[Asterisk-Users] Doorbells & Door Intercoms

[Florian Overkamp]

Hi, 

> -----Original Message-----
> Does anybody know of a VoIP compatible doorbell or door intercom unit?
> 
> I've contemplated buying a cheap SIP phone, ripping it apart, and 
> putting it inside an IP66 sealed unit...
> 
> It would need:
> 
> - At least one speed-dial key, or some way to make every button dial 
> the same extension number
> - PoE (power over ethernet), so I can power it off the central switch
> - cheap enough to rip apart
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> Also, is there anyway in the Asterisk config, to ensure 
> anything dialed 
> from the phone in turn just dials a specific extension?
> 
> What I'm thinking: Door bell button rings extension 8888, which rings 
> all phones. Caller ID is "Front Door Entry" or whatever, and the 
> Cisco's Dial Plan has a doorbell chime as the ring tone for this 
> specific extension filter (so 8888 has it's own ring tone). 
> There is a 
> time out of 5 to 10 seconds, which represents the time it takes for a 
> normal doorbell to chime and stop.
> 
> Now, the intercom bit... If I want to find out who it is 
> before running 
> downstairs, I simply pickup my receiver and ask them. 
> Otherwise, I just 
> leave it and the ringing stops, and the call is terminated.
> 
> Also, if I want to find out who is outside, I can just dial a special 
> number, say 8889, and I connect to the phone outside. Now, can the 
> phone be set to automatically pickup a call?! Or perhaps, If I find a 
> Cisco 7940 with a damaged case on eBay, I can rip it apart, and then 
> use the SIP/SCCP Intercom feature on that phone only?!

There are 'regular' doorphones that have one button, which toggles
on-/offhook. If you combine this with a Cisco ATA186 that will automatically
dial a number (dialplan on the cisco) or which goes into an immediate
connect (configuration on asterisk) you can do pretty much anything oyu
want. However, those doorphones are often relatively expensive... 

The same can be done with any analog phone, but the interface will be sucky
(have to pick up the phone, dialpad which is useless, etc.)

Florian