Energy smart meter issues creating north-south divide

rodmaker

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq52382zd1no

Scot_39

Is it just me or is that a pretty weak article.

And their is real science behind the split.  It wasn't arbitrary.

And I don't know if people remember - but rural cellular cover used to really be quite poor 10 plus years ago.  I still lose signal just outside edge of local town when walking cycling etc.  Evrn on a 10 mile stretch on m1 I do when driving into local city a couple of tines a month.

It's why the mobile cos quote popn percentage coverage and not area coverage.

Largely meter fitter hearsay rather than any real hard regional statistics sadly.

Maybe - but suspect maybe not - the actual program will be better.

And arguably shuts its own headline down by the simple fact that 4g comms is coming and according to dcc spokesperson going to be common across the current geographical divide.

born_again

Living in the North & no issues with our smart meter.

It also said that a recent customer experience survey by Ofgem “found no statistically significant differences” in the proportion of customers reporting that their meter was not sending readings to their suppliers for areas in, or predominantly in, the north.

Good of the BBC to put that as next to last paragraph 😶‍🌫️

t0rt0ise

It's on i-player. I watched it this morning. Interesting that they say that Octopus sorted the guy's meter out in Glasgow by using the mobile network instead of the radio network they use there. If that can be done for one person, why not for everyone with problems.

Qyburn

Stopped reading the point they suggested the Arquiva LRR was some sort of secret, only just revealed.

Reed_Richards

I'm in the north.  My smart meter works fine on the Arquiva LRR whilst the mobile phone signal in my house is weak to non-existent.  So I don't see that that could provide any improvement; it would almost certainly make things worse.     

debitcardmayhem

Perhaps a possible solution would be to put hubs in telephone cabinets, I don’t really know if its feasible dunno😵‍💫

cannugec5

Living in the north. 

Smart meter has been dumb since installation (2022) . Appointment for it to be replaced next week. 

I have high hopes for a fully functional meter, as others in the village have since ours was originally installed. 

We have pretty much zero mobile signal at home. 

mmmmikey

I think all that article shows is that the days are long gone where you could rely on the BBC for balanced reporting.

MattMattMattUK

mmmmikey said:

I think all that article shows is that the days are long gone where you could rely on the BBC for balanced reporting.

This is not an issue with balance, although the BBC have in recent years fallen foul of that (or also trying to provide balance where there is not a valid second side to an argument). In this case it seems like someone with little to no technical understanding has been asked to write an article about the Panorama program that is yet to be broadcast, which itself may have been dumbed down for the general public. The result is the rather vague article with technical inaccuracies that does little to educated beyond "there is a problem", and throws in the attempt at division by claiming it as a north/south divide to get extra views. This is also similar to how the BBC regularly conflate the IHD and the actual smart meter, the article that I challenged on energy that they actually edited in response, but actually made it even more dumb and inaccurate than it was in the first place, or their newsreaders regularly not knowing the difference between kW and kWh etc..

Chrysalis

t0rt0ise said:

It's on i-player. I watched it this morning. Interesting that they say that Octopus sorted the guy's meter out in Glasgow by using the mobile network instead of the radio network they use there. If that can be done for one person, why not for everyone with problems.

I noticed the same.  It kind of proved the supplier was capable of providing a solution.

I think the rollout is a mess after watching that episode, some very good points made by the people interviewed, why wasnt it mandatory rollout, sweep the entire area so cost per home is lower?

Why do they keep reissuing new meters when the problem is communications, wasting resources?

Why do the communications modules not adopt both types of signalling and have them both available nationally?

What is the point of making the meters modular, if the entire meter is replaced anyway?

Energy GB, felt like an insult when her response to someone been gravely mistreated was to say a generic contact your supplier with problems.

Ultimately someone needs to grab the bull by the horns and get on with a proper solution.  No one wants to own the problem.