The housing sector is seeing rapid advances in the use of technology to improve the lives of residents, with ever more advanced solutions driving change in the way properties are managed. Within door entry and access control, GSM or LTE cellular solutions are creating alternative methods for managing door entry, building security and resident access.
We sat down with Helen Phillips, Jamie Greive and Tom Fellows, all from the CAME Entrotec team to discuss the “Wired vs. GSM Wireless” debate to explore if the typical factors in up-front cost saving of a GSM installation delivered value for money in the longer term and if such systems brought improved satisfaction for residents:
Helen Philips (Sales Director, CAME Entrotec) [HP]: Technology is continuing to revolutionise the housing sector at a rapid pace, promising improvements to resident lives whilst simultaneously saving property managers money. In the door entry world this is perhaps most apparent with the arrival of viable GSM system solutions. That is, door entry solutions that use the mobile phone networks to interface the entry panel with the resident.
Tom Fellows (Business Development Manager, CAME Entrotec/CAME KMS) [TF]: These GSM solutions can often be delivered with a lower up-front cost, which is not a surprise, a GSM system doesn’t require the physical cables and wires running up and down a block of flats, and that cable doesn’t need to be installed by an experienced technician.
HP: This is less apparent in a new build, where cables are being laid anyway, for power, broadband and such, the door entry cable can be fitted alongside at the same time, so the cost in this case is perhaps not as significant as you’d imagine, but there are situations where a reliable GSM system can come into its own.
Jamie Greive (Product Development Manager, CAME Entrotec) [JG]: We’ve all experienced now I suspect how transformational mobile phones, and the networks that run them are to modern life. Alongside this, we’ve also experienced the frustrations and limitations of mobile devices!
TF: Indeed, and thinking of door entry, particularly in blocks of flats or high-rise buildings and within the local authority sector, some of these frustrations come to the fore with GSM door entry. When you have a visitor at the door, you need to be confident you can answer and respond, call reliability is key. In a professionally installed fully wired system the door entry panel is guaranteed to call wired handset when activated.
JG: I think everyone has been in that situation where they’re on one network with no signal and in the same room, someone else on another network has a strong connection. Reception not guaranteed across providers, and even in well served locations, users experience unexpected “black spots”.
HP: If you can’t get reception when a GSM entry system calls your device, you can’t answer the door.
JG: For residents this could be a changing issue. They may have a contract with one provider, but move to a better deal with another, only to discover that they have a poor or patchy signal in their property, reducing the reliability of their door entry calls.
TF: This isn’t helped by the prevalence of foil insulation, such as Celotex, an increasingly popular solution on new builds, which can negatively affect signal reliability.
JG: Not to mention that the call panel itself will have an installed SIM that must have a good signal too and is operating under the same potential conditions as we’ve just mentioned.
TF: Traditional wired systems are closed loop, there are no problems with the system operating in the event of signal issues or mobile network downtime.
HP: We should talk about costs. For one, no matter how it’s billed, GSM systems will have a cost factored in to make calls between the entry panel and the resident. Wired systems have no ongoing cost per call.
TF: Calls via 2G GSM or perhaps 4G VoLTE are reliant on 3rd party infrastructure, the mobile networks, to complete the entry call, this may come with a cost that could be seen in a per-call fee, or it could be rolled into a larger hosting or installation contract. We’ve all seen our mobile contract deals increase year on year, and commercial providers aren’t immune to similar call and data cost increases.
HP: And there can be questions around who pays for the hardware that’s used to answer the door. With a wired system, a handset or apartment station will be installed by the housing provider in the property. Will residents expect property manager to supply appropriate SIM or even a mobile device to answer callers?
JG: We assume everyone has a mobile now, but that’s simply not true across all demographics, especially the older and more vulnerable sections of the population. Will housing providers be expected to purchase and maintain mobile devices for residents who don’t own a device?
HP: There’s a lower burden with a wired solution with a more transparent level of expectation on the housing provider. With an access control solution, the provider will typically distribute a specific number of coloured fobs, these are simply assigned as needed to each flat. No additional personal information is required to manage the system, and the time taken to manage the system by staff is minimal.
TF: There is an additional burden with GSM entry solutions when it comes to storing resident details alongside telephone numbers to manage the system correctly. With a high likelihood of multiple phone numbers required per flat and admin costs to manage situations when people move in and out.
HP: Which does lead nicely into security considerations. We’re proud that Entrotec panels more than just call panels, they can for example record doors left open and doors are forced open. They can generate alerts for Housing Association staff, such as flagging up when a vulnerable resident hasn’t either left their flat or allowed access to visitors for a set amount of time, creating a flag for a welfare check.
JG: The closed loop of a wired system allows for solid audit trail within the setup. GSM cellular systems can vary in the security of the audit trail and rely on feedback from resident devices and Apps that may not register reliably, if at all.
TF: And not forgetting resident privacy features are built-in to the flat handsets, allowing residents to active a Do-Not-Disturb function with the press of a button to prevent unwanted or anti-social disruptions.
JG: For GSM systems, the management of such DND features is moved to the mobile device. Residents may not be able to manage their device OS privacy features to reflect a typical Do-Not-Disturb function of a wired system. Elderly or infirm residents may not be able to fully manage the detailed privacy tools within modern phone OS platforms.
HP: And a key security issue is that wired systems are site secure systems, in that you need to be in the building to be able to answer and release the door entry call. Unlike a cellular system where you could be anywhere in the world when allowing entry, opening the opportunity to abuse the system or antisocial behaviour, the defence being " I wasn't there".
JG: The reliance on residents’ mobile phones is a key factor with a GSM system.
HP: Yes, wired apartment handsets are always on and always powered and can have their own battery back-up. If you’re using residents own mobiles, must always be powered and switched on to accept intercom calls.
JG: App based intercom call solutions also require an “always on” app status adding additional pressure to the device’s battery. Residents may identify an intercom App as a battery drain and delete or disable it, reverting to call based answering and removing functionality such as live camera feed and door release.
TF: And the smartphone the resident is using needs to be up to date enough to run said App, it needs space for the App and the storage to host the data the App needs.
HP: You also rely on residents having data credit to their device. Many PAY-G services available to less well-off residents are very strict on data plans. No data could result in a loss of entry calls or functionality from an App.
TF: And if you’re on another call, unless you’ve access to Call Waiting, you may miss door entry calls altogether.
JG: Wired systems provide a fixed source of door entry calls per flat. The dedicated handset is how residents manage entry to the building. Additional handsets can be added to a system within a property to support vulnerable residents.
TF: For GSM setups, multiple residents per flat will require adding to the system, priority of device to call can be difficult to achieve meaning one resident who is out may receive intercom calls even if another resident from the same flat is at home, increasing the risk of allowing access from a remote location.
HP: We should also touch on the installation and lifecycle of a wired system. We’re proud that Entrotec door panels made to PART M of building regulations right here in the UK. Many GSM systems are manufactured abroad, in Europe and China. The standards they are manufactured to will typically reflect this and they may not be specifically designed to meet UK regs.
JG: And we look at the potential 20+ year lifecycle of a wired system, Entrotec systems have always been forwards and backwards compatible. Our latest handsets will work on even the oldest systems, they can be mixed and matched within a property as they need replacing.
TF: Fast moving cellular technology solutions have a past record of becoming outdated quickly, a 5-7 year cycle isn’t unusual. Requirements for updates or remedial work are unknown in comparison to a fixed wire system.
JG: And when upgrading after a long lifespan, the bulk of the “hardwired” element, cables into flats, is already in place and can usually be adapted for Entrotec systems. With a GSM solutions, although no new handsets would be installed in flats, removal and decommissioning of exiting handsets may still need to be undertaken.
HP: And Entrotec systems come pre-installed, pre-programmed and ready to fit. Entry fobs assigned by flat can easily be handed to residents and will work immediately.
TF: For GSM, programming and testing resident mobile phone numbers is required to work with a GSM system, with multiple residents per flat needing to ensure their device has the correct App and functionality to operate.
JG: There’s a risk we sound like luddites here, waving our weavers shuttles at the new spinning jenny’s, but that’s not the case. Heading up product development as I do, we’re constantly exploring new technology and how to integrate it into the Entrotec eco-system. That’s something we’ve been doing for nearly 40 years. We’re releasing features and updates regularly, many available for free and updatable “over the air”.
Our latest apartment stations for example will feature a direct messaging system with the ability to monitor read receipts, ideal for sharing important information with residents.
HP: At Entrotec we do believe that the up-front investment pays off in the longer-term supplying building managers with a smoother, easier to manage solution and residents a more straightforward and reliable way to answer door entry call.
Our goal is to ensure that both building managers and residents get a better experience from wired door entry that results in lower costs over time and happier householders. We believe that wired systems remain at the cutting edge of this goal, providing a better experience for all stakeholders.
