Ran into a guy at the supply house last month who still uses dial-up panels for everything

He was grabbing a dozen keypads for a new apartment complex in Austin and swore the old tech never fails, so I asked him what happens when a tenant tries to connect a smart lock to it, and he just shrugged.

3 comments

3 Comments

butler.abby13d ago

Is the guy wrong though? I've seen those old panels chug along for 20+ years without a single issue, meanwhile every smart lock I've dealt with is a crap shoot with batteries and firmware updates. Maybe he's onto something with keeping it simple for the whole building.

uma_webb2813d ago

Why fix what isn't broke, right?

the_elliot13d agoTop Commenter

Dude, @butler.abby you are spot on with this. My parents still have a 30 year old basic keypad panel in their building and it works like a charm, never a hiccup. Meanwhile, my buddy just spent a weekend resetting all his smart locks because the firmware update bricked half of them. There's something to be said for a system that just does its one job without needing constant attention. Batteries dying at the worst possible time is way too common with those fancy locks too, it's not even funny.