Electric meters on the side of houses in the 30s and 40s?

[Stearmen]

Our gas and electric meters were always outside. The water was inside, which was always fun when it rained or snowed on meter reading day. Nothing like muddy boot prints going down and then back up the stairs to the basement, especially with carpet!

 

[Stearmen]

We have a very powerful Public Advocate's Office here, and because of that there's a law requiring that the power company allow customers to "opt out" of the smart meter program. They charge me an extra $12 a month for having a "non standard meter," but it's more than worth it given that the meters put out intolerable blasts of broad-band AM radio interference, and I'm constantly listening to AM radio. I also like the idea of sticking a fork in the eyes of Central Maine Power, which is now owned by a Spanish conglomerate with no more concern for local customers than the man in the moon.

People like me have also prevented them from laying off all the meter readers, which I see as a victory for working-class solidarity. A small victory, but every victory counts.

That's why I get mad at people around here saying we need to privatize our utilities, saying, "the private sector is always cheaper!" I remember when the price of heating oil went out of sight back east, I was glad for natural gas and utilities that barley went up! It is nice when they live in the same city as you.

 

[Edward]

That's why I get mad at people around here saying we need to privatize our utilities, saying, "the private sector is always cheaper!" I remember when the price of heating oil went out of sight back east, I was glad for natural gas and utilities that barley went up! It is nice when they live in the same city as you.

Exactly. We're forever being told that the market will ensure quality, but in reality all I've seen it do is put profit above service. When the whole industry operates on that basis, you don't really have much choice elsewise.

 

[emigran]

I have a human meter reader... real nice guy too... comes rain, snow whatever as my meter is in the basement... House was built in '56.
BTW I remember my grandparent's house sported a "bird house" complete with little door...

 

[HudsonHawk]

That's why I get mad at people around here saying we need to privatize our utilities, saying, "the private sector is always cheaper!" I remember when the price of heating oil went out of sight back east, I was glad for natural gas and utilities that barley went up! It is nice when they live in the same city as you.

Anectdote: All of my utilities are private. The only public utitlity I'm aware in this area is water (which includes waste pickup). I'm not on the City's water system. My neighborhood used to have our own wells, but the state mandated we get off groundwater and on to surface water, and since the City owns the only surface water in the area, we have to now purchase our water from the City. We still pay less than those on the City system.

 

[vitanola]

My current house is serviced by an investor owned utility, but the new place is served by a municipal light company. The rates are about 20% less, and reliability is higher. Heck, the last blackout was in 2003, and the municipal company cut their tie to the grid, powered up all of their generating capacity (in cluding a mothballed 1919 Fairbanks Morse installation) and got power to their customers win three hours, rather than foru dash as elsewhere in the country.

By the way, this firms smart meters communicated via the cellular telephone system, so no AM interference. The Muni is now installing a fiber loop around the city so that the meters will communicate with wifi, and we will be able to hav gigabyte I ternet service run I to our homes and businesses, should we wish.

 

[MikeKardec]

My current house is serviced by an investor owned utility, but the new place is served by a municipal light company. The rates are about 20% less, and reliability is higher. Heck, the last blackout was in 2003, and the municipal company cut their tie to the grid, powered up all of their generating capacity (in cluding a mothballed 1919 Fairbanks Morse installation) and got power to their customers win three hours, rather than foru dash as elsewhere in the country.

By the way, this firms smart meters communicated via the cellular telephone system, so no AM interference. The Muni is now installing a fiber loop around the city so that the meters will communicate with wifi, and we will be able to hav gigabyte I ternet service run I to our homes and businesses, should we wish.

Next thing you know our power meters will be spying on us recording what we say in our homes and picking up or keystrokes for Go-ogle and the NSA. Time to get off the grid, off the net and back to the stone age ... well, maybe just typewriters.

 

[Stearmen]

Next thing you know our power meters will be spying on us recording what we say in our homes and picking up or keystrokes for Go-ogle and the NSA. Time to get off the grid, off the net and back to the stone age ... well, maybe just typewriters.

To late, our TVs are already doing that! Turns out, Big Brother, is actually, Big Business!

 

[sheeplady]

Next thing you know our power meters will be spying on us recording what we say in our homes and picking up or keystrokes for Go-ogle and the NSA. Time to get off the grid, off the net and back to the stone age ... well, maybe just typewriters.

Disable WiFi and Internet connectivity on all your devices, and don't buy a device you can't disable them on. Even something as innocuous as a microwave has to be researched. (Although you are typically safe with the very cheap ones.) And remember that any media device and increasingly some major appliances (expensive) are going to "report back" by default.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The radio interference we get here -- I can pick it up from my neighbor's meter -- is a loud, cascading series of bursts at set times each day, and it appears across the entire AM band, all the way into the shortwave frequencies. I don't think it's intentionally set at those frequencies, but it's clearly spilling out of the meter due to poor regulation of whatever signal it means to generate.

One of the main reasons I refuse to have a cell, minimize my use of social media, refuse to have a car made in the 21st Century, use obsolete and outdated computers and software, and don't use modern appliances is that I don't want to make things easy for The Boys. I don't fear government surveillance anywhere near as much as I'm opposed to giving our corporate masters information to which they are not entitled.

 

[Fading Fast]

Disable WiFi and Internet connectivity on all your devices, and don't buy a device you can't disable them on. Even something as innocuous as a microwave has to be researched. (Although you are typically safe with the very cheap ones.) And remember that any media device and increasingly some major appliances (expensive) are going to "report back" by default.

Yet, apparently, with respect to the Malaysian aircraft that went down in the ocean last year - there is no "reporting back" from the plane during the flight and only how-many-decades-old black box technology (now lost to the sea) to understand what went wrong. Really? If our microwaves can "report back" that I just made an egg in it (and God only knows why someone would care), can't our airplanes report their locations? Unbelievable.

 

[Stearmen]

Disable WiFi and Internet connectivity on all your devices, and don't buy a device you can't disable them on. Even something as innocuous as a microwave has to be researched. (Although you are typically safe with the very cheap ones.) And remember that any media device and increasingly some major appliances (expensive) are going to "report back" by default.

Last year, the first hacking into a refrigerator happened! It was with the knowledge of both parties, so no harm, for now. That's why I will not have a smart house! I can see some snot nosed 14 year old, hacking into my house and turning off the boiler when it's below freezing, and me left with tens of thousand in broke pipes and radiators. No Thanks!

 

[F. J.]

Smart, my eye!

Last year, the first hacking into a refrigerator happened! It was with the knowledge of both parties, so no harm, for now. That's why I will not have a smart house! I can see some snot nosed 14 year old, hacking into my house and turning off the boiler when it's below freezing, and me left with tens of thousand in broke pipes and radiators. No Thanks!

Could anyone tell me why, exactly, they call all these computerised gizmos ‘smart’?
What’s so smart about your car being able to drive itself into a parked truck or your house calling the fire department when you light a candle?
There is a price to be paid for all this ‘convenience,’ and it’s a damn sight more than anyone realises.

 

[MikeKardec]

Yet, apparently, with respect to the Malaysian aircraft that went down in the ocean last year - there is no "reporting back" from the plane during the flight and only how-many-decades-old black box technology (now lost to the sea) to understand what went wrong. Really? If our microwaves can "report back" that I just made an egg in it (and God only knows why someone would care), can't our airplanes report their locations? Unbelievable.

If you really want to get into the details of that here's the conspiracy of the decade - http://jeffwise.net/the-spoof-part-1-why-a-speculative-scenario/

Personally, I believe we should start a fad on social media to spoof smart devices into reporting erroneous information. Vastly more fun than swallowing goldfish.