Smart meter can't connect despite 6 different comms hubs, is there anything else I can do to get the meter to connect?

Just a thought seeing that your neighbour appears to have no problem connecting.

Is there anything unusual about your property construction or the meter location?
I’m thinking about metal in the walls or near the meter (metal cabinets, etc.) which may be creating a Faraday Cage effect and blocking the radio signal?

PS. I’ve been up Winter Hill a number of times (although a while back) and there are a lot of radio masts up there, you can see some of them in a picture in the article linked below, the big white one that can be seen for miles around is only for TV signals.
https://lancashirepast.com/2022/09/17/winter-hill-transmitter-belmont/

Nukecad

House was built in the 60’s so the meter and the consumer unit are on the same backboard. The meter is located next to the consumer unit which is manufactured from steel. In order to comply with the latest edition of BS 7671 (IEE regulations) all consumer units have to be manufactured from fireproof materials eg steel or housed in a metal cupboard. The meter and consumer unit are at the front of the house in a single brick porch, there are no metal elements within the construction that could form a Faraday cage. I’ve already asked the installer if this could be a problem, he said no this was a typical installation for them. 

This morning my wife received a telephone call from the SMS advisor, he said that they had done all that they could and that they would not be making any further visits as it was a waste of resources.

He went on to say that we would have to wait until next year when 4G will be available, he asked my wife to go and stand by the meter and check if she could receive a 4G signal on her mobile phone. 

I have come to the conclusion therefore that the smart meters will always be dumb for any one of the following reasons that is why I posed the question “what will happen under similar circumstances when there isn't any 4G or long range radio signal”:-

1. They have not definitively proven if the original meter is at fault (some one on the forum suggested it could be) or not
2. They have not definitively proven the lack of long range radio signal, they don’t have any suitable test equipment to measure one way or another
3. They are telling me to wait until next year which suggests no pressure will be put to bear on Arquiva to improve the long range radio signal (if this indeed is the problem)
4. They are telling me to wait for 4G which should be available some time next year, we are in the northern part of the country and I’ve also been told that 4G is only going to be available in the south not the north.

Definitely conflicting advice there, including that on CUs.

They don't have to be metal, that is just an example, “eg. Steel ...” there are plenty of high temperature resistant plastic ones being sold and fitted daily. (See Screwfix etc).

PS. My own housing association property was built in 2001 to the regs pertaining at the time, and has a plastic CU.

Nukecad

Don't really want to go in to the debate regarding the types of materials that domestic consumer units are manufactured from as its a little off topic. Suffice to say the regulations have been changed and I think you will find the vast majority of domestic installers will opt to fit steel consumers units in new installations and in cases where upgrades are required. This is much easier than trying to install a plastic consumer unit in a fire rated cabinet. Our consumer unit was changed because we had an extension built which effectively meant the house had to be rewired.

I think also these days trying to obtain a plastic unit from any of the major manufacturers would be quite difficult most of them have switched to steel.

 The point I was trying to make was that yes we have a steel consumer unit which is next to the smart meter on the same backboard. This will also be true for other older properties such as ours where the consumer unit has or has to be upgraded. 

If this arrangement does have an impact on the smart meters ability to receive or transmit a signal then this is just another example of what the designers and implementers of the smart meter rollout have failed to take into account

Fair enough, and of course you are not going to change the CU that is fitted without having good cause to do so,
(However the IEE regs actually state the CU casing must be or must be enclosed in “Non-combustible material” - metal/steel is just an example given of a common material that complies as being non-combustible, other materials can also comply with the requirement).

In an email I received from the DCC in August they said differently, so it sounds like it is coming. I am counting on it!

”In the North of the UK we use Long Range Radio WAN and one of the potential solutions we are exploring is using 4G cellular network in this region. The technical solution is already being developed and tested ready for deployment in 2025 to replace our existing 2G & 3G cellular networks.”

Any thoughts on the above @Blastoise186 ?

@Emmanuelle_OVO 

Something to do with this perhaps?

Good spot @Nukecad!

I don’t think that’s related, it seems to be more to do with the HAN side of things? And a requirement of being involved in that pilot is a meter that is already successfully communicating - not much help if the intention is to resolve cases where there is no WAN?

It also implies that comms hubs can’t be swapped without also swapping the whole meter, which isn’t the case as far as I’m aware.