Uh...nasty. I hear surge protectors aren't much use unless you use them properly (without extentions or other surge protected stuff), and many people don't. Though, in your case it sounds like the charge went through your phone/cable line. Most surge protectors shield this too now, fortunately.
And if you used the surge protector correctly and with a shielded network, maybe god got angry at you. ;-)
My router doesn't do VPN, it just passes it through, which is enough for most people. I've never, ever needed it though - I'm not even sure what it is. ;-)
