NO WAN TO EON SMART METER

Rodders53

This will be down to:

South Region:
Availability of the mobile phone network at the meter comms hub location... THAT may be fixable with a 'remote' antenna and cable from the comms hub (may need a new hub as well) to find a better signal (or not). 
Or if the home is a mobile blackspot then it's a wait for a new mobile mast and comms hubs that use 4G rather than 2G....

North Region:
Availability of a signal to/from the Arqiva long range UHF WAN...  No external antennas are available on those comms hubs and this may never get a resolution unless someone pays Arqiva to extend their network of masts and towers. 


Both regions: Over 99% of the population are covered by the WAN networks... that still leaves many individuals with no reception.  {The same applies to UHF TV reception, and even Satellite TV has black spots.}

tammy66

Above is a link to foto of meter I live in chorley lancashire the meter has on flashing green light ,one noe flashing ajacent to it and onr flashing red light yet again i have had 2 emails and 1 text informimg me that my meters are not sending signals that is 6 messages this week despite being assured by the agents that they will stop them

Scot_39

OK so looks RF not cellular - and so no external to hub aerial option in UK AFAIK.

There was the case of iirc Octupus customer in the recent North /South divide panarama episode - who was fitted with a cellular despite it being against DCC general guidance - and so his smart is now communicating.

Whats your mobile phone signal like at home ?

Do you want to try if your supplier would try that ?

Or are you just now so thoroughly frustrated by the whole issue of Smart ?

As EOn fitted the meter - they know it's smart - the texts perhaps just a reminder for you to submit - as per their general T&C's your actual readings - on a monthly basis.

tammy66

1 No Problem with phone signal

2 Yes

3 Got it in one

Reed_Richards

When I had my smart meter fitted with a LRR comms hub the installer thought the signal was too weak for it to communicate.  He was wrong.  He also said that an aerial could be fitted to improve reception, although none were currently available.  He might have been wrong about the aerial also,  but perhaps it is possible with LRR?

Scot_39

Ive seen them in other countries - actual external roof mounted to boot.

But others here - and this site (which others have suggested in past maybe not the best ) - say only offered on cellular in UK

https://www.smartme.co.uk/smets-2.html

Interestingly and I hadn't spotted it before is they now list a cable for off electric meter mounting of comms hub from one brand.  Which I have seen photos of installs but never an actual part listing.

"The FL-100 Flying Lead can be ordered in two lengths, 0.5m and 1.5m.
(Used by Octopus in Scotland.)"

So assume Arqiva LRR hubs.

MarzipanCrumble

I live in Cardiff and my SM2 does not communicate with Octopus.  It did with Co-op when it was installed for 3 months then Octopus took over.

What is the FL - 100 Flying Lead?  

Engineer coming (again) on Thursday 21st Nov - I am in suburbs of Cardiff but mobile phone signal not great but can make/receive calls within house.

mmmmikey

MarzipanCrumble said:

I live in Cardiff and my SM2 does not communicate with Octopus.  It did with Co-op when it was installed for 3 months then Octopus took over.

What is the FL - 100 Flying Lead?  

Engineer coming (again) on Thursday 21st Nov - I am in suburbs of Cardiff but mobile phone signal not great but can make/receive calls within house.

On a standard installation the comms hub is slotted into a connector on top of the electricity meter so it can take the power it needs to operate. The communication between the electricity meter and the comms hub is still wireless. The flying lead allows the comms hub to be mounted in a different location, while still taking it's power from the electricity meter. Although this arrangment is defined in the specification, I don't know whether suppliers are oliged to offer/try this option and/or which suppliers actually make flying leads. This option would only help for meters in a weak signal area where the reception could be improved by moving the comms hub by a couple of meters. In your case, that sounds like it might be a viable option if available as I guess if you wander about your house with your mobile there are some places where the signal is better than others.

edit: as you live in the southern area there are also options around using external antennas

Scot_39

MarzipanCrumble said:

I live in Cardiff and my SM2 does not communicate with Octopus.  It did with Co-op when it was installed for 3 months then Octopus took over.

What is the FL - 100 Flying Lead?  

Engineer coming (again) on Thursday 21st Nov - I am in suburbs of Cardiff but mobile phone signal not great but can make/receive calls within house.

If it wasnt for the fact that your meter worked with another supplier I'd say - you would probably be more interested in the actual external to cellular comms hub T1 / T2 arieals on that site - if your supplier supplies than the FL - 100.

The FL-100 purely a cable to allow fitters to move the comms hub off of the top of electric meter - and the Octopus Scotland comment - suggests their only using on Arqiva LRR comms hubs - currently reserved for North England / Scotland.

And note the short lengths - 0.5m or 1.5m - this is purely to try and get away from a signal blocker - metal or solid structural block etc the LRRF signal simply cannot cope with.

Given that you say it worked with another - and both would likely have been using the same DCC access in your location - then I suspect you need to push Octopus to resolve the problem.

It could of course be that there has been a cellular network change in your vicinity - making the signal weaker - but that again comes down possibly to Octopus having a suitable lead for your meter - or potentially as the site link above - the use of a secondary out of box T1/T2 antennae.

mmmmikey

Yes, as a follow up @Scot_39 post there are two possibilities here:

1. This is nothing to do with the communication signal and a problem was introduced when you switched supplier. The possibilities include things like not updating the security details correctly. These kinds of problems would be fixed from the office and there's very little an engineer could do on site, unless installing a new meter or something along those lines triggers the "update all the computers" process and it's done correctly this time.

2. The supplier change is just a coincidence and you have a problem with the communication in which case there are various options around different communication hub types, antennas and location.

The key point here is the communication between your meter and the central computer system it connects to doesn't change when switch supplier, it's who that central system sends it to that changes. So if the problem has happened as result of the supplier issue it's something to do with configuration rather than signal strength.