No, they do not transmit and are 100% standalone. As long as the battery isnt flat then it will work anywhere. I am making some huge assumptions here but i believe each number that it generates contains a certain signature/pattern. For example 246 and 468 contain the same signature, the signature being that each digit is even. So even though the number is unique every number generated contains the same signature/pattern. Each device has its own signature/pattern. When you enter the serial number you are associating that specific device and its signature/pattern with your account. This might be totally wrong but it logically seems most feasible.