• Re: Not so Smartmeters again

    From Davey@davey@example.invalid to uk.d-i-y on Wed May 13 09:42:11 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

    On Sat, 28 Mar 2026 16:10:16 -0000 (UTC)
    Jethro <jethro_UK@hotmailbin.com> wrote:
    On Sat, 28 Mar 2026 13:46:58 +0000, Davey wrote:

    On Sat, 28 Mar 2026 12:06:56 -0000 (UTC)
    Jethro <jethro_UK@hotmailbin.com> wrote:

    On Sat, 28 Mar 2026 12:03:17 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    On 28/03/2026 11:38, Davey wrote:
    Last year, my local water company converted my supply meter to a
    'Smart'
    meter. It worked, but there were always gaps in the readings.
    Then at some time before Christmas, I noticed that there had
    been no readings logged since October. I queried this, and they
    confirmed that it had lost connection to the network.
    Eventually, they decided to replace it, which they did two
    weeks ago. Since then, I have expected to see readings again.
    There are none. When I asked about this, the reply was that it
    might take a whole month before the meter is successfully
    logged into the network and reporting readings. So far, it is
    not doing anything to contradict this. I had also asked when
    they would have noticed the lack of readings if I had not
    alerted them, and the reply was "At the next billing date",
    which would have been another couple of months.

    It's good to see how efficient 'Smart' meters are.


    If it says 'smart' it is targeted at the most stupid sector of
    the population.

    I refuse to have one installed

    I dunno. If my meter said -u0 for the entire year, who am I to
    disagree ?


    I have reported this somewhere before, but back in 1991, we lived
    in a house in Kansas City, MO for a year. For the first few months,
    the electric meter, which was mounted outside the house, was stuck.
    We received monthly bills for the standing charge and no dollars for
    power used. Then one evening, there was a knock on the door, and
    outside was a technician with a new meter in his hand, warning us
    that the power would be off for a few minutes. He replaced the
    meter quickly, (it was a plug-and-play spinning disk unit), and
    soon we received an estimated bill for the previous missing months.
    I thought it was a little high, and contacted the Missouri version
    of Ofgem, who said that it fitted perfectly into the average costs
    for our situation. Oh well, I tried.

    Many years ago in the Uk there was a spate of stories about cash
    machines not dispensing the full requested amount. All the banks as
    one repeatedly insisted that their cash machines could not go wrong.
    A stance they rather regretted when some machines dispensed *more*
    than requested and the banks could not exactly ask for their money
    back.

    For well over 10 years I kept a letter from my bank returning my
    cared after (their words) "a fault with the machine".
    I can report progress with my 'smart' meter. After a couple of
    conversations, during which the water company said that the meter was
    working and reporting correctly, and me saying that the website was
    reporting my use at about a third of that, they asked me to send some screenshots. I did, and they have admitted that there is a problem. Now
    they are going to fix it (they say). But at least they now believe me.
    I suggested that they could have seen the same information that I was
    seeing, but that is up to 'the technical folk'.
    Watch this space......
    Re: ATM failure. I was on the last evening of a job in Mexico City, and
    my nearest ATM was at a branch of the supermarket chain Carrefour. I
    needed some cash for my taxi ride to the airport the following morning,
    and for the driver's tourist tour of Mexico City Cathedral and
    nearby murals by Diego Rivera (cash only). The machine gave me my
    money, and then there was the sound of mechanical teeth crunching my
    card, as though Jaws from James Bond was inside it. It didn't even spit
    the bits out. I went into the bank, but all I got was a shrugging of
    shoulders: "We have no control over the machine". At least I had my
    cash. The next morning, my first trip was to my bank to sort the card
    out.
    --
    Davey.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Jeff Layman@Jeff@invalid.invalid to uk.d-i-y on Wed May 13 11:00:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

    On 13/05/2026 09:42, Davey wrote:
    On Sat, 28 Mar 2026 16:10:16 -0000 (UTC)
    Jethro <jethro_UK@hotmailbin.com> wrote:

    Re: ATM failure. I was on the last evening of a job in Mexico City, and
    my nearest ATM was at a branch of the supermarket chain Carrefour. I
    needed some cash for my taxi ride to the airport the following morning,
    and for the driver's tourist tour of Mexico City Cathedral and
    nearby murals by Diego Rivera (cash only). The machine gave me my
    money, and then there was the sound of mechanical teeth crunching my
    card, as though Jaws from James Bond was inside it. It didn't even spit
    the bits out. I went into the bank, but all I got was a shrugging of shoulders: "We have no control over the machine". At least I had my
    cash. The next morning, my first trip was to my bank to sort the card
    out.

    I wonder if a Lebanese Loop had got pulled into the card reader...
    --
    Jeff
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Andy Burns@usenet@andyburns.uk to uk.d-i-y on Wed May 13 11:38:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

    Davey wrote:

    I can report progress with my 'smart' meter. After a couple of
    conversations, during which the water company said that the meter was
    working and reporting correctly

    Having finally accepted that I do have a smart water fitted STwater
    allowed me to switch from the rateable value to usage based tariff, but
    the meter hasn't reported any of its own readings yet.

    I think I've located the LoRaWAN base-station it should be reporting
    through.

    Their site says ...

    "We're working behind the scenes to bring back your daily, weekly, and
    monthly usage graphs. Thanks for your patience while we make
    improvements - it won't be long."


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Davey@davey@example.invalid to uk.d-i-y on Wed May 13 12:15:47 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

    On Wed, 13 May 2026 11:38:46 +0100
    Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

    Davey wrote:

    I can report progress with my 'smart' meter. After a couple of conversations, during which the water company said that the meter
    was working and reporting correctly

    Having finally accepted that I do have a smart water fitted STwater
    allowed me to switch from the rateable value to usage based tariff,
    but the meter hasn't reported any of its own readings yet.

    I think I've located the LoRaWAN base-station it should be reporting through.

    Their site says ...

    "We're working behind the scenes to bring back your daily, weekly,
    and monthly usage graphs. Thanks for your patience while we make improvements - it won't be long."



    That sounds like my US Tax Return, stuck in an Austin, TX Post Office.
    Since April 10, it has been expected to be delivered the next business
    day. Every day.

    If you thought trying to get help from some UK institutions was hard,
    try the US Postal Service. You finally find a link to 'e-mail us', but
    it just leads to more links that go nowhere. You fill in the Feedback,
    box, and then it says that there will be no response, it is only used to 'improve the customer experience'. I'm still waiting......
    --
    Davey.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From The Natural Philosopher@tnp@invalid.invalid to uk.d-i-y on Wed May 13 13:13:52 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

    On 13/05/2026 12:15, Davey wrote:
    If you thought trying to get help from some UK institutions was hard,
    try the US Postal Service. You finally find a link to 'e-mail us', but
    it just leads to more links that go nowhere. You fill in the Feedback,
    box, and then it says that there will be no response, it is only used to 'improve the customer experience'. I'm still waiting......

    I think the US postal service simply does not exist, in the way that US passenger railways do not exist.

    Sure, there may be some historic arrangement vaguely resembling a
    service, but the reality is that everybody goes by car or plane or sends
    their stuff via DHL if it cant ho in an email
    --
    rCLPuritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.rCY

    H.L. Mencken, A Mencken Chrestomathy

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Roger Mills@mills37.fslife@gmail.com to uk.d-i-y on Wed May 13 13:56:07 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

    On 13/05/2026 11:38, Andy Burns wrote:
    Davey wrote:

    I can report progress with my 'smart' meter. After a couple of
    conversations, during which the water company said that the meter was
    working and reporting correctly

    Having finally accepted that I do have a smart water fitted STwater
    allowed me to switch from the rateable value to usage based tariff, but
    the meter hasn't reported any of its own readings yet.

    I think I've located the LoRaWAN base-station it should be reporting through.

    Their site says ...

    "We're working behind the scenes to bring back your daily, weekly, and monthly usage graphs. Thanks for your patience while we make
    improvements - it won't be long."


    I'm getting exactly the same message from Severn Trent Water - and it
    *has* been long.

    A few months ago, they introduced a "new improved" customer platform,
    and customers who had previously logged on to the old platform were transferred over to it. The usage graphs on the old platform were
    brilliant, showing usage in each hour the 24-hour day - which made it
    easy to spot any unusual patterns which may indicate that there was a leak.

    They've not yet made "smart graphs" work on the new platform. What's "improved" about that?!!
    --
    Cheers,
    Roger
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Chris Hogg@me@privacy.net to uk.d-i-y on Wed May 13 15:24:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

    On Wed, 13 May 2026 13:56:07 +0100, Roger Mills
    <mills37.fslife@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 13/05/2026 11:38, Andy Burns wrote:
    Davey wrote:

    I can report progress with my 'smart' meter. After a couple of
    conversations, during which the water company said that the meter was
    working and reporting correctly

    Having finally accepted that I do have a smart water fitted STwater
    allowed me to switch from the rateable value to usage based tariff, but
    the meter hasn't reported any of its own readings yet.

    I think I've located the LoRaWAN base-station it should be reporting
    through.

    Their site says ...

    "We're working behind the scenes to bring back your daily, weekly, and
    monthly usage graphs. Thanks for your patience while we make
    improvements - it won't be long."


    I'm getting exactly the same message from Severn Trent Water - and it
    *has* been long.

    A few months ago, they introduced a "new improved" customer platform,
    and customers who had previously logged on to the old platform were >transferred over to it. The usage graphs on the old platform were
    brilliant, showing usage in each hour the 24-hour day - which made it
    easy to spot any unusual patterns which may indicate that there was a leak.

    They've not yet made "smart graphs" work on the new platform. What's >"improved" about that?!!

    A work colleague from many years ago used to say 'improvement means deterioration'. True, but in this day and age what on earth are our
    schools and colleges turning out!?
    --

    Chris
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Jeff Layman@Jeff@invalid.invalid to uk.d-i-y on Wed May 13 16:09:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

    On 13/05/2026 15:24, Chris Hogg wrote:
    On Wed, 13 May 2026 13:56:07 +0100, Roger Mills
    <mills37.fslife@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 13/05/2026 11:38, Andy Burns wrote:
    Davey wrote:

    I can report progress with my 'smart' meter. After a couple of
    conversations, during which the water company said that the meter was
    working and reporting correctly

    Having finally accepted that I do have a smart water fitted STwater
    allowed me to switch from the rateable value to usage based tariff, but
    the meter hasn't reported any of its own readings yet.

    I think I've located the LoRaWAN base-station it should be reporting
    through.

    Their site says ...

    "We're working behind the scenes to bring back your daily, weekly, and
    monthly usage graphs. Thanks for your patience while we make
    improvements - it won't be long."


    I'm getting exactly the same message from Severn Trent Water - and it
    *has* been long.

    A few months ago, they introduced a "new improved" customer platform,
    and customers who had previously logged on to the old platform were
    transferred over to it. The usage graphs on the old platform were
    brilliant, showing usage in each hour the 24-hour day - which made it
    easy to spot any unusual patterns which may indicate that there was a leak. >>
    They've not yet made "smart graphs" work on the new platform. What's
    "improved" about that?!!

    A work colleague from many years ago used to say 'improvement means deterioration'. True, but in this day and age what on earth are our
    schools and colleges turning out!?

    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z#Education>

    "In 2010, for example, China unveiled a decade-long National Talent Development Plan to identify able students and guide them into STEM
    fields and careers in high demand; that same year, England dismantled
    its National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth and redirected the
    funds to help low-scoring students get admitted to elite universities."
    --
    Jeff
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Theo@theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk to uk.d-i-y on Wed May 13 17:04:25 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

    Chris Hogg <me@privacy.net> wrote:
    On Wed, 13 May 2026 13:56:07 +0100, Roger Mills
    <mills37.fslife@gmail.com> wrote:

    I'm getting exactly the same message from Severn Trent Water - and it >*has* been long.

    A few months ago, they introduced a "new improved" customer platform,
    and customers who had previously logged on to the old platform were >transferred over to it. The usage graphs on the old platform were >brilliant, showing usage in each hour the 24-hour day - which made it
    easy to spot any unusual patterns which may indicate that there was a leak.

    They've not yet made "smart graphs" work on the new platform. What's >"improved" about that?!!

    A work colleague from many years ago used to say 'improvement means deterioration'. True, but in this day and age what on earth are our
    schools and colleges turning out!?

    The improvement is to the share price, not to the customer service.
    'Number go up' is the thing all those MBA types care about, and
    customers merely get in the way.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adrian Caspersz@email@here.invalid to uk.d-i-y on Wed May 13 20:57:15 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

    On 28/03/2026 11:38, Davey wrote:
    Last year, my local water company converted my supply meter to a 'Smart' meter. It worked, but there were always gaps in the readings.
    Then at some time before Christmas, I noticed that there had been no
    readings logged since October. I queried this, and they confirmed that
    it had lost connection to the network.

    Signal issues?

    Youtube: ringway manchester, Why Did This Appear On My Street?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ6qZ-J4-TY
    --
    Adrian C
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Davey@davey@example.invalid to uk.d-i-y on Wed May 13 23:30:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.d-i-y

    On Wed, 13 May 2026 20:57:15 +0100
    Adrian Caspersz <email@here.invalid> wrote:

    On 28/03/2026 11:38, Davey wrote:
    Last year, my local water company converted my supply meter to a
    'Smart' meter. It worked, but there were always gaps in the
    readings. Then at some time before Christmas, I noticed that there
    had been no readings logged since October. I queried this, and they confirmed that it had lost connection to the network.

    Signal issues?

    Youtube: ringway manchester, Why Did This Appear On My Street?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ6qZ-J4-TY


    They said it was the meter failed, and they replaced it. It is now
    apparently working, but they can't get the right info to the website
    for me to view.
    --
    Davey.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2