[2G, 3G, 4G – 5G MM Wave Antennas (Foliage, Rain, UV Windows) – Analogs – AT&T – BC Hydro – BCUC Complaint – Cellco Partners – Children – Consumer Affairs – Costs (Privacy, Safety, Security, Short Life Span) – Cross Subsidies – FCC – Fibre Optics – FortisBC – Health – Itron – John Horgan – Laws – Lowell McAdam – Microcells / Small Cells – Navigant – Public Right-of-Way – RF – Smart Meter Fires Report Press Release by Sharon Noble – Telus – Tracking – Verizon Testimony – Wireless – Wireline | BC – Canada – Brazil – China – Denmark – Egypt – Estonia – EU – Finland – France – Greece – India – Italy – Kuwait – Lebanon – Malaysia – Mexico – Netherlands – Nigeria – Poland – Romania – Russia – Saudi Arabia – South Africa – Spain- Sweden – Taiwan – Turkey – UK – Boston, Dorchester, Massachusetts & New York, USA]
1) Below in Letters is the Press Release regarding the Fire Report which was sent to BC media today. You will notice that there is an additional link if you compare with my initial announcement. The spreadsheet, which forms the backbone of the report, has been separated out. You will be able to see the details of the reports for each incident that I investigated.
[https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/press-release-bcuc-smart-meter-fires-september-21-2017/]
I hope you will share with your local media, along with your demand for a recall of these dangerous devices. I will be preparing another release for the national media, and hope to have it sent out in the next few days.
https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/contacts-media/
2) Navigant is a “research” company that often (usually?) supports the telecom industry, as they did here in BC. Here, in an article from 2016, they explain that while the market growth is slowing down, the smeter market will benefit from the short life span and the demand for replacement due to safety and privacy concerns. Make a lousy product and people will demand replacement with another lousy product à profit for the corporation. I repeat: the only thing green about smeters is the money going into the corporate pocket.
(click on photos to enlarge)
This confirms what we’ve been saying all along: the meters are expensive, unreliable, unsafe, and insecure. And it’s due to our complaints that the industry will have to replace these things so soon – not the fact that they are cheap pieces of plastic. Do you think Premier Horgan, who has always been concerned about costs, will heed this? Analogs, by comparison, last 30-40 years with absolutely no maintenance/upgrade required and no safety/privacy concerns, at a fraction of the cost.
State of the Industry
Looking forward, these replacement units will account for an increasingly large share of overall smart meter shipments and associated revenue throughout the forecast period. This market is further sustained by the shorter lifecycles attached to smart meters relative to traditional electromechanical meters. While traditional meters may have lasted for 20-plus years, modern smart meters are typically replaced or upgraded after only 5-10 years. These shorter lifespans are a product of multiple factors, including consumer awareness, technological advancement, and product standards.
Consumers can play a role in smart meter lifecycles through the voicing of safety and privacy concerns, which in turn may sway the utility to upgrade their technologies sooner than anticipated. The rapid pace at which smart meter technology is evolving also creates the potential for shorter replacement rates in the future as new functionalities and applications promote the business case for upgraded smart meter fleets.
Another potential market driver includes emerging product standards, which may force utilities to upgrade their smart meters in order to meet the criteria set forth by local governments or independent safety organizations.
3) Bait and switch in Massachusetts by Verizon is eerily similar to the bait and switch that is occurring with Telus. Fiber optic cable is not wireless. Fiber optic cable is very fast, extremely efficient, secure, and non-irradiating – the very opposite of wireless. And more – as Verizon admits, the microcells / “fiber optic cable” lead the way to 5G which will be within feet of homes where the most vulnerable people live – the elderly, children, and the disabled or others with health problems.
Verizon’s FiOS Deployment In Boston Is Fiber-To-The-B.S.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/59c2b5cfe4b0be1b32c1967a
[Remember AT&T? see 3) @ https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/z/2017-09-05-telecoms-like-telus-and-att-are-manipulating-customers-re-fiber-optic-cable-we-need-to-keep-our-landlines/]
4) Industry faces major problems with (milliwave technology) 5G. These very short waves are not very strong and have much more trouble penetrating materials, buildings, etc. than the current long microwaves in 2-4G. In reality, the microwaves can penetrate anything (including our bodies) more efficiently. So now they’ve come up with a solution – bring the antenna to your window – on both sides !! double, triple the RF. And why, when fiber optic cable is so much better and it’s going to be right outside your home. If you don’t want 5G, put more foliage around your home or have high UV windows.
“While this might sound like a minor inconvenience in the multibillion-dollar buildup to 5G, it’s actually not. Getting millimeter-wave signals to travel anywhere is difficult, but it’s really hard to get those signals to travel through windows that are coated with material that reflects UV light (and most new homes and offices require this kind of coating in order to lower cooling costs).
This situation poses a big problem for Verizon, because the carrier wants to be able to use 5G to deliver superfast internet to homes and businesses instead of fiber. If those signals can’t get past windows, users would probably have to have Verizon technicians install antennas on the outside of their home or office.”
Letters:
https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/press-release-bcuc-smart-meter-fires-september-21-2017/
PRESS RELEASE – for immediate release September 21, 2017
WHERE THERE’S SMOKE, THERE’S FIRE
BCUC fails to protect smart meter customers
The BC Utilities Commission Act says the prime reason the BC Utilities Commission exists is to ensure BC citizens receive safe and secure service. Section 25 of the Act reads:
| If the commission, after a hearing held on its own motion or on complaint, finds that the service of a public utility is unreasonable, unsafe, inadequate or unreasonably discriminatory, the commission must (a) determine what is reasonable, safe, adequate and fair service, and (b) order the utility to provide it. http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96473_01 |
Sharon Noble, Director of Coalition To Stop Smart Meters, last week released a report based on three years of research into smart meter fires and failures. Noble charges that BCUC has failed to do its job. Even after BCUC received a formal complaint with evidence that public safety is being jeopardized, the Commission did nothing. BCUC neglected to order BC Hydro and FortisBC to provide “reasonable, safe, adequate and fair service”. The report asserts:
1) No agency is tracking fires;
2) Regulations and laws are being broken with impunity, e.g. meters are being removed from the fire scene, electrical inspections are not being done;
3) Reporting is haphazard at best;
4) The meter is combustible, poorly designed, with critical components uncertified by any agency to be safe;
5) BC Hydro did not perform its due diligence by having an independent electrical engineer inspect the meter for safety prior to signing the contract. Rather it accepted ITRON’s assurances;
6) Smart meters have burned, melted and caused homes to burn. BC Hydro and BCUC both deny this is happening.
Consumer Affairs recalls defective devices, such as cars and electrical appliances (https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety.html). Consumer Affairs has no jurisdiction to recall defective smart meters because the meters are owned by the utility company, not by any of the consumers who are required to use them. Noble observes, “Who is watching out for us, ensuring that these devices mandated by law and installed on our homes without our permission are safe? No one.”
– 30 –
Contact information for media only:
Sharon Noble
dsnoble@shaw.ca
Next page: Image Files, Background Files
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All the pdf files are large, therefore accessing the links will not be a quick download. Your patience is appreciated.
1. The Report (2 pdfs)
The Report http://tinyurl.com/SMFireReport
Appendix W http://tinyurl.com/AppendixWSpreadsheet
2. Research documentation (2 pdfs*)
Includes reports received from the Fire Commissioner, the Attorney General’s Office (JAG), the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (TRA), BC Safety Authority, BC Hydro, and victims.
The reports in these Volumes are in the same sequence as the summaries provided on the spreadsheet in Appendix W.
Volume I http://tinyurl.com/SuperReportDataVol-I
Volume II http://tinyurl.com/SuperReportDataVol-II
* The amount of documentation is extensive, therefore it is presented in two volumes:
Volume I holds reports for fires that occurred in municipality names beginning with A to M;
Volume II holds reports for municipality names beginning with N to W.
________________________________________________________________________
REPORT CONTENT
Credit: Coalition to Stop Smart Meters
COVER OF THE REPORT
Credit: Coalition to Stop Smart Meters
Sharon Noble
Director, Coalition to Stop Smart Meters
“Knowledge is Power.”
~ Sir Francis Bacon, 1597