Recently we had a violent thunderstorm here in Cairns. I was home and didn't think to disconnect the phone, power and TV antenna cables from the wall sockets. Bad move.
There was a lightening strike very close to my place, and simultaneously my modem lit up and made a very loud crack sound, absolutely freaking the dog out, (already disturbed by the thunder).
Needless to say, the modem was toast. I have had it apart and verified that the spike entered via the RJ12 port and fried a chip (exploded) and several other components. Three neighbours lost their modems as well.

In the nanoseconds that this happened, the spike was able to pass through the modem and take out the Ethernet circuitry on my PC mother board, before going open circuit.
I happened to have a spare modem (long story), plugged it in - all good, except that I couldn't connect to the internet.
The power for my PC and other peripherals such as the modem power pack, cordless phone, monitors, and printer all go through a UPS which is supplied AC through a power board with protection.
However, I had not fed the phone cable, (I have FTTN not FTTP), through the power board RJ12 I/O sockets because I had read that it hinders the NBN speed.

This brings me to my question, (sorry it took a while), but can someone give a definitive answer on whether or not a surge protector will hinder the NBN signal, and if not; is there a quality device that is up to the job?

Thanks guys
PB