There are apartment and condo buildings everywhere that have door buzzer intercom technology that has been in use since the 1960s. While they serve their basic purpose, tenants of these buildings are frustrated that they cannot use their smart cell phones to take advantage of the mobility and capabilities these phones offer. With a fixed intercom station on the wall, they still have to walk over to the intercom to find out who is at the door and buzz them in the building.Getting the building owners to change out the equipment at the front door so you can have access to new features is often a losing battle. There are systems that eliminate the apartment stations altogether by using either cell phone connections (no landline needed) or wired Internet connections to call your phones, but owners don’t always want to spend the money swapping the front door stations out. These systems also require a monthly fee and they may also be resistant to spending the money on that. So your only choice may be to change out the station in your apartment.
There is a new tenant replacement intercom buzzer that has Wi-Fi connection and an App you load on your phone. You simply remove the current buzzer and replace it with this one. When someone presses your button on the door station, you will be notified on your phone. You can then talk to them and even buzz them in even if you are away from home! As long as you have Internet connection on your phone and your Internet connection in your apartment is active, you can receive notifications.There are some other nice features about this smart apartment buzzer. It as an audio log history that lets you review when you had visitors. Multiple Users can have the App so if you can’t take the call, then perhaps one of your other family members can. There is even a built-in thermometer so you can see the temperature in your condo. But what is really nice is that you can give “virtual keys,” which are temporary passes, to short-term visitors like dog walkers, guests, or package delivery people. You give these keys to your visitors and they can use them to remotely activate the door buzzer without your assistance.
Installation of this smart apartment buzzer is very easy. Since the wiring is low voltage you can do it yourself without any assistance from building management. The most common apartment intercoms have 3 buttons on them usually labeled Talk, Listen, and Door. Removing the intercom from the wall, these wired apartment intercom stations will have either 3-wires, 4-wires, and 5-wires running to them. You will simply mark the wires with the included labels, remove then from the intercom station, mount a trim plate to the wall over the existing hole, attach a mounting plate to the wall, connect the wires to the mounting plate, then snap the smart intercom to the mounting plate. You then download the app to your cell phone and connect your intercom to Wi-Fi. After installation you’ll have many of the conveniences of the latest apartment door entry systems.
If you can convince your building owner to replace the door panel at the front door, we do have an Internet connected system that can still use the existing wired tenant stations while still giving the all the latest features on your smart phone or tablet PC. Check out our selection of intercoms here: Apartment Intercoms