Wait, why are the individual meters wireless at all?
It seems like if you’re running a power cable for ~200 A service (Idk what UK standard is, but that’s what I used to in US), running a small fiber cable in parallel would be trivial - and I expect the data rates coming from these would make a fiber connection “future proof” in the most literal sense of the word.
That would mean digging up existing powerlines into every home though. Making them wireless v8a cellular modem makes them independent enough and avoids depending on WiFi which would place the burden of connectivity on the residents.
Because the power cables have been installed 100 years ago. They are not going to dig them up to run data lines.
Wireless smart meters are in place in other countries as well (Germany for example). However, the wireless module is just a plug in module, changing it out takes about 20 seconds.
Wait, why are the individual meters wireless at all?
It seems like if you’re running a power cable for ~200 A service (Idk what UK standard is, but that’s what I used to in US), running a small fiber cable in parallel would be trivial - and I expect the data rates coming from these would make a fiber connection “future proof” in the most literal sense of the word.
That would mean digging up existing powerlines into every home though. Making them wireless v8a cellular modem makes them independent enough and avoids depending on WiFi which would place the burden of connectivity on the residents.
Because the power cables have been installed 100 years ago. They are not going to dig them up to run data lines.
Wireless smart meters are in place in other countries as well (Germany for example). However, the wireless module is just a plug in module, changing it out takes about 20 seconds.
Also in place in the US - they just use 433 MHz I believe, and some dude drives around in a truck collecting readings from the road.
Oh, missed that this is retrofitting onto old service. I suppose that does make sense (still kinda hate it).
Yeah, sounds Luke theyre making this more complicated than it needs to be.