> A power company vehicle drives around the neighbourhood, collecting the values, storing them and moves on.
Maybe it used to work this way, or some uncommon types of meters work this way, but I've never seen them. The only ones I've seen broadcast to collectors that are usually on street lights, which are then connected to the power company's network. If you go to the wiki that's linked at the end of the article, they've even got pictures of one: https://wiki.recessim.com/view/Landis%2BGyr_Collector
The connector on the front would have an antenna, and they're usually placed right before the light on the pole facing down.
I've lived in a couple (new) houses in Texas that all use the method described above. I see the utility trucks driving around pretty frequently, and have even had a guy get out and get closer to my meter until his handheld device beeped, apparently indicating he got the data.
Maybe it used to work this way, or some uncommon types of meters work this way, but I've never seen them. The only ones I've seen broadcast to collectors that are usually on street lights, which are then connected to the power company's network. If you go to the wiki that's linked at the end of the article, they've even got pictures of one: https://wiki.recessim.com/view/Landis%2BGyr_Collector
The connector on the front would have an antenna, and they're usually placed right before the light on the pole facing down.