Utility meters last for decades. Making them reliant on a cell network that's constantly changing wasn't such a good idea. They should have licensed some low band UHF frequencies and set up their own network. It doesn't take much bandwidth to read some meters.
And it's going to be necessary again in 2040.
However, this is sufficiently far in the future that it is unlikely to trouble policymakers anytime soon.
Lol.
I can't tell if the numbers are bloated for pushing an interest, but with having to spend those billions every 15-20 years, it would probably be cheaper to hire meter readers or pay to keep the 2G available.
We're having the same issue in the Netherlands, although the grid managers have started replacing them a while ago. They're being replaced with 4G though, which of course also won't be supported forever.
I think a better solution might be to make a local mesh network on the meters, and one base station nearby that has the internet connection.
Most meters are in areas with plenty of others nearby, and there is already a box thing the grid manager owns somewhere near an electricity connection.
People in remote places could just keep using their existing (or new) meters with 4G.
Then the only reason to replace meters will be because the grid manager themselves wants something changed, for network updates you just replace the base stations.
modular designs prevent this, but nowadays everything must be evil
I would think this is a perfect job for lorawan?
all 22 comments