On Jul 14, 22:34, Jeff Hellige wrote: close the They probably weren't strikes on the line, just spikes induced by near-misses. Phone lines, especially overhead lines, are like big antennae during a thunderstorm. If you ever watch phone engineers working on multicore cables when the skies darken during thunder season, you'll see them getting away from the cable ends fast -- the induced spikes can be quite spectacular. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York