The intercom systems that we have taken a look at so far require the installation of control units and remote stations, however there is an alternative that can be more cost effective and easier to install. The Phone Intercom System works by connecting your doorbell or door station to your telephone. A phone intercom utilizes the existing phone line in your home and any phone connected to this line can be used to communicate with your visitors. Cordless phones can even be used with these systems.

 The visitor presses a button at the door station, just like a regular intercom and inside the phone rings with a ring that is different to the normal call sound. Once any phone on the incoming line is picked up the conversation can start. If you are already on the phone and a visitor arrives a call waiting signal will be heard when the door station button is pressed and it is a simple matter of switching over to that line to talk to your visitor.

 The features don’t stop at door to phone communication though, if you have several phones throughout the house a paging feature may be useful to you. Handy to speak to other people in the house without having to shout! With the use of add-on modules your phone can be set to operate a door release or gate release with the press of the ’star’ button on the keypad. Talk about convenient! Don’t miss any part of your favourite show to answer the door ever again. 

 So what is required to set up these phone intercom systems? The brain of the system is the control unit which connects to the incoming phone line. One or more door stations, depending on how many entry points you want to monitor and if you like the added security of video monitoring, a camera and a phone equipped with a monitor is required. As the existing phone lines are used installation is easier and less expensive than a complete hard wired system and there is little chance of signal loss that wireless systems can sometimes suffer from. 

 For information on the ultimate in front line security see our post on Gate Intercom Systems.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 31st, 2007 at 6:52 am and is filed under Intercom Systems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.