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April 19, 2024
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Smart meter can't connect despite 6 different comms hubs, is there anything else I can do to get the meter to connect?

  • April 19, 2024
  • 65 replies
  • 3853 views

Does anyone know if the long range radio coms in the north  of the UK will be phased out in favour of the new Vodafone 4G network and if so the likely time frame. My smart meter was installed in November 2022 and refuses to connect to the Arquiva network. The local transmitter is I believe at Winter Hill which can be seen from my property but there is no signal at my property. The meter has been power cycled several times and they have tried at least six different 420 coms units. I believe the only way forward is to install a 4G coms unit but I’m not sure if they will be made available for the north west?

Thanks 

 

Best answer by Blastoise186

Updated on 20/10/25 by Abby_OVO

 

Then this probably needs to be raised to DCC as a No-WAN case. Only your Supplier can do that.

 

Winter Hill Transmitting Station appears to be in Lancashire, possibly somewhere near Chorley if memory serves.

 

With that in mind, just because Winter Hill is your nearest Arqiva Transmitting Station, doesn’t mean it’s got DCC equipment installed there. Arqiva installs DCC stuff wherever DCC tells them to - and ONLY where DCC tells them to. If Winter Hill doesn’t have said equipment installed, it looks like there won’t be many nearby as that particular Station is extremely powerful.

 

Additionally, a failure in one meter on the HAN to communicate won’t block the other - they communicate with the Comms Hub completely independently of each other by design.

 

The following topics may also be helpful here:

 

65 replies

MASSOAuthor
Rank 2
August 27, 2025

Update. my supplier has arranged for a further site visit on the 26th September to commission the gas meter, fingers crossed.

Emmanuelle_OVO
Retired Moderator
Retired Moderator
August 28, 2025

Update. my supplier has arranged for a further site visit on the 26th September to commission the gas meter, fingers crossed.



This is good news ​@MASSO, thanks for popping up for an update 🙂 Please keep us posted with how it goes.

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MASSOAuthor
Rank 2
September 28, 2025

Update:

The gas meter has been commissioned and is now connected to the HAN, the “Gas LED” on the communications hub is now illuminated.

On the actual gas meter display the reading shows the volume of gas imported since November 2022 but only shows the cost of the gas used since commissioning i.e. 26th September 2025. (which is probably to be expected).

The IHD display provided by the installer only shows the electricity consumption, the gas consumption is not displayed n this device. 

 

Blastoise186
Super User
Super User
September 28, 2025

Nice!

Get OVO to run XJoin against the network - that’ll get the IHD to pull down everything!

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Chris_OVO
Community Manager
Community Manager
September 29, 2025

Hey ​@MASSO

 

That's fantastic news! We're thrilled to hear that your meter has been commissioned and is functioning as expected. I know this has been a journey for you, and it's great to see that you've reached the end of the process. If you have any follow-up questions or need further support, we're always here to help.

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