apparatus and a method for providing , to a service provider , telemetry access to customer equipment . the telemetry access is provided using wireless access means to avoid having to provide special residential wiring to connect to meters and control devices at customer premises . each customer device is provided with a cellular station having its own mobile identity , either an international mobile switching identifier or a mobile identity number . each imsi or min need not be associated with a different telephone number . for example , a single telephone number can be assigned to a service provider to access all devices telemetered by that service provided . advantageously , this arrangement provides for an inexpensive method and apparatus for accessing customer devices .