Intercoms

The word intercom is an abbreviation of “intercommunication device”. You will find them in places like hospitals, offices, residential apartments and even in regular homes. It will let you communicate with a person outside the door or in a different room with just a push of a button.

The earliest form of intercoms was speaking tubes and peepholes. Both of these helped people look at and talk to the person who is outside the door who is outside the door without actually opening the door. But in the latter part of the nineteenth century, Kellogg invented a way to speak without using a speaking tube. It was called the ‘interoffice telephone system’. That was just a crude form of telephone. Today’s systems have come a really long way since then. You can do a whole lot of things using them these days. Read this article to get a better understanding of them.

Everything you need to know about intercoms

Basically, an intercom is any form of a stand-alone communication device for offices, a building, or even a collection of few buildings. Although they are similar to regular telephone networks in some ways, the main distinguishing factor is that they are not connected to the public telephone network. Therefore, once set up, you don’t have to pay for using it. That is why even today systems are popular for intra-office communication. It can help businesses significantly cut down the cost of operation. This article will tell you about the various types of intercoms and how to choose between them.

Analog vs Digital

If you have ever seen a character using an intercom in the movies from the 80s and 90s, then you have seen the analogue systems. The way they worked was pretty basic. The audio and video signals from the speaker end move to the receiver end over electric wires. And at both ends, there will be transducers. Digital systems are more advanced than that and offer more features and flexibility. They use Cat 5 cables for the transfer of voice and picture and offer multiple interfacing options and face recognition. It is also possible to integrate such systems in mobile devices.

Fixed vs Portable

Fixed or permanent intercoms usually go on the exterior walls of offices or homes. These systems are best for office and home entrances. They offer more features and functionalities than portable systems. You can connect fixed intercoms to the front door to enable remote unlocking. But portable intercoms have a few advantages too. For example, you can use portable intercoms at other places than the doorway. Portable intercoms can work as baby monitors and even walkie talkies. But one obvious benefit of portable intercoms is that you can use it for temporary installations.

Wireless

Another category of intercoms is the wireless ones. These types of intercoms are getting pretty popular these days. There are various types of wireless intercoms. The first type is the one that uses low-frequency radio waves. These intercoms convert the audio and video into symmetrical radio signals that travel over air. However, such models will not give you much range. Another option is IP based systems. You can connect them to a LAN network and access it from anywhere in the world. Using these systems, you can have access to the intercom even when you are away from the house.

Pros and cons of wireless intercoms

The obvious benefit of wireless systems is that they are ultra-portable. You can access the intercoms from literally anywhere in the world if you have access to the internet. Secondly, wireless systems are extremely easy to install and setup. However, it might take you a bit of work to get it online. But the downside is that the data goes through public frequency bands. Even though such systems use encryption, there is still the risk of hackers getting access to your intercom. Furthermore, wireless intercoms that use radio frequencies are highly susceptible to interference from other radio signals.