The phone company told my friend his modem took out his phone line.I was not aware this could happen. If this could happen, how would the phone company know? Thanks in advance Fred:(

I've had a dial up modem killed by a lightning storm! Presumably there was some kind of static build up in the phone line that blew the circuits.

The only way I can imagine the modem blowing the line would be through a power surge that killed other devices attached to the computer like the cd rom, hard drive, keyboard etc. Even then I'm not sure that that would carry all the way through the phone line back to the switching box (or whatever has blown).

Have you had any storms recently?

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Originally Posted by StuMegu

I've had a dial up modem killed by a lightning storm! Presumably there was some kind of static build up in the phone line that blew the circuits.

The only way I can imagine the modem blowing the line would be through a power surge that killed other devices attached to the computer like the cd rom, hard drive, keyboard etc. Even then I'm not sure that that would carry all the way through the phone line back to the switching box (or whatever has blown).

Have you had any storms recently??

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No Storm and no other devices harmed.Thanks.

Hi, Radio,
I also have never heard of any modem "taking out a phone line". I have used both the internal and external modems, working on friends' computers as well, and have never experienced this.
I do know that if you call the phone company to check for static on the phone line, the first thing you should do is unhook the computer (or the modem) from the phone line. It can interfere with the tests.
Best wishes to you and your friend.

Nope, modems do not "take out" phone lines. It's usually the other way around - some surge travels down the phone line and fries the modem. Telcos have surge protectors for signals coming into their COs. What exactly is wrong with the phone line anyway? Can your friend still make voice calls?

The modem has got spark when it was trying to connect to the server and that`s the reason