Mobile units moving in a local network environment and at times in the vicinity of meters of the network, at least temporarily bypass relay functions of a concentrator operated in a stationary manner, if the relay function is not yet available, for instance during construction, for radio communication of data packets of the meter linked into the smart-metering network to a center. The mobile units are persons and/or vehicles with communication devices such as smartphones for long-distance links over the Internet or in the mobile radio standard. The communication devices, as modified mobile radio telephones, receive data packets from meters by using hardware or a software app over a short-distance link to the mobile unit being accidentally temporarily located in the vicinity of the meter. Long-distance communication of packets from mobile unit to center then takes place over the Internet or the mobile radio standard.