> Some research told me that the power company accomplishes this via a simple radio broadcast on the 900Mhz spectrum.
Interesting. Around here (mainland Europe) they're currently installing "smart" meters which do this using CPL rather than radio.
> And with one simple command, I was reading the power (and probably water) meters for my entire neighborhood
That is a bit troubling from a physical security perspective, once you've mapped meters to accommodation you can now remotely check for presence across an entire neighbourhood, and can ignore the usual "fake presence" indicators (randomised lighting & blinds manipulation) entirely. In fact those would help you as seeing lights in a house whose owners are on holidays would not surprise the neighbours.
Interesting. Around here (mainland Europe) they're currently installing "smart" meters which do this using CPL rather than radio.
> And with one simple command, I was reading the power (and probably water) meters for my entire neighborhood
That is a bit troubling from a physical security perspective, once you've mapped meters to accommodation you can now remotely check for presence across an entire neighbourhood, and can ignore the usual "fake presence" indicators (randomised lighting & blinds manipulation) entirely. In fact those would help you as seeing lights in a house whose owners are on holidays would not surprise the neighbours.