Basic and advanced features

Certain Field Tools features have moved—or will move with future releases—from a free product to a paid, advanced subscription model. The features offered free with the Field Tools basic subscription are those that allow a utility to program ERTs and meters so they can collect and send billing reads to an automated meter reading (AMR) or advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system. This includes familiar operations such as:

  • Check Endpoint, to validate the ERT or meter programming.

  • Read Endpoint, to validate the ERT or meter is properly transmitting reading data.

  • Change Mode, to set the ERT or meter communication frequency and signal strength so it can be heard properly.

  • Switch to Network, so multi-mode capable ERTs and meters initially deployed in a mobile environment can be switched to report to a network.

The features offered with the Field Tools advanced subscription are those that reduce effort; increase safety; improve convenience; provide advanced troubleshooting tools; and assist in conservation, revenue protection, and customer service. Features already available in other Itron-licensed products, such as Field Collection System (FCS) with Itron Mobile, Temetra with Temetra Mobile, OpenWay Collections Manager, or Itron Analytics will also be offered with the advanced subscription. While the list is not exhaustive, this includes operations such as:

  • Extract Interval Data

  • Advanced Diagnostics (and the commands in its sub-menu)

  • Non-route-based contingency reading

For more information, there are several frequently asked questions (FAQ) documents available at Itron's Customer Center (for registered users) that address questions about the advanced subscription. If you have additional questions, contact your account executive, sales manager, or channel partner for more information. Not all advanced features require a subscription yet, but will move to the subscription model over the coming months.

There are other market-type specific (gas, water, electric) features that will remain free, while other features will move to the advanced subscription.