Smart Meters and Wi-Fi

[jim769]

Got a letter from my gas & electric company stating they will be installing smart meters in the next few weeks. Ok I have read these things use the 2.4 Ghz band as a means of transmission does anybody already have these smart meters and if so do you have any issues with your 2.4 Ghz Wi-Fi or is this a non issue.

 

[thiggins]

There are many kinds of smart meters. The only reason it would have wireless built in would be to communicate with a remote display or other devices in your home. These devices use powerline to communicate for remote reading.

Even if the meter does have 2.4 GHz WiFi, it shouldn't cause a problem because it will be inactive most of the time.

 

[RMerlin]

The new smart meters they are progressively installing here in Quebec are cellular-based, so they have no impact on regular wifi.

 

[jim769]

@ Merlin I live in the USA and it says that they use the 2.4 Ghz band for transmitting. I guess time will tell.

 

[RocketJSquirrel]

Maybe if you revealed your location & utility company...?

Mine says

At what frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum do PG&E’s SmartMeters™ operate?

PG&E’s electric SmartMeters™ operate in the 902-928 MHz frequency-band to communicate customer electricity-usage to PG&E. PG&E’s gas SmartMeters™ operate in the 450-470 MHz frequency-band to communicate customer gas-usage to PG&E.

Do electric SmartMeters™ constantly emit RF?

No. SmartMeters™ communicate intermittently, with each RF-signal typically lasting from 2 to 20 milliseconds. These intermittent signals total, on average, 45 seconds per day. For the other 23 hours and 59 minutes of the day, the meter is not transmitting any RF.

 

[jim769]

I live in SE Michigan and my provider is DTE Energy. I have confirmed from reading more on this that they do indeed use 2.4 Ghz for there smart meters here. if what you say is true and they only broadcast for a few seconds or so a day it should be ok. Seems kinda silly they would use that band with all the wifi routers in peoples homes.