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What's the advantage of this over a traditional doorbell + a phone (which everyone already has)? If I'm home, I can hear them. If I'm not, they can just message
by sam29681749 2y ago
What's the advantage of this over a traditional doorbell + a phone (which everyone already has)? If I'm home, I can hear them. If I'm not, they can just message/call me.
- master-lincoln 2y agoTraditional doorbell needs an electrically powered button on the exterior. Phone needs visitor to have your private contact info or you would need to publicly add a note with that to your door.
- sam29681749 2y agoIf you don't want to use electricity, you can have a knock. What reason would you want to be notified of unknown visitors knocking on your doors when you're away? The only people I can see fitting this description are delivery drivers & salesmen? Further, what if you're home and your phone is in another room, is on silent, or is dead? What is you have a spouse or housemate? Do both of you get notified? And there's also a subset of people who get frustrated by having to use QR codes in restaurants, who I suspect would be equally frustrated by this.
- eesmith 2y agoThere are battery powered remote doorbell buttons. Eg, $29 at Ace Hardware, with a 100 foot range - https://www.acehardware.com/departments/hardware/safety-and-security/doorbell-and-accessories/3318276 https://www.acehardware.com/departments/hardware/safety-and-... . Also, a real traditional doorbell is mechanically coupled to the bell, with no electricity at all.
- ale42 2y agoQR solution needs the visitor to (a) have a smartphone with charged battery and (b) Internet connectivity. Quite common, but wont work for everybody.
- sam29681749 2y agoGrandma delivering cookies is out of luck. To be fair, if you don't have a phone you could just knock. But then you could just knock to begin with.
- wink 2y agoI know it's situational, but going to a party where you don't have the host's number? Also in general if you want to be rung at a temp. location but not hand out your phone number? (e.g meetups at company premises where you only have a door bell at the wrong location) I wouldn't call it a real replacement, but I can see a dozen uses.
- hoherd 2y ago> going to a party where you don't have the host's number What? Door bells worked before phones existed.
- wink 2y agoSee my sibling comment, not all apartments have accessible door bells.
- sam29681749 2y agoDon't all apartments have an intercom? I suppose I just assumed they did.
- quesera 2y agoLarger buildings with many units usually do have intercoms with two-way audio (and sometimes one-way video) and the ability for the resident to remotely unlock the door. Sometimes these work via telephone or Internet, so the resident does not even have to be home. Smaller buildings with just a few units usually just have simple dumb wired doorbells. And they are usually not broken. Different cities/neighborhoods have a different mix of larger and smaller buildings. This QR code idea is interesting, because it lets you go from dumb to smart, bypassing all of the steps that would normally be necessary (cost, approval, installation, maintenance, etc). It's not as "good" as Nest etc, but it gets you most of the way there for almost none of the hassle. Not for me, probably, but interesting.
- sam29681749 2y agoDoorbell or knocking solves this? What are the other uses you can think of? Genuinely curious because I don't see them.
- dirkc 2y agoI have a few ideas about this, One thing I've found useful so far is that the notification sound is different from my phone/message chime, so when I hear it I know it's someone at the door. I'm curious to hear what other people think?