3 ms·

GSM assembly with SIM holder costs about $5 in a mass-production-wise quantities. I don't know about UK, but here in Russia typical "dumb" resource meter costs

GSM assembly with SIM holder costs about $5 in a mass-production-wise quantities. I don't know about UK, but here in Russia typical "dumb" resource meter costs between 10 and 30 USD. Smart meter could not be more than 2x expensive to be competitive. So you should squeeze all other functionality into $5 production cost just to have zero margin, and you should completely forget about autonomy. And I don't even want to start ranting about running costs of GSM. This is what LPWAN like LoRa, Sigfox, NbIoT and Nwave are made for.

matthewmacleod 9y ago
You’re ignoring the marginal cost of requiring meter reads with dumb meters, though, let alone any other benefits that the meter might offer. I agree that the WAN tech is perhaps more suitable in theory, but that ignores the fact that there is already a ubiquitous GSM network in place.
- SergeAx 9y ago
  Hope UK has 100% GSM coverage, otherwise you have to set up brand new GSM cell to read meters from a remote village, which is 1000-10000 times more expensive than LPWAN base station with active signal amplifier and/or relay station. Pulled a feat like that in Siberia just two days ago)
  - krzyk 9y ago
    I would expect such country like UK to have 100% GSM coverage (e.g. Poland has 100%) - it is quite densely populated - with 2G it is quite easy considering that the meters are installed usually where people live == need GSM coverage.
    - SergeAx 9y ago
      I believe you mean "100% of inhabited Poland", and even then you may be wrong. Check this map: https://www.nperf.com/en/map/PL/-/-/signal/ https://www.nperf.com/en/map/PL/-/-/signal/ - there are plenty of spaces with gray "no coverage" dots for every operator. The problem is when you have bad GSM coverage in some unfortunate spot even in a big city - you may just can't solve it. And, by the way, there's a habit to place utility meters in basements, where GSM coverage is much worse.
- zzzcpan 9y ago
  GSM network can be used to aggregate data from cheaper devices near by. Putting GSM into every device is somewhat silly. But well, there is always a "preference" to solutions offered by certain companies no matter the cost.

matthewmacleod 9y ago

You’re ignoring the marginal cost of requiring meter reads with dumb meters, though, let alone any other benefits that the meter might offer. I agree that the WAN tech is perhaps more suitable in theory, but that ignores the fact that there is already a ubiquitous GSM network in place.

SergeAx 9y ago
Hope UK has 100% GSM coverage, otherwise you have to set up brand new GSM cell to read meters from a remote village, which is 1000-10000 times more expensive than LPWAN base station with active signal amplifier and/or relay station. Pulled a feat like that in Siberia just two days ago)
- krzyk 9y ago
  I would expect such country like UK to have 100% GSM coverage (e.g. Poland has 100%) - it is quite densely populated - with 2G it is quite easy considering that the meters are installed usually where people live == need GSM coverage.
  - SergeAx 9y ago
    I believe you mean "100% of inhabited Poland", and even then you may be wrong. Check this map: https://www.nperf.com/en/map/PL/-/-/signal/ https://www.nperf.com/en/map/PL/-/-/signal/ - there are plenty of spaces with gray "no coverage" dots for every operator. The problem is when you have bad GSM coverage in some unfortunate spot even in a big city - you may just can't solve it. And, by the way, there's a habit to place utility meters in basements, where GSM coverage is much worse.
zzzcpan 9y ago
GSM network can be used to aggregate data from cheaper devices near by. Putting GSM into every device is somewhat silly. But well, there is always a "preference" to solutions offered by certain companies no matter the cost.