Potential metering communication services using the public Internet

The Internet was born approximately 20 years ago out of a project to integrate a US Defence Department Network called ARPAnet. This integration involved radio satellite voice and data networks. The Internet has completely revolutionised public communication networks. The concept of using the Internet for a metering communications service is proposed. The use of the Internet for a range of customer services in the residential and industrial area is also detailed. The Internet provides the potential for integrating many thousand of homes into a wide area metering communications network (WAMCN) architecture. The potential characteristics of this type of communication architecture are established for efficient transport of data services