Why RG3 - RG3 Meter Company

Why RG3?

we’ve got you

Covered

We have your back.

We think our solutions are the best, but we know there are several good automated meter reading options available. We recognize that the solution isn’t any more important than the relationship created when a solution is implemented. An automated meter reading solution isn’t just a sale, it’s a long-term relationship or a marriage of sorts.

RG3 stands behind our products and our customers. Nobody goes to the lengths we do to make sure our customer partners remain successful. If there are bumps in the road, we ride the road with our partners until everything is smooth again. We go into the relationship realizing that nobody has a crystal ball and things will not always go as planned. We know our customers will have new employees, operational changes, and challenges as the years go by. RG3’s customer service, technical support, and product specialists are the people you want on your side.

We were there first.

Technology in the meter world has moved at a lightning pace over the last two decades. Being on the forefront doesn’t always mean you’re the best, but it sure doesn’t hurt.

• 1^st Positive Displacement meter design to use even compression for reduced wear

• 1^st 1-watt unlicensed AMR solution

• 1^st Integrated (no wires) encoder register with a transceiver for mechanical water meters

• 1^st Integrated register with an external antenna for mechanical water meters

• 1^st Hybrid AMR & AMI solution

• 1^st Solid state encoder register for mechanical water meters

• 1^st Encoder register with multiple outputs

• 1^st Encoder water meter register to offer constant flow detection

• 1^st Solid state gas register

• 1^st AMI solution to use multiple networks for backhaul in a single endpoint device

• 1^st Two-way data log accessible without leaving the vehicle

• 1^st To offer sub gallon resolution constant flow detection in a meter register

• 1^st To offer high resolution backflow detection

• One of the first to offer meter reading to the gallon over AMR and AMI

• One of the first two-way meter reading solutions

• One of the first cloud-based meter data management systems

• One of the first to configure a meter register over radio communication

• One of the first residential encoder meter registers with an LCD

• One of the first PD meters to offer a built-in check valve as an option

Backwards compatibility.

In the spirit of having our customer’s back, RG3 has never stranded a customer by obsoleting a piece of software or held them hostage forcing them to pay an exorbitant amount for a forced upgrade. Every product we have built or software we have written has been backwards compatible. Products installed two decades ago are still compatible with our latest hardware and software, which has been a challenge given the rate technology has expanded. We went to these great lengths because that is what we would want our partner to do for us.

Ease of use.

RG3 designs and supports solutions from the perspective of the customer. We’ve been there and we know nothing is more frustrating than having a great tool that is too difficult to use. It takes a lot more time and a great deal of complexity to make something simple to use. It is also very difficult to know what you don’t know or view a solution from the perspective of someone that doesn’t know what you know. We rely heavily on customers input from the design phase to years after a solution has been in the field to make sure our customers think our solution is easy. Many of our best features have come from customer seeing things we can’t see.

Forward and backward scalability.

RG3 was the first to come to market with a hybrid solution. We brought that option to the table because we understood that to run a business well, you have to stay within your means. Sometimes, that means starting one place to end up another. We also understood that you may be able to make the best business case for reading part of a meter system through a fixed network (AMI), while making the best business case to read another part of the system by drive-by (AMR). We thought the choice should be left up to the customer and allow the customer to expand network coverage as it made the most sense.

RG3’s latest solution, TeslaNet, continues in this theme with even more options. We are now offering the first meter system in history that will allow the customer to scale up or down at will. At any time, a customer can choose to activate the AMI network coverage when needed or desired. This allows RG3 customers to scale up as accounts are added, expansion occurs, or the business case makes sense. It also allows a customer who normally reads their system by drive-by (AMR) to read all of their meters from their office (AMI) temporarily if they experience short term staffing challenges, illness, or injury. Once the resources are back in place to resume drive-by reading, they can choose to discontinue the temporary (AMI) network coverage.

Redundancy

We believe you should backup your backups. In business, you can’t afford to lose access to your cash register. That is why TeslaNet is the first AMI solution to use multiple networks. The TeslaNet solution is built with worst case scenarios and “what if’s” in mind. What if AT&T has a contract dispute with a tower owner? What if a hurricane or tornado level a tower with a collector on it? What if there is a cellular dead spot or an account over a hill that can’t reach the network?

The TeslaNet solution uses a 450 MHz Licensed Private Network (LPN) that is owned by the utility, but it also uses the AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile public cellular networks to get your data from endpoints to the meter data management system. In the case that all 4 networks are unreachable, you can always read the endpoint by drive-by. That is redundant redundancy, which means you don’t have to worry about getting your meter data.

Quicker lead times.

RG3 manufactures the majority of our products in the United States. We also write and support all of our software applications in the USA. In a global pandemic, that translates into quicker lead times. We aren’t perfect, but we have a great track record on getting products into the hands of people who want them. We were always fast, but even with the supply chain challenges experienced since COVID, new orders, warranty returns, and service items have all been delivered months faster than current industry norms.