Surge Protection with modem

Question

I have a UPS between my PC and the wall, this also has input and output called Cable/Video Surge Protection. So the only potential damage path is the modem to the router to my computer through ethernet. So I was wondering if I were to put the coaxial cable into this, if it would lower the quality of the signal and give me slower internet? I know for ethernet, it says its 10/100 Base T which if I did that, would lower me from my usual 1Gbps connection to the router. So how do I tell if the coaxial will slow me down?

Answer 1

Surge protection should not interrupt the signal path of anything passing through it, save for when a dangerously high voltage spike is present on the line. Surge protection for an Ethernet network might make the design choice of only passing two signal pairs through, thus making gigabit Ethernet (which uses all 4 pairs, bidirectionally as needed) impossible, and forcing your network adapter to fall back to 100BASE-TX. No such physical problem exists for a connection between your cable service and your cable modem, and as such during normal operation you should be able to get your full service speed through a cable surge protector, even if that surge protector was not designed with DOCSIS service in mind.

However, cable systems have some innate degree of protection, as the entire path is shielded coaxial cable. Your cable connection from your provider is very likely grounded from the shield to earth ground at your cable demarcation point, where the provider's lines connect to your house's cable TV wiring. Depending on your particular UPS, the protection provided may be no more complex than this, and if that is the case, would provide no additional protection and no benefit to you. (Of course even if it provides no benefit, it should still be harmless to use.)

Beyond the theory, there is a simple way to demonstrate without a doubt that your speed is not reduced, and that would be to use an internet speed test (your provider likely has one for use by their customers) to test your speed with an without the cable surge protector in-line. As I cannot guarantee that your UPS's surge protector does not do something abnormal among surge protectors that would reduce your internet speed, I would advise performing this test anyway.