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I have no phone signal - Can I still get smart meters installed?

L
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I am unable to have a smart meter installed due to no phone signal at my property? Has anyone else has this issue as i thought by 2020 we all have to have them

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Best answer by Mattj3135 30 April 2017, 18:04

Updated on 12/01/21: Book in your smart meter appointment here. Info on SMETS2 meter installations here and a smart meter FAQ here.

The info below is taken from this topic on engineer jobs and issues. 

 

Poor signal


Why does this cause an abort?


If you have no phone signal anywhere near your electricity meter, we won’t do the exchange, as the meter wouldn’t have smart functionality.


How do we resolve this?
 

If the meter has been installed and has no communication, then there might be further steps we could do to solve the issue. See this topic on a meter health check for Secure smart meters, and this topic on a meter health check for Aclara or Honeywell smart meters.

 

Meters too far apart


Why does this cause an abort?


If your gas and electricity meters are 10 meters or more apart from one another, it is unlikely the HAN signal will stretch this far and this would lead to a non communicative gas meter. See this topic for more info on what this means for your SMETS2 appointment. 

How do we resolve this?

  • For S1 meters, we might be able to send a relay in the post. Reach out to our Support team and be ready to confirm if: the meters are in meter boxes/cupboards; whether you in a house/flat; and the distance between the meters. 
  • For S2, we currently have no way to boost the signal between the meters. You can choose to move the meters closer to one another via your Gas Transporter or their DNO. Reach out to them directly for advice on this.


Hi @Lars167,

Welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear you've not been able to get smart meters fitted at your property.

From what you've said I can only speculate that the current smart meter technology used by OVO can't communicate to the network from your property.

Between now and 2020 all energy companies will be developing and improving the smart meter technology (the industry is currently debating how to standardise the technology), I would assume that with these developments they will ensure the technology works in all properties.

My advice would be to regularly check in with OVO care team to review the options for installing smart meters at your property.

Sorry, I can't be of more help at this time! I do hope you get smart meters soon though. It would be great to know if any other forum members have had similar issues getting a meter installed.

SMETS2 meters the new generation smart meter are now being rolled out across the UK. Check to see if they'll be better suited to your home here.

 

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18 replies

Mattj3135
Rank
Userlevel 6

Updated on 12/01/21: Book in your smart meter appointment here. Info on SMETS2 meter installations here and a smart meter FAQ here.

The info below is taken from this topic on engineer jobs and issues. 

 

Poor signal


Why does this cause an abort?


If you have no phone signal anywhere near your electricity meter, we won’t do the exchange, as the meter wouldn’t have smart functionality.


How do we resolve this?
 

If the meter has been installed and has no communication, then there might be further steps we could do to solve the issue. See this topic on a meter health check for Secure smart meters, and this topic on a meter health check for Aclara or Honeywell smart meters.

 

Meters too far apart


Why does this cause an abort?


If your gas and electricity meters are 10 meters or more apart from one another, it is unlikely the HAN signal will stretch this far and this would lead to a non communicative gas meter. See this topic for more info on what this means for your SMETS2 appointment. 

How do we resolve this?

  • For S1 meters, we might be able to send a relay in the post. Reach out to our Support team and be ready to confirm if: the meters are in meter boxes/cupboards; whether you in a house/flat; and the distance between the meters. 
  • For S2, we currently have no way to boost the signal between the meters. You can choose to move the meters closer to one another via your Gas Transporter or their DNO. Reach out to them directly for advice on this.


Hi @Lars167,

Welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear you've not been able to get smart meters fitted at your property.

From what you've said I can only speculate that the current smart meter technology used by OVO can't communicate to the network from your property.

Between now and 2020 all energy companies will be developing and improving the smart meter technology (the industry is currently debating how to standardise the technology), I would assume that with these developments they will ensure the technology works in all properties.

My advice would be to regularly check in with OVO care team to review the options for installing smart meters at your property.

Sorry, I can't be of more help at this time! I do hope you get smart meters soon though. It would be great to know if any other forum members have had similar issues getting a meter installed.

SMETS2 meters the new generation smart meter are now being rolled out across the UK. Check to see if they'll be better suited to your home here.

 

L
Rank
Thank you so much for your reply. When i changed suppliers and entered into a contract with ovo it was too have smart meters installed, which was said by the person who called. Then i find out it had to have a phone signal. I just think people are being miss lead.
Mattj3135
Rank
Userlevel 6
Thank you so much for your reply. When i changed suppliers and entered into a contract with ovo it was too have smart meters installed, which was said by the person who called. Then i find out it had to have a phone signal. I just think people are being miss lead.

Hi Lars167

Thank you for posting back. Before I point you in the right direction: has an engineer been and checked your property to see whether they can install the meters or not? My neighbour had a similar issue but when the engineer came out it transpired they could actually fit the smart meters.

If the answer to the above is no: I suggest contacting OVO and asking them to schedule an appointment for an engineer to do a site inspection to see whether or not you can actually have the smart meters.

If the answer to the above is yes, and you find another supplier that can fit smart meters to your property, my recommendation if you chose & want to is switch suppliers (it would be a shame to see you leave the OVO family). Please do let us know what the score is and how you get on.

If all else fails - i would advise dropping one of the moderators a private message so they can look into it further for you.
W
Rank
I dont get a mobile signal at home, does this mean I can't have a smart meter?
Mattj3135
Rank
Userlevel 6
I dont get a mobile signal at home, does this mean I can't have a smart meter?

Hi @wovit1 welcome to the forum and thanks for posting.

I hope you'll agree with me here, I think this topic is already answered for you here: https://forum.ovoenergy.com/pay-as-you-go-20/i-have-no-phone-signal-can-i-still-get-smart-meters-installed-254/index1.html

Hope this helps
W
Rank
Thank you for your help
S
Rank
I believe the smart meters use the mobile phone network. Which network providor does OVO use? The reson for asking is in my partners area only EE is useable. So if the smart meter does not use EE then it will not work.
Tim_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 7
I believe the smart meters use the mobile phone network. Which network providor does OVO use? The reson for asking is in my partners area only EE is useable. So if the smart meter does not use EE then it will not work.

Hi @Swift_Nick

The good news is our smart meters will latch onto the network with the best strength. So as long as one mobile network works in you area, we're all good!

Just a quick one to let you know that I've moved your query over to another topic on the same thing.

Tim
Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there!
Pastorblue
We live in a small village in north Wales that has almost non-existent mobile phone coverage. When we had a guy come to read our meter recently (on behalf of OVO) he told me that a smart meter would not work in our area and in fact they simply make it harder to get a meter reading. Is that right? I hardly know what to do!
Pastorblue
A
We live in a small village in north Wales that has almost non-existent mobile phone coverage. When we had a guy come to read our meter recently (on behalf of OVO) he told me that a smart meter would not work in our area and in fact they simply make it harder to get a meter reading. Is that right? I hardly know what to do!

Hey @Pastorblue

If you've got very bad phone signal at home then I wouldn't suggest getting smart meters installed as it won't be very beneficial for you. We won't be able to communicate with the meters meaning you'll need to provide readings.

It's not too difficult to read the smart meters - you just need to press number 9 on the keypads of them. The electricity reading will then show after 'IMP' in kWh's and the gas reading will show after 'VOLUME' in m3.

Thanks,
Emma
R
Rank

We have recently had ground source heat pump installed and solar panels with a battery system.

We switched to Octopus Energy as we wanted to have a smart meter and go onto their Agile Tariff.

Octopus are now saying that the Smart meter will not function in our area SY21 8LA, as the WAN signal/coverage will not garauntee that the system will work.

We have broadband via a dish and could have a phone line through Vonage via the dish.

Which energy supplier could help us with a smart meter and an agile tariff?

Blastoise186
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Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Hi @Rod Stevens .

This is a bit of a tricky one because we’re not really able to offer advice regarding specific tariffs outside of those offered by OVO. As a forum volunteer, I’d also be unable to access certain details for this, sorry about that.

However, I can try to offer some thoughts here. The tricky thing is that you already have a smart meter now, so it may be tricky to convince any supplier to swap it out until after they’ve had a chance to try and get the current one working. Could you take some photos of the meter for us, as we might be able to offer some advice to help fix the issue anyway.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
R
Rank

Hi there!

Thanks for coming back to me, and I may have misled you in that we don`t currently have a smart meter, just a standard Landis Single phase from Scottish Power.

We wish to move to an agile tariff which will work with our solar/ battery system, and an agile tariff requires a smart meter, and Scottish Power dont do the agile tariff that Octopus offer.

What I need to know is, do OVO offer an agile tariff or similar, and will their smart meters work in our area SY21 8LA.

Thanks for your help with this.

Blastoise186
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Ah ok, thanks @Rod Stevens !

Now that is something I can answer to a degree. OVO doesn’t currently offer “agile” tariffs as such, the closest thing they currently do is the option of Economy 7.

Since you don’t yet have a smart meter, that at least means you won’t have to convince any suppliers to upgrade an existing one - almost all suppliers will be happy to install new smart meters if you don’t have any yet.

As for coverage, I don’t have a way to check that myself, but I believe the support team can. Please try to avoid posting personal info such as your postcode though, as the forums are public. I can ask a moderator to edit your posts for you if you’re unable to do that. What I can provide however, is some guidance from a website called SmartMe, which proves extremely helpful for this. Most of the country should get coverage with SMETS2 meters, so you have a good chance.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
R
Rank

Hi again!

Thanks for that and have done the edit!!!!

Will check out SmarMe and thanks again!

Blastoise186
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +1

No worries, glad I could help. :)

If there’s anything else we can help with, feel free to stop by anytime. The forums are open to anyone and everyone, even if you’re not with OVO.

Good luck with the upgrade :sunglasses:

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
Tim_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 7

Wow that’s quite a set up you’re getting, @Rod Stevens 

 

Yep as @Blastoise186 mentions, SmartMe is a good way to check signal in your area. The connectivity issues might (or won’t) exist no matter what supplier you choose. The smart kit is the same, maybe not in model, but in terms of the technology used to ensure a WAN connection. 

 

And yes OVO don’t currently off a tariff such as Octopus’ Agile tariff. Although we have lots of members here that would like to see this change. 

 

This section might be of interest to you, @Rod Stevens, for energy storage info. We’d love to hear from you in terms of what battery you have, what’s the experience been like and what performance you’re seeing from the solar and battery combination. 

 

 

 

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there!
R
Rank

Tim Hi!

Once it is fully commissioned and working, will let the forum know how it is working, and highlight any issues that we have encounterdd along the way, and how these were overcome,

Best regards,

Rod.

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