So ever since I realised that root ten is just a set of symbols consisting of ten different symbols after which you need to start using combinations of the original ten to make more “numbers”, preferably in a logical fashion such as 10 and then 11 and then 12, I realised we are counting very inefficiently.
Our fingers can’t make ten different symbols each, you need to use all your fingers to go to ten and then remember you passed ten once and start again at one. They can however each make two symbols very effectively - up or down (if you are quite good, you can probably make half bends, but it is more difficult). 1 or 0. So counting on your fingers in binary (using each finger to represent 1 or 0) can make you go up to 1024 (different combinations) or 1023 (more than 0) before having to “remember” you passed 1023 once and start at 1 again. Most people won’t count that far anyways.
I feel it is important to use resources as efficiently as possible. That and root ten was never very useful to begin with. Root “e” would have been preferable for mathematicians and root 2 for computer scientists and toddlers (counting on fingers). Root 10 makes little sense. It is almost like we decided we are going to have the symbols 0 to 9 and then developed an intuition for rudimentary mathematics around it.
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But for some reason that you can’t explain, when demonstrating you new superior counting method, you can’t get past 4 without the people you are demonstrating to becoming angry.
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I guess you can turn your palm towards them instead of the back of your hand…
In some jurisdictions, that also handles going past 6…
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Haha! Seems like cultural symbols will be the death (no pun intended) of practicality.
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There was a world before IoT came along.
So back then when someone asked if they can they see their kWh meter readings in a remote location one would investigate if the meter itself had this capacity (or another model of the meter).
This would not be unheard of since there are a number suppliers of kWh meters and if one supplier had a capacity that the others didn’t this might result in a fat tender landing with them.
Food for thought??
I got hold of Landis Gyr and asked them. The regular prepaid meter cannot provide this facility but the E460 can. Landis+Gyr E460 1ph DIN-Rail G3-PLC - Landis+Gyr
My understanding is there are 2 versions: E460 BS and E460 S
The first one has a built in modem…
The guy to speak to in Jhb is Dave Tarr
Interesting. Can you reload with tokens remotely too?
I’m no expert but these are sophisticated meters and are for a large number of users (e.g. a townhouse complex) who want to manage their own billing.
Clearly if you have a utility managing your billing then you need to talk to them. I assume the extra facilities you might want won’t be an issue if the integrity of the billing system isn’t compromised.
(I don’t even know how they communicate to these meters… I guess via the mobile networks 
)
I seem to recall that some of the meters with the serial interface can indeed have new tokens loaded remotely. But I don’t know 100% for sure.