Abstract: A terminal for communicating with a communication satellite includes a first transceiver for communicating with at least one device in a short range network, and a second transceiver for communicating with a geostationary communication satellite in a network deploying a plurality of forward channels for the communication satellite to transmit data to the terminal and a plurality of return channels for the terminal to transmit data to said communication satellite. The second transceiver is configured to transmit data from the at least one device in one of the plurality of return channels. The at least one device may include a plurality of utility meters and other sensors. A large system including a plurality of the terminals, a communication satellite and a data authority may provide a system for collecting utility meter readings across a geographical region.