danger in Thailand is that your power cables are above ground so there is a risk of a lightning strike on the cables feeding your house. We have TOT fibre to home now so it's removed the risk of a telephone line being struck although still running the same risks if the power lines are hit to take out modem and router. So many Thais are scared of having their mobile phone switched on during a thunderstorm but I presume this is a throwback to telephone lines being struck and has become part of folklore now.

the risk of a phone line being struck is removed and the risk but the risk that the cable carrying your fiber is struck remains as the cable contains a twisted steel wire to protect it from wear and tear damage.

A lightening strike smoked my friends washer, dryer, refrigerator & computer in one micro second!

Are we talking just Thunder storms or thunder and lightning or lightning storms.

THUNDER storms no need to turn anything off. lightning involved I suppose yes if you house isn't earthed correctly which I suspect is the case for most Thai homes. But I don't bother just carry on as normal been in some humongous electrical storms was still using radio equipment still here. you hear of people being struck and houses ect but I suspect they are few and far between incidents.do trains/planes/cars stop when they suddenly enter a storm??? no of course not. Do shops restaurants and Banks close there doors and cower away of course not.

I would like you to go to the highest point of your location. Camp there for a week over the raining season and use your phone with silver foil.

 

Report back to us the findings ok. OK

7 hours ago, wpcoe said:

Just shutting down your computer might be a false sense of security.  To be safe, you really need to unplug all cables (power, Ethernet, phone line, etc) from the computer and all attached devices like monitors and speakers.

I just in boxed Prayut on snap chat. He has insured transparency on the topic. He says after the BUDDHA statue explosion due to uunforseen lighting. He has  now introduced section  66 for this. Do not worry

59 minutes ago, Deepinthailand said:

Are we talking just Thunder storms or thunder and lightning or lightning storms.

THUNDER storms no need to turn anything off. lightning involved I suppose yes if you house isn't earthed correctly which I suspect is the case for most Thai homes. But I don't bother just carry on as normal been in some humongous electrical storms was still using radio equipment still here. you hear of people being struck and houses ect but I suspect they are few and far between incidents.do trains/planes/cars stop when they suddenly enter a storm??? no of course not. Do shops restaurants and Banks close there doors and cower away of course not.

it is not possible to have thunder without lightning. Thunder is a direct result of lightning. However, it IS possible that you might see lightning and not hear the thunder because it was too far away. Sometimes this is called “heat lightning” because it occurs most often in the summer.

"Is it ok to use my smartphone with wifi during a thunderstorm without risking any damage?" YES! Nothing will happend to any wireless Devices.

 

 

4 minutes ago, ujayujay said:

"Is it ok to use my smartphone with wifi during a thunderstorm without risking any damage?" YES! Nothing will happend to any wireless Devices.

 

 

except that the wifi network and modem are powered

So when there is a thunderstorm in the middle of the night how many people actually get up and turn off and unplug all their wired devices...........including air cons (which are of course often hardwired)............

58 minutes ago, longball53098 said:

it is not possible to have thunder without lightning. Thunder is a direct result of lightning. However, it IS possible that you might see lightning and not hear the thunder because it was too far away. Sometimes this is called “heat lightning” because it occurs most often in the summer.

Incorrect sorry

24 minutes ago, Deepinthailand said:

Incorrect sorry

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunder

As stated thunder is the noise caused by Lightning

Also most fibre optic cables that I have used have a glass fibre component to guard against cutting and chafing and also as a catenery for the pull of the weight of the cable. I have never seen fibre with steel wire armour or catenary.

just a comment on this above ground cabling and below ground cabling

 

when I went to University (a few ages ago) I had part time jobs and vacation jobs with the local electricity generating company (working in the technical operations command centre)

 

during summer, frequent thunderstorms / lightning, lightning hitting below ground cables (exploding connections as a result) happened all the time, all the time

 

(below ground cabling looks nicer than above ground cabling

 lightning fancies all sorts of cabling, above or below

 above ground cabling is cheaper and easier and quicker to repair than below ground cabling)

 

I think my main lesson re lightning from those years can be summed up as follows;

 

lightning is potentially very dangerous

lightning is immensely powerful

lightning has its own will that defies any known logic

lightning smashing through a big concrete building might as well opt to bang through foot thick heavy concrete walls

rather than following solid metallic conductors in the house

having banged through the house the lightning might conclude that this was fun, then turn around and bang through

the heavy concrete walls for a 2nd fun ride, leaving a wrecked building

 

this is neither joke nor exageration, happened every summer

 

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, Dionigi said:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunder

As stated thunder is the noise caused by Lightning

Also most fibre optic cables that I have used have a glass fibre component to guard against cutting and chafing and also as a catenery for the pull of the weight of the cable. I have never seen fibre with steel wire armour or catenary.

many things exist that you have not seen.

both my fiber optic cables look like this:

 

 

19 minutes ago, Dionigi said:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunder

As stated thunder is the noise caused by Lightning

Also most fibre optic cables that I have used have a glass fibre component to guard against cutting and chafing and also as a catenery for the pull of the weight of the cable. I have never seen fibre with steel wire armour or catenary.

I said incorrect sorry

On Saturday, October 29, 2016 at 3:50 PM, possum1931 said:

 

I have had my modem blown up twice in thunderstorms, that's why I asked the question.

Most people telling you it's OK to use a smartphone with wifi on are OK; the ones who got an electric shock and died remain silent...