INTERACTIVE LESSON & SIMULATOR
Interactive Waveform: Smart Meter Pulses & Shielding
Test 900 MHz AMI mesh burst waveforms, calculate interior wall fall-off, and simulate interior carbon paint attenuation.
What a smart meter actually transmits
A smart meter sends brief, intermittent RF bursts to report usage data — typically for a small fraction of a second, a limited number of times per day, rather than continuously. That's a fundamentally different exposure pattern from a phone held against your head or a router transmitting nearby for hours.
How the measured levels compare
A Vermont Department of Health assessment measured smart meters at 50–140 µW/cm² directly against the meter, compared with 490 µW/cm² from a tested cell phone at the ear — both well under the FCC's public exposure limit of 610 µW/cm². At three feet away, smart meter readings dropped to background levels.
What official reviews have concluded
That assessment, consistent with similar reviews from other public health bodies, concluded existing FCC limits are sufficient to protect public health from smart meter RF exposure, and found no accepted scientific basis for non-thermal effects at these exposure levels.
If you still want to check for yourself
Since a smart meter's output depends on your specific model, mounting location and reporting frequency, a direct reading with an RF meter at your own meter and at your usual living spaces tells you more than any general figure — exactly the kind of before-and-after comparison our measurement tools are built for.