Gated Community--Codes vs Cards

Your going to have issues no matter what you choose. Just going to have to choose between the less evils. Remember people are going to forget codes or hand them out. Key Cards get lost or exchanged. Remote controls break and need batteries. The HOA would need to factor in replacement costs of these items.

That's a very good question. My HOA is having the same discussion now. Our call box entry system works the same way, but is almost 20 years old. A visitor enters a code to call a homeowner who then can press 6 on their phone to open the gate. Unfortunately, this doesn't work if a homeowner has only a cell phone with a non-local area code. So everyone and their pizza delivery guy knows the generic entry code.

We're looking to update it. We want something that will work with everyone's cell phone as well as their land line phones. We want something that will log every gate opening with a timestamp. We want something that can be accessed over the internet for uploading updates to the owner directory and downloading the logs.

The numbers I've seen are in the $15,000 range. One board member claims it should be much less than that, but their estimate is questionable. So we're still searching. Our entry and exit gate arms are at our guardhouse which is capable of being manned but has been unmanned for all of its 30 year existence. We're also considering some kind of camera surveillance but the cost estimates of that are all over the place. The amount of research and digging into the options available to us is probably more than anyone here is willing to do, so I suspect we won't do anything until the system completely stops working and we're forced to take action.

LetA, I think that's how ours is. The problem is that the calls do go through but when the homeowner presses 6 it's that tone that's not routed back through the cellular network properly, at least not for all carriers. Or maybe its the telephone part of the gate opening system that doesn't recognize it. If there's a problem getting touch tones routed back to the gate opener when entered on a cell phone then it seems unlikely anything is going to work. However, for cellphone users in the local area code there doesn't seem to be a problem. Not sure. It sounds simple in theory but somnething is wrong and no one has been able to find an adequate explanation. We'll have to talk to vendors when the time comes.

Our property manager updates the call box and changes the code, To me it is unethical for the gate repairman to install a backdoor code. Perhaps you should invest in purchasing the the program software for the gate and a laptop so YOU as a BOD can control access to the community.

Hi we switched from an antiquated landline based call box about 6 months ago. We found that everyone in our city knew the 4 digit code, so in fact weren't secure at all. Plus we were paying for expensive copper phone line at the gate. We installed an Elika 460 that runs on cellular, is all administered via the web- has logs of all entries and even captures a pic of anyone that enters the 4 digit code.