Hello all,
My father is trying to install an apartment building intercom for a relative, and he's very experienced with electronics (boilers elevators, etc). All he needs is 18 stations, audio, and door buzzing functions. I'm just wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a product, or any technical tips on the installation part. Personally I'm not in the business so I dont want to order the wrong thing for him lol. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance!!
J. Smith:
I own a small apartment block (21 units) which was built without an intercom system. For years I planned to have one installed some day. But, I'm finding that there's less and less need for one because of cell phones. Nowadays, if the front door of my building is locked, visitors just phone whomever they're wanting to see to come and let them in.
However, I've learned a little about intercom systems, and in my humble opinion, the best intercom systems are telephone based. That is, the intercom system uses the tenant's telephone instead of a dedicated wire running through the wall. These systems have a battery powered telephone (similar to a cellular phone) and a computer in them. A visitor punches in the tenant's 2 or 3 digit code number, and the system then dials the tenant's phone number. If the tenant doesn't answer their phone (or if an answering machine answers), then the system can be set to dial an alternate phone number, typically the tenant's cell phone number. That way, if the tenant isn't home, their visitor will still contact them if they have their cell phone with them. The tenant then just presses the * or # button (or some other combination of buttons) on their phone, and the system recognizes that as the instruction to unlatch the door so the visitor can get into the building. In my humble opinion, this is clearly the best way to go since it eliminates the need to run wires through walls and install intercom stations in every apartment. Having the system computerized allows much greater flexibility than an ordinary intercom could provide.
You have to change the phone number(s) whenever a new tenant moves in, but that's vastly less work than pulling wires through walls and installing intercom stations. Your local telephone utility will have sales people that can give you more info on telephone based intercom systems. I don't know which telephone based intercom system is best, but I believe that any telephone based intercom systems is better than an ordinary intercom system.
Nestor,
Thank you VERY VERY MUCH for such an informative answer, I really appreciate it! Yeah I do understand that telephones are taking over in these kinda systems but they still want to kick it old school and have a station in each apartment haha. Actually ordering these systems are a pain too b/c most of the sources I find, only sell to companies who offer home security services. I guess I'll have to look deeper. Thanks anyways tho, your humble opinions were very helpful.
Tags: apartment, building, intercom, intercom system, intercom systems, phone number, telephone based, based intercom, telephone based intercom, based intercom systems, cell phone
