Here’s a new system that accomplishes an often requested smart home task, that is connecting a caller at your front door to wherever you are in the world via your mobile phone (or landline). Of course the visitor ringing your door bell is unaware that you are out, so this can be good for security as well as a useful way to accept or redirect deliveries. It’s also useful for older or disabled people that can’t easily answer their door. The unit launches this week for around £130 complete with a SIM card and the first years airtime included. Full details in the PR below.
According to the latest data from Consumer Direct and Citizens Advice, between January and September this year, 36,000 complaints were made regarding invited doorstep sellers and just under 8,000 received for uninvited doorstep traders.
Smartbel is an intelligent doorbell, which once pressed links to a mobile or landline phone meaning that people and businesses can talk to their visitors without having to answer the door.
Having been picked up by prominent telecoms company, Commtel Innovate, Smartbel was invented by 13-year- old schoolboy, Laurence Rook, after his mum voiced her frustration about having to continually go to the post office to pick up parcels which had been delivered when no one was at home.
As well as being able to keep cold callers at bay and direct a parcel to an alternative delivery address, the product has many other benefits including being able to talk to visitors quickly if suffering from mobility difficulties and also acting as a deterrent to potential intruders. Wesley Kent, Sales & Marketing Director at Fireco, the main Smartbel distributor, commented:
“These benefits make Smartbel not only an excellent product for the home but also various different industry sectors such as education, care and leisure and is already proving to be in high demand with 5,000 having been ordered. Fireco products all have safety at the forefront, so as well as the convenience aspect of Smartbel, the added security benefits make it a great fit for us, and we are delighted to be the main Smartbel distributor.”
Smartbel launches on Saturday 15th December and operates using a sim card and existing mobile phone technology. It retails at a cost of £129.99, which is considerably less than other similar products on the market. This cost includes the first 12 months of airtime, which is an exclusive offer from Fireco Ltd.
www.smartbel.com : Available from Amazon
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We are about to buy a new doorbell…are there any other products we should consider?
This is all wrong, it should be WiFi and thus free. The WiFi consortium are busy standardising Voice over WiFi but there are plenty of options right now.
I seem to remember that Graeme Howe did this (and posted about it on the old UKHA_D list) about 10-15 years ago?
@Thomas
I totally agree- I don’t see why its based around mobile tech when most houses have wifi now.
I have got a smartbel and cannot get a signal I have moved it 5 times around the house and still nothing what can I do. Do I need a extension for it and not use the small areal
The manufacturer Commtel have a remote hi-gain antenna accessory for it you can purchase, so you can site the bell where you want and get a better signal. Their number will be on google.
Thank you N Daniels
I am happy for the information
@ Thomas & Peter: Wifi is definetly a good idea and something we as a company are looking at anyway but GSM is standard and it works without 3G signal. A wifi intercom won’t connect the other end unless you have internet access on your phone, which does limit it to certain conditions. With free calls between SIM cards and to landlines etc and even without that, these intercoms are SO cheap to run that cost is almost a negligible argument. Come and see it live at the Ideal Home Show London 15.03.13 – 01.04.13. We are Control Freq GSM. We specialise in GSM based security technology and sell online and for Smartbel we are exhibiting on behalf of Commtel and their main Distributor Fireco. Come on down!
We had a similar product but it set off the car locking system so we switched to one of these and haven’t had any problems so far and we get good signal. My mum saw ours and asked where we got it so I bought her one and she uses it like an intercom for security.
A number of providers offer free mobile to mobile calls if both have the same provider. If your provider offers this then put a sim from your provider in the Smartbel so calls to your phone from the Smartbel will be free and you will never have to top up. I have done this with an o2 sim.