I got Smart Metered Today

The meter guy is soon to be unemployed?

nb

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vi --the heart of evil!

That is a pretty stupid question.

Why? Because "IT SAYS RIGHT ON IT".

Use some common sense.

We know how to make meters, and have for decades.

So no special metering is going on.

So, what makes it smart then? Could it be that it can now be read from the street, and that saves the power company on physical labor intensive tasks?

In other words, you are NOT a very smart meter of emerging technology, even though it has been around for years, and you should have been able to guess with great ease, what it was for and what the smart part encompassed.

You ask a dumb question like this then get mad when someone calls you dumb for doing it.

The really scary thing about oblivious, "I only learnt one thing and one thing is all I know" humans is that some of them are nuclear reactor engineers. Truly scary is that they are touted as being so smart, yet have such little common sense.

Here, it's readable via the power lines, no more meter reader guy.

But our rate is time-of-day. Read your bill, you may now be better off to do things like run your pool pump at night.

Our water meters are RFID, a truck drives by once a month. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Does it have a rotating disc? Some smart meters are all electronic, and some are hybrids, an electromotive disc with electronic readout.

amdx wrote in news:6a344$4ff899af$18ec6dd7$4929 @KNOLOGY.NET:

Jou have been had. Now wait for the dire consequences.

Last year I got a letter telling me that I was going to get a shiny new smart meter, it was only when I studied the letter carefully I noticed it wasn't from the supplier I have a contract with - but a competitor, and one that features frequently on consumer watchdog TV shows, for utterly appaling customer service.

They've also been caught on a number of occasions for using fraud tactics to con consumers into switching supplier - the most common ploy is to ask the consumer at the doorstep to sign to verify the rep has made the visit, in actual fact the consumer is being tricked into sign a contract with the "cuckoo" supplier.

When I phoned my supplier and told them, they had words with the rogue trader and I heard no more about it.

;-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

It means you better watch your bill..

They tried to force my father in Maine, to accept a smart meter with sugar coating offerings to bait him in. The law there is, you don't have to accept it.

Read the fine print. A smart meter is more than just a remote RF reader for the guy to just drive by.

Jamie

Via power lines? I really doubt that.

Pretty soon it'll get tied into the smart meter in many neighborhoods. Water/gas/whatever meter sends data to smart meter on 2.45GHz, smart meter sends it along to the utility on 902-928MHz.

It would have, could have, should have HAN capability but they royally blew that opportunity. Could have avoided a ton of flak from the public. It's in there but not turned on and nobody thought about the consumer side.

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

It means that you should brace for rate increases. Out here they applied to the PUC to be granted "recoup" for lost amortization of the old meters. Needless to say it was granted. And now they raise them again, for "infrastructure expenses".

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Sorry that you doubt that. Low data rate via wire to neighborhood modem of some sort. In real time. You can log into SRP's website and read your own _current_ data.

...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

You need to stop drawing conclusions about the real world based on Californification.

You going to be taxed for "high speed rail" to nowhere... enjoy ;-) ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Do you have a mfg and part number for that meter? Or link? And here is why I doubt that:

Quote "The meters use radio frequencies to transmit the data to a central location and eventually to the utility". The utility would have done their darndest to dispute that if it wasn't so. Because the tin foil hat crowd is really going on their nerves since years.

Same here except that they blocked current data last time I checked. The "neighborhood modems" out here are actually boxes with errials on them thar poles :-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Oh yeah? Here's some read'n materials for ya:

Look at the bright side: This vote has greatly increased the likelihood that the governor's tax increase ballot initiative could royally fail.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Know who designed the RFID chip?

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Reply in group, but if emailing add one more
zero, and remove the last word.

I chatted with the installer when he put in the meter. He said "by wire" to that "central location", and he called that location a "modem".

RF might apply in the boonies, but here we're moderate density, 1/3 acre lots.

Ain't no aerials here... this is all underground. They could be using the cell phone towers, they're all over the place. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Installers may not really know how that works in detail. Got no links? What's the name of your utility?

I know a thing or two about this because of my job. It is extremely tough to get the amount of data we are talking about back through all those local transformers and the distribution, until it reaches a substation where there could reasonably be a transceiver. In the US one transformer typically feeds less than half a dozen homes. So there's a lot of those and no way to retrofit all of them for a PLC hop. Unless you guys already have PLC internet or something but that would have to be available in the whole area the utility serves.

So y'all live on top of each other? :-)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Bingo! Of course they will not install new towers when they can hitch a ride on existing infrastructure. The permit process alone would have snuffed out the whole smart meter project.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

I have no idea what brand they may be using. I've designed RFID tags for Single Chip Systems, SIRIT, Intermec, Bella ID, SAVI, and a few others I can't even remember :-) ...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson, CTO | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at

| 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

This might be the one used in your area:

Looks like a mesh network topology using the 900MHz ISM band.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
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