An earpiece that substantially lacks a lower lobe is disclosed. A raw data value for a monitored characteristic of a network device or link is obtained by the management system and compared with a predetermined threshold value for the monitored characteristic. In other embodiments, the invention is a device including a differential termination that can be coupled to a differential link, and an electrical overstress protection circuit coupled to the termination and configured to protect the device against electrical stress during a hot plug event.