Home Intercom Advice

Yes and no to the land line problem. The traditional phone lines stay up the longest and are great if you still have an old handset as backup which don't require local power. Which (going further off topic) is the major issue I have with VZ Fios rollouts that I've seen. They have neglected the copper hardware, to where people had weekly outages, gotten the political OK to roll out FIOS and while doing so they cut off the traditional land line and DSL options. Inexpensive local phone options and limited DSL options have vanished. I've seen this first hand in Florida. Suddenly a $20 local phone line is a $50 FIOS line. Plus you pay for the power backup, and in a weather event, you have 6 hrs of phone service left. That $20-25 DSL now is $50-60 FIOS. Push the bundle. Intro is favorable. 6mo or 1yr in. Wham.
It is a terrible blow to retirees and seasonal residents, who can't afford that service level and/or don't need it.

Currently have two smartphones with VZ (and backup with outside service)
If we make any VZ account change the one smartphone loses its unlimited data plan.
Unlimited voice or unlimited text is of no use to us. They have been pushing us time and again for family share etc but it is not in our favor.

But back to intercoms :)
 
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I am getting wholesale VoIP from Flowroute; I run an Asterisks server with a shit ton of custom scripts ive done to it over the years.. Most of the Phones are Cisco 7970 series running SCCP/Skinny firmware.

You can integrate Analogue PSTN phones into the VoIP setup with some extra hardware.. this will let you use a off the shelf standard "door phone" with the intercom system; or you can setup a cheap IPPhone on the front porch thats programmed to do one thing; dial the intercom extension the moment the phone's receiver is picked up.
 
Thanks. Pretty cool stuff! For the time being I'll stick to the "works-right-out-of-the-box-phones" ;)
Maybe when I get caught up on all other projects, to dos, wants and the honey-do list :D
 
Icerabbit, you need to play fios and the cable company like they play us consumers. I switch between them for the best offer. In fact, just last week, fios had an offer, for 49.99 for 25/25 + 70HD channels...59 with phone....however it was only for houses already wired for fios but not for current customers like me...I called retention but the wouldn't budge...so i canceled and was able to sign back up the next day....Now im locked in at that rate for 2 years...
As far as cell, I also use verzion as they have the best coverage... i never use more than 2gb of data a month, and that includes viewing cams a lot, pandora, email etc...so i actually prefer the metered plan...you can get 4 lines for 160 with a total of 10gb to share for 160...
 
That's what rubs me wrong with the different plans, now more service for 4 for the price of 2, but you have to be out of comtract, pay full price for your phone, and we already did that for one to keep the unlimited data. It is just all a huge ripoff.

I know about retention and switching every two. If you want to see whack pricing just have a look at basic and extended tv as they call it then look at digital then look at a bundle that for the same price also has web and phone. But we can only get as much internet as we get. I'm happy to support the independent provider; and I just don't have the energy to do the switcheroo and have service interruptions. They don't come next day here.

I have to shut my cellular off frequently to keep within 2gb, with a bit of audio streaming, browsing and facetime chats. Did discover though that photostream was by default uploading every picture to the web. Just killed that off on the last trip I was on. Couldn't figure out why my battery life was crap and data was being used excessively. Apple of course couldn't give us an option to do that manually or on wifi only.
 
So I was thinking of going a different route. Just using a standard intercom or OnQ for the Voice communication and in the locations I want video to just feed HDMI over ethernet to a few small monitors from the main NVR pc.
Small monitors are hard to come by...so i found these...http://www.adafruit.com/products/1287
They have 7" for about half the price too. I would just use a custom frame around it...
Now for the power.... these units run on 5 though 12v..
I was thinking about using one of these kits from http://wifiqos.com/ go down to the section titled "USB, 5 volt and 12 volt Splitters also for Foscam, Airsight, etc "
Would i use a 5v kit? 12v? does it matter?
Any thoughts on the idea?
I can run two ethernet cables to the locations, but i was curious how many twisted pairs are used in hdmi over ethernet and if poe can be transmitted on the same cable with out interference....
 
interesting...although ive decided (at least im trying) to stick to a non interactive screen. I dont want anyone messing with it...just want it to display video...
 
I hear that, but I want a wired solution and im not convinced that the tablets will run trouble free, they will probably need to be rebooted or at the very least will loose connection and then be booted from the app requiring to log back in manually, every so often...i want it all to run off a feed from the NVR pc, it solid and stable...Also i dont want anything apple...ever...:)
 
Ali express...just be aware that they dont operate as a true intercom..the user at the other end must answer the ring....
 
Do you mind sharing your review on those? Thanks in advance!
vector18 said:
I'm using the VT06110B. What do you mean video feed? You don't want to see who is at your door?


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and these for inside, they have newer models, but when I ordered them, the newer ones were not out yet

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The house that these are going in is only prewired. I haven't installed them yet.
 
fenderman said:
Ali express...just be aware that they dont operate as a true intercom..the user at the other end must answer the ring....
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Sorry to revive this old thread but I couldn't find much info on the Daihua anywhere on-line from real users.

I purchased 5 indoor units for use throughout the home and I'm just now realizing that they do not function like a true intercom (as posted above). I have yet to install them but this is a deal-breaker for me. Anyone know if there have been newer software versions in recent years that will allow this? We have a busy home with small kids and the whole point is to be able to call throughout the home without having to yell. The doorbell feature is important but secondary to it acting like a true intercom. A real oversight in my opinion.

For those who have had this for awhile, what has the real-world usage been like?

Thanks.
 
daft78 said:
Sorry to revive this old thread but I couldn't find much info on the Daihua anywhere on-line from real users.

I purchased 5 indoor units for use throughout the home and I'm just now realizing that they do not function like a true intercom (as posted above). I have yet to install them but this is a deal-breaker for me. Anyone know if there have been newer software versions in recent years that will allow this? We have a busy home with small kids and the whole point is to be able to call throughout the home without having to yell. The doorbell feature is important but secondary to it acting like a true intercom. A real oversight in my opinion.

For those who have had this for awhile, what has the real-world usage been like?

Thanks.
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It's my understanding that they work more like phones than a traditional intercom. Each station has to answer an intercom call. Always a good idea to bench test something like this before actually installing it. If it doesn't meet your needs the easiest option would be to sell them on ebay.

Simplest and cheapest intercom option out there is a set of AT&T or V-tech DECT cordless phones with Push to Talk (only found on some models). Just hold a button on the side of the phone a speak, it will broadcast to the other phones. Other options will be a lot more expensive and ordering from ali may be trouble.
 
tangent said:
It's my understanding that they work more like phones than a traditional intercom. Each station has to answer an intercom call. Always a good idea to bench test something like this before actually installing it. If it doesn't meet your needs the easiest option would be to sell them on ebay.

Simplest and cheapest intercom option out there is a set of AT&T or V-tech DECT cordless phones with Push to Talk (only found on some models). Just hold a button on the side of the phone a speak, it will broadcast to the other phones. Other options will be a lot more expensive and ordering from ali may be trouble.
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Thanks for your response.

The problem with cordless phones is they tend not to be where you think they're going to be. I like the idea of a fixed unit on the wall. The price of the Dahua was substantially less then what's available from Aiphone or Comelit. Feature for feature (outside of the inability to broadcast), the Dahua beats them in many ways. I can still return the product as I bought it locally - I just don't understand why Dahua would leave out such basic functionality.
 
daft78 said:
Thanks for your response.

The problem with cordless phones is they tend not to be where you think they're going to be. I like the idea of a fixed unit on the wall. The price of the Dahua was substantially less then what's available from Aiphone or Comelit. Feature for feature (outside of the inability to broadcast), the Dahua beats them in many ways. I can still return the product as I bought it locally - I just don't understand why Dahua would leave out such basic functionality.
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That's the nature of direct from china brands.

Bench test it, see if it works for you. If it does great. If not, figure something else out and return it.

Another option would be to run your own Asterisk server and set up IP phones that you buy on ebay around the house.
 
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