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STAR box on brownstones...what is it? — Brooklynian

STAR box on brownstones...what is it?

pastoralia
pastoralia
edited November -1 in Park Slope
Maybe I'm crazy but one day about a month ago I noticed there is a gray box attached to my brownstone. It's about 8 inches by four inches and about an inch thick. It has the word STAR written in white on it. No other info is on the box. It has a cord which I think leads to the basement.

What's strange is that we have a fenced in stoop so it was attached outside the fence at curb level. Others are attached right to people's outer walls (like where you might have the numbers for the address).

Since I've noticed the one on our building I've seen them attached to brownstones all over Park Slope. Walk down 6th street and just about every house has one. I don't think its for a satellite (we have DirecTV) but is it for Time Warner (a neighbor has Time Warner cable)? I've tried a google search but STAR-GRAY BOX-APARTMENT yields a lot of nonsense. What is it? Is Big Brother monitoring us? Can the black helicopters be far behind?

Comments

  • squindar
    squindar
    Yes. The Man is monitoring your utility usage.
  • stardom1
    stardom1
    OH NOS! I haz one too
  • exactly13
    exactly13
    Yes, it will eventually be attached to your spinal column but for now it is a meter reading tool so the dude doesn't have to disturb you or make you burn your toast to read the meters.
  • new2hood
    new2hood
    It's your new water meter reader. I was home the other day when the guy installed ours.
  • longtimesloper
    longtimesloper
    new water meters, ours was installed a couple of months ago, now they won't have to come out to read your water meter
  • pastoralia
    pastoralia
    A-ha! Thank you. This makes sense. Although I have to wonder about people who actually own a brownstone and has the water department slap one of these onto their facade. They aren't exactly discreet in their placement.
  • pastoralia
    pastoralia
    And here it is:

    http://www.aclaratech.com/AclaraRF/Pages/specifications_WaterMTU.aspx
  • new2hood
    new2hood
    They actually slapped it on to where an old crappy box was, so no big deal.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    first they'll try to install it where the old box is, if that fails, they'll attach anywhere :p.
  • longtimesloper
    longtimesloper
    right, they put ours where the old one was. i guess this one stands out a bit more because it says "STAR" on it

    and, pastoralia, you should have gotten a notice in the mail about over the summer, or, at least the person who owns your building did because you had to call and make an appointment for them to come out and install the new box.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    LongTimeSloper wrote: right, they put ours where the old one was. i guess this one stands out a bit more because it says "STAR" on it

    and, pastoralia, you should have gotten a notice in the mail about over the summer, or, at least the person who owns your building did because you had to call and make an appointment for them to come out and install the new box.
    i never gotten them :p, they install them regardless i guess.
  • brooklyngigcenter
    brooklyngigcenter
    It's not a meter, actually. It's a wireless transmitter that reads your existing meter and sends the data to DOT over the city's wireless mesh. They've installed 100,000 of them so far and the target is about 800,000. DOT received a recognition award last week at the NYC Gov Tech show for the best use of technology for the public interest.
  • booklaw
    booklaw
    The city has a wireless mesh? What else is it used for?
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    booklaw wrote: The city has a wireless mesh? What else is it used for?
    Some good uses are listed toward the bottom of this article. Bad uses not listed, but certainly feasible:

    http://www.policeone.com/police-products/communications/articles/1840545-June-July-2009-MHz-Update-Mesh-WAN-DTV-NYC-and-more/
  • booklaw
    booklaw
    Oh, great... one step closer to the total police state... Big brother, here we come!
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    booklaw wrote: Oh, great... one step closer to the total police state... Big brother, here we come!
    don't mind so much big brother if they actually catches criminals but we know how successful they are.
  • bluecat
    bluecat
    whynot_31 wrote: Some good uses are listed toward the bottom of this article. Bad uses not listed, but certainly feasible:

    http://www.policeone.com/police-products/communications/articles/1840545-June-July-2009-MHz-Update-Mesh-WAN-DTV-NYC-and-more/
    That link is a great find... I too had the star box installed. I received a post card in the mail that they would come and install it. The card said I could call and make an appointment for the install (as they might need access to the cellar). Useless... They already installed the box by the time I received the card!

    -blue
  • testiculon
    testiculon
    I have noticed that since the Star box was installed on my building water pressure has changed....and not for the better. Is that a function of the whole process? Did the landlord adjust that after seeing the readings? Or does it have nothing to do with him?
  • zeebee
    zeebee
    Could be the landlord but a change in water pressure is definitely not a result of the meter change on its own. My DEP tech didn't even have to enter the house to change the box, so no way could he have messed with the pressure.
  • vidro3
    vidro3
    BrooklynGigCenter wrote: It's not a meter, actually. It's a wireless transmitter that reads your existing meter and sends the data to DOT over the city's wireless mesh. They've installed 100,000 of them so far and the target is about 800,000. DOT received a recognition award last week at the NYC Gov Tech show for the best use of technology for the public interest.
    I think you mean DOIT, dept of information technology, not DOT dept of transportation.
    though in nyc i guess anything is possible.
  • brooklyngigcenter
    brooklyngigcenter
    vidro3 wrote: [quote=BrooklynGigCenter]It's not a meter, actually. It's a wireless transmitter that reads your existing meter and sends the data to DOT over the city's wireless mesh. They've installed 100,000 of them so far and the target is about 800,000. DOT received a recognition award last week at the NYC Gov Tech show for the best use of technology for the public interest.
    I think you mean DOIT, dept of information technology, not DOT dept of transportation.
    though in nyc i guess anything is possible.

    I stand corrected, it was actually DEP that ran the project with help from DOITT.
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