[asterisk-users] Doorphone vs. Grandstream BT101

[Steve Totaro]

Jay Milk wrote:
> Doug Lytle wrote:
>> Jay Milk wrote:
>>> I've done all the googling I can on this, and have come to the 
>>> conclusion that a Grandstream BT101 can be abused to be a door 
>>> phone.  Could someone with access to one, confirm that the following 
>>> is possible?
>>>
>>> Researched:
>>> 1. When set to auto-answer, dialing the phone will result in a short 
>>> beep and instant speaker-phone connection.
>> I have this setup now, but don't recall the short beep.  It may be 
>> configurable.
>>
>>> 2. When pressing the "message" button while on-hook, the phone will 
>>> activate speaker-phone and dial the number configured for voice mail 
>>> retrieval.
>>>
>>
>> Correct.
>>
>>> Assumptions:
>>> 3. Pressing the "message" button additional times will simply be 
>>> ignored by the phone.
>>
>> I have several, I can check this weekend.
>>
>>> 4. Hanging up the other end of the call will deactivate the speaker 
>>> phone and cause the phone to go on-hook. (This is the behavior I see 
>>> on a Polycom 430).
>>>
>>
>> I would have to say correct as well, since I'm using it as a paging 
>> unit and it does hang up after playing back the audio file.
>>
>>
>> Something to consider, the BT101's speak phone has no Echo 
>> cancellation whatsoever and sounds just awful in a two way conversation.
>>
>> Doug
> Thanks to Dave and Doug for the quick responses.  I'm looking forward 
> to hearing the response on #3, but I think I'll get get one of these 
> devices to play with this weekend.  At worst, it'll be a usable garage 
> or basement phone.
>
> Doug, I didn't even consider audio-quality on this, as even with the 
> most rudimentary speaker phone circuits, phones seem pretty usable 
> these days.  I was planning to put this in a custom door-box anyway, 
> along with a water-resistant speaker (plastic membrane).  Considering 
> our wide-open porch and some physical separation of the mic/speaker, 
> the echo may not be as much of an issue as protection from the elements.
> And contrary to what someone asked me in private, wiring isn't an 
> issue -- I do have cat5 at the door bell :)
>
> Thanks,
> JM
>
A few notes about your idea. 


Yes it will work, you can set it auto answer, you can also set it to 
dial a number automatically when taken off-hook in addition to pressing 
the message button. 


You will probably want some sort or script to reboot the phone regularly 
(everyday) or it will just stop working (lose registration with *).  The 
speaker phones really do stink on these but for a simple doorphone 
application, it should be fine and may even function better with the 
water-resistant mods you are doing.


You actually do not even need cat5 (even though you have it) you can run 
10mbit over cat3.

Thanks,
Steve