Electric Co. just installed "smart meters", and...

[snipppppp]

WIth  somedifficulty (expletive feleted light gray
lettering that's way too small for people to read)
I was able to get the meter info.

It's (and the ones my neighbors received)
are Centrons, with lots of FCC IDs listed
on them.

The basic Centron info page talks about lots
of options for remote reading, monitoring,
and control, ranging from Verizon LTE
to lots of others.

So it certainly seems pluasable they're
the cause of my WiFi interruptions.

if anyone's interested, I put a picture of
the nameplate up at:

http://www.dburstein.com/images/smart-meter.png


--  
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
             dannyb@panix.com  
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

On Mon, 4 Sep 2017 20:23:43 +0000 (UTC), danny burstein



The meter is made by Itron, Inc as an "Itron OpenWay Centron
Smartmeter".

<http://www.smartmetereducationnetwork.com/uploads/how-to-tell-if-I-have-a-ami-dte-smart-advanced-meter/Itron%20Centron%20Meter%20Technical%20Guide1482163-201106090057150.pdf
<https://www.itron.com/na/-/media/itron/documents/openway-centron-meter-spec-sheet.pdf?la=en-US
  Home Area Network (HAN)
    Every OpenWay CENTRON meter includes a ZigBee radio  
    for interfacing with the HAN, in-home displays and load  
    control devices
    The OpenWay CENTRON can store consumption from 2.4GZ  
    OpenWay gas modules utilizing the ZigBee radio
This means that if you have a natural gas meter with a Zigbee radio,
it too can interfere with wi-fi.

This is the FCC ID data for the utility part of the radio running at
900MHz Spread Spectrum, which is unlikely to be causing Wi-Fi
interference on 2.4GHz:
<https://fccid.io/QHC-OW35SE

This is the LTE data part of the radio, which uses LTE data on 777-787
MHz and 1710-1755 MHz.  This is unlikely to cause wi-fi interference
on 2.4GHz:
<https://fccid.io/N7NHL7518

This is the Zigbee SE radio operating on 2405-2475 MHz and is probably
what's causing the interfernce on 2.4GHz:
<https://fccid.io/SK9ITR24


--  
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558

[snip]



A Texas sized tip of the hat for your assistance.

Thanks
--  
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
             dannyb@panix.com  
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

On 8/28/2017 6:40 PM, danny burstein wrote:



Sounds like you have the problem pretty much identified.
What I would do is to do a WiFi scan of the available channels.

If you are presently using channel 1 switch to ch 6 or ch 11, if on Ch 6  
switch to ch 1 or ch 11, if on 11 switch to ch 1 or ch 6.

Basically move your current current radio frequency to one of the three  
clear channels farthest from your present channel and see if the problem  
goes away.

The only other thing I can think of is to run one of the WiFi channel  
scanners that has a logging feature and let it watch and see what  
frequencies/channels they are hogging when your meter is polled.  The  
meter itself might have a FCC label on it showing what frequency or  
channel(s) it is using but it can also be hidden on an internal panel of  
the meter.

On 8/29/2017 2:03 AM, GlowingBlueMist wrote:






  Meant to include this link to an article that might help explain what  
is happening to you.

https://www.smartdatacollective.com/smart-meters-kill-wifi-not-people/

On 8/29/2017 3:06 AM, GlowingBlueMist wrote:









More perils of unlicensed RF band usage.

wrote:



What maker and model meter?  If unavailable, the utility company name.
If the smartmeter has Zigbee activated, that's probably your problem.  


The bars or cones do NOT always indicate signal strength.  They
usually indicate the SNR (signal to noise ratio).  If there's any
nearby source of interference, the SNR will drop.



Well, since the half dozen other wireless routers also drop in SNR,
it's not your router.  Since it happens to all your devices, it's your
laptops, tablets, or smartphones.  By default, that leaves the
smartmeter.

Duz your unspecified service area offer wireless power monitoring?
It's an overpriced wireless receiver that tracks the readings on the
power meter.  Something like these:
<https://www.nts.com/services/certification_services/pge/han_devices



No.  That would be intermittent and only ocurr ocassionally in a
single family dwelling.  However, if you're in an apartment building,
and happen to be very close to the usual wall full of power meters,
you're likely to see almost continuous traffic, simulating what you
seem to have observed.



Spectrum analyzer or Zigbee sniffer.  You won't see Bluegoof or Zigbee
with a typical wi-fi sniffer application.  The protocols are very
different.  You'll see everything with a spectrum analyzer.  I haven't
done anything with Zibgee interference issues.  I found this, but
don't know anything about it.
<http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zigbee-package-Sniffer-CC2531-USB-Dongle-CC2531EMK-USB-compati-/291802327167
<http://www.ebay.com/itm/CC2531-Sniffer-Protocol-Analyzer-Wireless-Module-USB-Interface-Dongle-For-Zigbee-/142209126323

Good luck, but offhand, I think you're screwed.
Switch to 5GHz wi-fi.
--  
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558