Dumb meter, dumb company

[rossbyjove]

I finally succumbed to the demands of electric company X and allowed them to fit a smart meter. Another company had tried some years ago and took it out again as it couldn't communicate . I warned company X that this was the case , they were of course quick to claim SMETS2 would work well.
The installer duly arrived today having driven four and a half hours to get here since the ferries were broken, again! and it was his only job down here today. He predicted that the meter wouldn't work but at least I would get a shiny new one.
He duly removed the clockwork device that's been happily whirring away since the early 1970's and fitted a very neat looking box of tricks.
Unsurprisingly when it came to communicating, it couldn't , so I will continue to do as I have done for years and send in the meter readings each month.
Why is it that these dumb companies will not believe the householder or even take heed of previous experiences and still insist on sending an engineer on a nine hour round trip to supply and fit clever electronic devices to areas in which they don't/can't work??

Don't forget someone has to pay the eyewatering amounts of cash to the chinese and french to build and run our nuclear power plants.

 

[rossbyjove]

Nor even a mobile phone in our case, because there's no viable mobile signal at home so we have to use wifi calling.

James

We just cancelled our 'internet' landline.
It never really worked.
Kept cutting out several times during every call and 'synchronising hand set data' took hours, during that time no one could call or calls be made.

 

[enrico]

We just cancelled our 'internet' landline.
It never really worked.
Kept cutting out several times during every call and 'synchronising hand set data' took hours, during that time no one could call or calls be made.

Just cancelled mine too. Paying £3 a month for spam calls

 

[Murox]

We just cancelled our 'internet' landline.
It never really worked.
Kept cutting out several times during every call and 'synchronising hand set data' took hours, during that time no one could call or calls be made.

What on earth is an 'internet landline'?? Surely that's a contradiction in terms? Landlines use wire and cable don't they and the other is VoIP ?

 

[Sutty]

What on earth is an 'internet landline'?? Surely that's a contradiction in terms? Landlines use wire and cable don't they and the other is VoIP ?

If you have a traditional bt landline they are moving to a digital system, so essentially it will  all be voip after everyone is changed.
They give you a new router, and your existing phone (or base station if you have existing wireless handsets) plugs into the back of that.
I suspect that is what is meant by "internet landline".
Unlike traditional landlines power is not then supplied to work the handset via the phone cable, so in the case of a power cut the phone will not work, unlike the traditional system.

 

[Wilco]

If you have a traditional bt landline they are moving to a digital system, so essentially it will  all be voip after everyone is changed.
They give you a new router, and your existing phone (or base station if you have existing wireless handsets) plugs into the back of that.
I suspect that is what is meant by "internet landline".
Unlike traditional landlines power is not then supplied to work the handset via the phone cable, so in the case of a power cut the phone will not work, unlike the traditional system.

Yes, absolute disaster of a system plus if a hacker shuts down your WiFi (not hard), you're stuck. Many businesses are vulnerable to this...

 

[roche]

Peak communications quality was achieved about 20 years ago. It has been downhill since then.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Yes, absolute disaster of a system plus if a hacker shuts down your WiFi (not hard), you're stuck. Many businesses are vulnerable to this...

If it becomes a real risk having a charged mobile phone (or someone nearby with one) is a useful backup. Power cuts can be relatively simply overcome by having a 12 volt battery with lead to plug into your router instead of the wall wart I can forsee some enterprising soul will start selling automatic black boxes containing batteries to connect between wall wart and router such that in a power cut the black box takes over running the router for 15 minutes or so. Perhaps CB radios will see a comeback?

 

[Murox]

Automatic transfer switches have been around for UPS (battery) and generators for a fair while. Curious you mentioned CB radio, there are still many around.

 

[Murox]

Yes, absolute disaster of a system plus if a hacker shuts down your WiFi (not hard), you're stuck. Many businesses are vulnerable to this...

The total reliance upon digital communications is worrying to say the least. We regularly have power cuts here and for folks who are even more remote it's a disaster. It also can't be sensible when one considers how cyber type attacks are becoming common and just how hard is it to to cut a few undersea comms lines and knockout a few satellites. "Doomed, we're all doomed!"

 

[roche]

This any use?
https://amzn.eu/d/2cdxfHB

I've had a bit of a cast around, and cannot find any detailed information on it. But - the use of wifi implies a reasonably significant power consumption. Also, the lack of available documentation means one is buying blind. I suspect it depends on a remote server, so internet connectivity is required. I think a CT is a better bet.

 

[Sutty]

I can forsee some enterprising soul will start selling automatic black boxes containing batteries to connect between wall wart and router such that in a power cut the black box takes over running the router for 15 minutes or so.

AKA an uninteruptible power supply (UPS), been around for decades.
Easy to find a small one that will run a router for a while.
E.G.
https://www.eaton.com/gb/en-gb/cata...er-distribution/eaton-3s-mini-ups---emea.html

BT will also sell you one for about £70.

 

[rossbyjove]

What on earth is an 'internet landline'?? Surely that's a contradiction in terms? Landlines use wire and cable don't they and the other is VoIP ?

You know exactly what I meant.
Do you have an address I can send the Pedant of the Week award to ?

 

[Murox]

You know exactly what I meant.
Do you have an address I can send the Pedant of the Week award to ?

Oddly enough I hadn't got a clue. I have now thanks to some other posts and some reading of websites in between the power cuts this week and the outages of internet. Technology is great when it works but it all needs electritickery to make it go and the supply of it is not especially reliable up here at the moment even though Scotland has an abundance of it. Even mobile phone signals are very hit and miss