[O71394658]

Myth #6. COMPUTER MODEM DAMAGE IS CAUSED BY SURGES ON THE PHONE LINE.

The phone line is a high-impedance circuit which cannot support high energy surges, so they die away rapidly after the inducing source (e.g., lightning) disappears. In contrast, the low-impedance power- line provides an ideal propagation network for high-energy surges. Also, the telephone service entrance is protected to under 300 volts, while power-line surges can reach 6000 volts before they will arc over in 110-volt fixtures. Most computer modem damage is caused when high energy power-line surges are diverted to the reference ground and coupled into the digital side of the modem. This elevated voltage then seeks the phone line ground reference on the analog side of the modem and arcs through the modem. As a corollary to this, phone- line protectors which provide shunts to the power-line ground (commonly found as cube taps which provide two phone line jacks that plug into a 110-volt receptacle) may introduce more disturbance to the phone line than they relieve, creating more problems than they solve

Here's some info, even though I don't understand what it means. :/