Why Cellular? » Coverage
Cellular networks cover more than 97% of North America's population. This means utilities have the ability to create smart grids covering almost every electric power consumer in North America. At SmartSynch, we have contracts with AT&T, T-Mobile, C Spire, Sprint, Verizon and Rogers, enabling us to work with multiple carriers and combine their coverage areas to create an immense network.
The Truth About Coverage
A widespread misconception is that if you can’t make a cellular call in an area, then cellular wouldn’t work for the smart grid. But this is simply not the case. The cellular modem in each SmartMeter is four times more powerful than the one in a cell phone. Our proprietary technology compresses the data into quick bursts that require very little bandwidth. Simply put, it’s just not the same as making a cell phone call.
SmartSynch recently completed a 10,000-meter pilot covering some of the most remote areas of Texas. Over the course of six months, we achieved an average daily positive read rate of 99.96 percent, proving that cellular coverage is more than adequate for smart grids.
Long-Term Flexibility
As the speeds of networks increase, smart grid networks will reap the benefits by allowing utilities to deploy the latest and greatest technology available at any given time without investing in any additional network equipment.
