Subscriber Discussion

Normally Locked Front Door With Intercom, Should The Intercom Ring The Phones Or A Dedicated Device?

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
•Oct 31, 2018

In a commercial/educational environment, when you have the main door that is locked during regular business hours and you have an intercom for it. Do you have the intercom ring one of the office phones, or do you have it going to a dedicated interior intercom?

 

I am trying to see what is the common thing to do. Reason being is that I installed a front door intercom that goes to the office phones by an educational customer. The customer got frustrated that it was rining the phones a lot and they had to put a regular phone caller on hold to answer it. They said that it doesn't make sense to have it go to the phones and that no normal business would have it that way. I do know that most places I have seen (even not installed by me), have it go to the phones (due to flexibility and price reasons). I just want to see what everyone else does. 

EDIT: In response to a comment below  they have multiple secretaries and they wanted the two different doors to ring different desks and if no answer then go to a different phone  

 

Thank you

Avatar
Michael Silva
•Oct 31, 2018
Silva Consultants

If there is an attended location (such as a receptionist's desk) where staff is always available to take a call from the door, I would typically specify a dedicated intercom system with a door release such as made by Aiphone.

If there is no single location where calls from the door will be answered, then I would use a telephone intercom system such as those made by Viking. This allows calls from the door to be routed to multiple locations, allowing anyone who is available to take the call.

(2)
U
Undisclosed #2
•Oct 31, 2018
In reply to Michael Silva

Michael is spot-on, as usual.

It depends entirely on the customer. The key is, with the right equipment, the answer becomes "why not both?"

With Stentofon Turbine intercoms, either running Alphacom or not, you can have it set up to dial a master station first, then if no answer, it can roll over and dial out via SIP to a phone number or phone numbers.

I have one client that installs the same hardware everywhere, then changes the setup based upon the staffing they have. For locations without a staffed reception area, they place the "Master" station in the space and have it ring along with multiple other lines in a ring group. For locations with a staffed reception area, the calls go straight to a Master station at the reception desk, and then from there, in some cases will either roll to an iPad that the receptionist may carry with them, or will roll directly to the Security Operations Center.

Lots of flexibility with a system like Stentofon. Hefty cost, but definitely a case where you get what you pay for.

 

EDIT: I should also add, you can do effectively the same thing with the Axis A8105-E, which is much less expensive than the Stentofon units. Use an iPad running Axis Camera Companion as your "master" station, and then also set it up to dial SIP. I've never done the "why not both" scenario with Axis, so I can't speak to that directly, but I would imagine it can be done...no reason why not...

(1)
MM
Michael Miller
•Oct 31, 2018

Does the customer have a VOIP phone system? We have been using VOIP intercoms which are easy and cost effective to add to the customers phone system.  Once the intercom is on the phone system you can route the calls any where you want.  You could put a second phone on the desk if they they want/need a dedicated phone for the intercom.  If you get an intercom with a built-in IP camera and also record the video in your VMS.   If they have a current VOIP PBX adding the intercom can be very cost effective and expandible with much better video quality then using a Aiphone system.

(2)
UE
Undisclosed End User #3
•Oct 31, 2018
In reply to Michael Miller

We use 2N entry intercoms with 2-3 dedicated Grandstream IP phones to answer and control the door locks at our schools. Using SIP protocol. Easy peasy.   

(1)
MM
Michael Miller
•Oct 31, 2018
In reply to Undisclosed End User #3

I like 2n but not impressed with the video quality from them.  Axis and Avigilon's new intercom have very good video.

(1)
Avatar
Clint Hays
•Oct 31, 2018
In reply to Michael Miller

I do believe you'll see axis imagers inside the 2n product soon. That will improve the quality.

(1)
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SD
Shannon Davis
•Nov 01, 2018
IPVMU Certified

One item to note about phone systems. Yes most newer phone systems are VOIP but if you see the latest Cisco Webex (formerly Cisco Spark) there is no integrating the two as Cisco Webex doesn't support SIP. We ran into this recently. I recommend using a dedicated master station and then a rollover if no one answers the master station. Using a tablet works great with the Axis intercom.

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