English Teenager Invents a Better Doorbell

Several readers have written with word of a new doorbell, invented by 13-year-old Laurence Rook. What's so special about a doorbell? This one lets you answer the door from wherever you can receive a call from its embedded 3G chip; to your in-person caller (facing the doorbell), that means it sounds like you're answering the door over an intercom system, even if you're really across town. Pretty clever way to make it harder for a thief to know if a home is actually occupied, though Rook says that he initially just wanted a system to avoid missed packages.

Comments

Horatio sez...

[Anonymous Coward]

When it comes to the working world, it seems that Lawrence Rook... *sunglasses* ...has got his foot in the door.

YEAAAAAAAAAAH!

Re:Horatio sez...

[sortius_nod]

I just had a vision of a John Hughes movie.

The lameness of the joke makes it so much funnier, if I had mod points I would have handed them over.

Re:Horatio sez...

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF. Fuck off back to reddit with this shit.

Re:Horatio sez...

[Seumas]

In Soviet Russia, reddit fucks off back to you with this shit.

UPS Rings Doorbells?

[corsec67]

I have had extremely good luck with UPS, but most peoples complaints are that the delivery driver doesn't even attempt to ring the doorbell, and drives off.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[guybrush3pwood]

What does he do, instead? Just parks and gives you 60 seconds to notice him and storm out of the house?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Pennycook]

We've actually caught delivery guys posting us "You weren't in" cards in the past. Some of them are just really lazy and don't want to get your package out of the van if they can avoid it.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[isopropanol]

In our neighbourhood, they stop looking about a block away because there is not a house with the right address where the GPS coordinates say it is (but all the houses on the street are clearly marked).

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

Our local driver(s) have on several occasions not come to the door, but mark in their system that I wasn't home. I've even been sitting out on my front porch before and gotten a notification in my email that UPS missed me. However upon calling it they said "we're sorry but if you missed the driver he'll try and redeliver tomorrow". Basically they treat residential customers like shit because they can and most people simply put up with it. Once or twice they've left a package for me at the front office of my apartment complex without bothering to leave a note on my door meaning they just drove as far as the office and then left. Being that the front office is nearly a mile from my door, I made the driver go pick the package up and bring it to me the next day. It was about 75lbs of bulky box, and since I have no car there was no sane way of me going to pick it up. Seriously fuck UPS right up their fucking asshole.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[DriedClexler]

I've caught a UPS deliverer just dumping it and running off even though the sender had requested a signature, and the only reasoning I caught him was because I was eagerly expecting the package, happened to be home, knew it would arrive soon, and knew a signature would be required. "Huh, oh yeah ... it does say signature required... oops, yeah, sign there"

Another time a UPS deliverer just put a "you weren't there" notice while I was at home late one evening, never heard a knock and I would have.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[dbcad7]

I think more people knock than ring doorbells, even when they are available.. UPS has over the years gotten bad about just dumping the package on the porch.. I think most do attempt a knock (or ring), but they are trying to get on to the next address so they are not going to wait too long before they just leave it.. If you are really concerned and unable to be there to make sure you get you package, Fed Ex has a hold for pickup and you can get your package at the nearest office.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[rbphilip]

FEDEX doesn't bother ringing the doorbell. I've had them basically trip over my car in the driveway so they could walk to the door and stick their sticker on it, when I was inside. Never do they bother to ring the doorbell.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[toygeek]

I know someone who lives in a rural area and has about 7 dogs and other animals. The UPS guy is a wuss and is afraid of dogs. He throws their packages in the desert next to their house, leaves them in the road in front of the house, and in general does everything he can to avoid going on their property. One package sat in the desert for 2 weeks before it was found. Another nearly got run over.

Whats funny is that the guy complained that one of the dogs "tried to bite him" and so he kicked it. I know the dogs, the worst they could possibly accomplish is death by licking.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[dnorf87]

Back in 2005 when I finally decided to upgrade to a 250gb SATA drive, I first saw it being flung over my fence into the front yard in what looked like a trash bag (possibly because it was raining?). I only knew to look outside because my dog went crazy. He goes nuts when he hears Fedex and UPS trucks--or anything that sounds like one. They did the whole black plastic bag with a box inside of it again sometime later that year, leaving it next to our mailbox, which happened to be right next to our trash pile. Good thing the trash guys didn't come before I found it :| Fedex from now on. UPS around here is terrible. On Topic: Nifty idea from a techy-teen. Wonder how this kind of tech could've influenced movies such as Home Alone? Sneak attack from behind?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[geoskd]

I think more people knock than ring doorbells, even when they are available.. UPS has over the years gotten bad about just dumping the package on the porch.. I think most do attempt a knock (or ring), but they are trying to get on to the next address so they are not going to wait too long before they just leave it.. If you are really concerned and unable to be there to make sure you get you package, Fed Ex has a hold for pickup and you can get your package at the nearest office.

Many people don't realize that UPS and FedEx now offer a shipping option called "shipper release". It is a discounted shipping option that guarantees that the driver will leave the package, no matter the neighborhood, weather conditions, etc. The building could be on fire and they will leave the package. The catch is that the carrier is not responsible for lost or stolen packages. Many shippers use this option because it is cheaper to replace any packages lost, than it is to pay full shipping price (The shipper release discount is pretty big). Many, many shippers now use it. This in large part why packages are left. Often a driver wont even knock when the package is shipper release, they just drop and run.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[greentshirt]

I caught one once too. I still have him.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

We've had deliveries left, not by the door, not on the front porch, but on the side of the house, 5 feet away from the side door, in our driveway, in a puddle, in the rain. Didn't knock or anything.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[innocent_white_lamb]

On two occasions I have had courier drivers post a "you weren't here" card on the front door exactly two inches away from the "For Deliveries Ring Bell at the Back Door" sign.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[mikkelm]

You might know the dogs, but the delivery guy does not. Why should he take the chance, or brave phobias to deliver a package into the property, rather than just to the property? Think before you compose.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[TheABomb]

That's exactly why I've stopped ordering anything from Borders. Or Verizon; when I got my last phone, I had to chase the FedEx guy down the street after the second time he tried to stick a note in the door while I was in the house (the first day, I waited eight hours by the door, except for the thirty seconds I was in the bathroom he snuck up and didn't ring). But at this point, if I'm buying anything online and get to the shipping part of the checkout and see FedEx in there, I abort.

That, and the fact that FedEx doesn't even actually DO most of the shipping (they tend to hand a package off to the Post Office, which ships it across a few states, then a FedEx facility gets it and hands it off to the PO to send across a few more states ... until it finally reaches your town, where they then proceed to deliver only a "sorry we missed you" note) makes me wonder how they even stay in business. My best guess is the reason the Post Office never turns a profit is they kickback to FedEx to have such shitty delivery practises that they actually look good by comparison (that's right, their service is so craptacular that they've got a Libertarian extolling the virtues of the Post Office).

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[TheABomb]

That's very easy to say when you met the dogs with their owner around. When he's not, even the calmest dog will become territorially protective and aggressive towards strangers coming near a home (or car, as anyone who's ever worked as a parking valet and had to deal with asshole customers who complain to your boss because you didn't want to get in the car that their rottweiler was growling in the back of and then leave unattended in the July noonday sun for five hours can attest to).

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've heard that if you catch him then he will give you his pot of gold!

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[kurzweilfreak]

If you're seriously afraid of dogs, why would you take a job that requires you to travel to and on stranger's property where there's a pretty good chance you're gonna come across dogs pretty often?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[ace123]

Of course, UPS doesn't ring the doorbell. They knock. Three times.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[sribe]

We've actually caught delivery guys posting us "You weren't in" cards in the past. Some of them are just really lazy and don't want to get your package out of the van if they can avoid it.

Yes. Through my window I watched a FedEx driver walk up without the package, slap the notice on the door, and walk away. I called the local office and raised hell.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

Think about it, "Home Alone", like a lot of shows in that era no longer work - getting separated and being unable to contact people is a rare scenario in the cell phone era.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems to be more dependent on your local offices then anything else. My local UPS people have decided that they are going to require a signature and a warm body to deliver it no matter how worthless the package or what the shipper opted for. Annoying to say the least. USPS and FedEx on the other hand have been great.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're seriously afraid of dogs, why would you take a job that requires you to travel to and on stranger's property where there's a pretty good chance you're gonna come across dogs pretty often?

I dunno; hunger, rent, car payments ... lots of things I suppose.

I never get why every single person's dog is "harmless" if you ask them.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[duvie]

I have watched UPS drivers in #roc getting out of the truck and walking up to my apartment building with nothing put a fistful of yellow stickies. And a union....

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[easyTree]

It's more cost-effective for them to collect payment for delivery then repeatedly mark you as 'not at home' without actually having your parcel leave their distribution hub. I'm surprised they've failed to fully-deploy this cost-saving measure, although they appear to be trialling it in 'my area' (their hub is 30 miles from my home.)

Additionally, they never know when the driver will be returning to 'attempt redelivery' nor when he'll return to base - making it nigh on impossible to drive the 30 miles to collect the damn thing myself. You've got to hand it to them - last time I had a parcel 'delivered' by them, by the time I'd managed to recover it, I was ready to pay ransom money and had driven a total of 120 miles! so, on top of the charge paid by the sender, the local hub has got to be way up the leader-board for efficiency.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Calydor]

Where I used to live the mailman was afraid of one of my dogs because she has blue eyes.

No, seriously, that was his explanation!

So whenever he was supposed to deliver a package he'd just drop off a "You weren't home" slip and drive off, leaving me to pick up my package at the post office. Considering how ridiculously expensive packages are to send in Denmark that really pissed me off on numerous occasions, especially when I'd ordered something from a company and paid the postage myself.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[kmarple1]

At least UPS and FedEx leave *notes*. My three experiences with Amazon's shipping service, Ensenda, have fallen into two categories: First, leave the package at leasing (apartment complex), mark it as delivered on-line. UPS and FedEx do this, they attempt delivery and leave notes on my door. No attempt, no note. Found out it was delivered when I went to pickup a package UPS had left a note for. Second, dump the package at the door, when I'm there, but without knocking. Found it the next time I opened my door. Lucky no one decided to walk off with it. And the "signatures" mentioned on-line are apparently treated as a memo field. At least once it was signed for by the driver, and another time by as "X floor", with X being my floor in my apartment building.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Hal_Porter]

Usually my dog chews 'em up so bad I have to get rid of them after a couple of weeks.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because an overwhelming majority of dogs *are* harmless? Regardless, if someone has a full on phobia, to the extent that they throw packages at the property rather than attempt to deliver them then you would expect that person to find a job, any job, that wouldn't cause them such stress, wouldn't you?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

Garfield? Is that you?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anubis IV]

I've got one worse than that.

A housemate of mine once handed me an unexpected package on the 25th...which contained crumpled business documents that had been overnighted to me for delivery on the 18th. The week-long delay had cost me half of my permitted time to research and fill out the rather extensive, and necessary, paperwork in the package. Incensed, I figured that FedEx was to blame since they had delivered it, so I checked the tracking info for the package, only to discover that it had been delivered on the 18th, as expected. I found that odd, given that both myself and another housemate had been at home that day, yet neither of us had heard anything, nor had I seen the package at any time in the week following, despite going in and out of the front door multiple times over the course of the week.

Somewhat confused, I went to question the housemate who had handed me the package. It turned out that he had discovered it hidden in a tiny space behind some stuff we have on our front porch, which explained why the documents were crumpled, since they had to be bent to fit into the space. A person would have to get on their hands and knees to peek into that space (which is why I never saw it even though I passed by it several times), and, by chance, my housemate was doing that for an unrelated reason. It's a good thing too, since otherwise my package would likely still be out there, given that the sender never informed me they were sending a package. Thankfully, I was still able to complete it on time, but that week was significantly more hectic than I had been expecting.

So, near as I can tell, the FedEx guy not only failed to knock or ring when delivering an overnight package, he also hid it, damaged its contents, and cost me one week out of a two week deadline.

And now that I say all that, I have to wonder: should I take that as a sign that he has a beef with me?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Gordonjcp]

I had one company (UKMail) deliver a "We called but you were out" card without even attempting to deliver the parcel. The guy stopped his van in the middle of the road, got out, put the card through the letterbox, got back in and went to drive off.

I was outside the house working on my car. He walked right past me. You'd have thought that the extension cable running through the slightly-open front door would have been a dead giveaway...

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

I know what you mean, it's like that here. They ring the doorbell and leave, even with a signature that's required. It irritates me to no end. As far as this "invention" I've seen it done a few times in the past, so kid, heat your heart out like everyone else who thought they were first at creating something at 15 :P The only difference is that this kid didn't create an automated lock/unlock system using SMS.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Tim C]

I often have stuff I've ordered that is too big to fit through my letter box left on my doorstep. It's a very quiet road and there is partial cover so it's nearly safe, but still.

The worst one so far was my latest (contract) mobile phone. You couldn't tell it was a phone from the package, but there was an impossible to miss "MUST BE SIGNED FOR" sticker on it. Needless to say, it wasn't.

(Oh, and this isn't UPS, this is Royal Mail in the UK)

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[toygeek]

I suppose I didn't tell the story well enough. The UPS driver got pissed off and started doing this *intentionally* to piss off the home owner.

As for the dogs, I can tell you that the first time I went to that persons house, the dogs did NOT know me, and they came tails-a-waggin' ready to lick me to death!

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[fremsley471]

Yeah, right. The dog owner's mantra- "He/she won't bite you", followed by "Sorry, he/she never does that normally", then "You must have scared him/her".

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[zwarte piet]

I've had it the other way round too. No notice. Appearantly they were at my doorstep 2 times when I was working. My package waited at the post office for 3 weeks and got destroyed while I was still waiting for them to show up. Not sure it was ups though.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[zwarte piet]

and hell shoul be raised in these cases! Good that you called.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well to be fair, not everyone who thinks they have a great invention at 15 goes to the effort of getting it developed and sold and walking away with £250,000 - so even if it's a one hit wonder, it's not a bad result as far as he's concerned.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[delinear]

My GF works in a children's hospital and has to patch up kids who've been savaged by dogs and guess what, almost all of the owners say exactly the same thing (he's never hurt a soul before, he's usually so friendly, you're more in danger of being licked to death, etc). The truth is even well cared-for, domesticated dogs can demonstrate vicious behaviour out of the blue in the presence of certain triggers. As far as I'm concerned, if you have dogs and you want people to come onto your property to deliver stuff, you should be securing them, not expecting that person to just take a chance. Why should the delivery guy have to play russian roulette just to do his job? Even if we could assume most dogs are harmless, how is anyone meant to tell without risking being torn to shreds in the first place? You wouldn't set a bunch of rusty old bear traps on your property and say "don't worry, they probably don't even work anymore" when he objects.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[jonbryce]

If they are anything like Royal Mail, they just put a while you were out card through the door, and they don't even take the parcel out on the round with them.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, there's two kinds.

The "minor annoyance", as I call him, does not try to deliver your package and instead immediately leaves a "we didn't encounter you, please come and pick up your package" notification. (With DHL at least, there's a subtype, the "slightly less minor annoyance", which does not drop the card in your mailbox but instead mails it the regular way, causing an extra delay of a day or two.)

The "major fuckwad", on the other hand, simply leaves your package in front of your door. It's not happened to me personally yet, but a friend of mine had two packages stolen from him this way over the years by random passers-by.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

At my old House we ordered a laptop cooler online, that required a signature. UPS came dropped it on the porch and ran away, we were home with the door open. So we gave it a few hours, and called UPS marked the packaged missing and had another one shipped. UPS did it the second time as well.... (kids I don't recommend that)

At our new house, the UPS guy is an idiot. As he is pulling up to the house, he will honk his horn, literally run to the door and drop the package (all within 20 seconds). If were lucky he may knock on the door as he's dropping the box the 3-4 feet to the ground.
Since we live on a corner, if he's coming from the houses behind us, he will drop the package at the back door (with no knocking), even after we have called and complained about we don't any packages left at the back door (which he showed up the next day after the complaint, no package was scheduled for deliver, to ask "what we were bitching about")
It has gotten so bad, that we were sitting down for dinner last week, when all of a sudden our back door opens, and a package comes flying inside.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[citizenr]

I often have stuff I've ordered that is too big to fit through my letter box left on my doorstep. It's a very quiet road and there is partial cover so it's nearly safe, but still.

The worst one so far was my latest (contract) mobile phone. You couldn't tell it was a phone from the package, but there was an impossible to miss "MUST BE SIGNED FOR" sticker on it. Needless to say, it wasn't.

(Oh, and this isn't UPS, this is Royal Mail in the UK)

What is the problem then? You call in and tell them you are still waiting for the phone. You didnt sign the receipt = you didnt receive it.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[antdude]

Is his name, Newman? ;)

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[realityimpaired]

My experience with dogs is that your own body language is what will set off the violent reaction. You're absolutely right that otherwise gentle, calm, submissive dogs can sometimes snap and bite, but it's usually because you're chasing it into a corner (fight/flight response), or because your own body language is so nervous around the animal that it triggers the animal into a nervous state. As long as you are calm and relaxed around the dog, you should never have any troubles. Even dogs that have big signs "will bite, stay the fuck away" are easy to deal with as long as you are calm and friendly towards them, and don't let them dominate you.

Delivery drivers shouldn't have to play roulette with the animals, no, but they should also have as part of their basic training a few lessons in the psychology of animals, and how their actions can set off a bad reaction in an animal. I would call that basic health & safety training for that kind of job.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[hellop2]

lol

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

No point. If Royal Mail has delivered it, the phone is probably made of bakelite and has antique value. "Mobile" just means it's a table-top variety, as opposed to a wall-mount.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Machtyn]

In a lot of places I go, the GPS coords are horribly off. I've stopped bothering to inform mapquest, google maps, etc. because when I look for a condo I lived in 6 years ago, that had been there for 3 years before that, still doesn't show up on google maps and is unroutable.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[AmiMoJo]

Royal Mail does it too because they don't allow the postman enough time to get around his entire route if he has to wait 30 seconds by the door before he starts writing that card. At best they tend to press the bell and the immediately start work on the card.

Other time saving tricks include not bothering to get signatures on signed-for deliveries, simply shoving it through the letterbox instead. Sometimes they just fake a signature since those pads are unreadable anyway.

We can buy lockable boxes for your garden where they can leave packages, but I don't think all companies will allow using them. The box has a bar code that is supposed to be used instead of a signature to confirm delivery but obviously anyone with a camera enabled mobile phone can defeat that, or the courier could just scan it and keep the package for himself.

Time for that series of (underground) tubes someone suggests every few years?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Seumas]

When I lived in an apartment, couriers would knock and if I didn't answer, they'd just leave and put a note on the door (except all the times when they wouldn't knock of even come at all, but when I call the local office, they'd claim that the driver attempted to deliver and said I wasn't home, even though there wasn't a note on the door and it turned out the drivers did this all the time when they were running behind and just skipped apartments).

Now that I have a house, the driver finds a safe place to put it (often just inside the screen door or behind something on the porch, to obscure it from the street), rings the bell, then leaves. Sort of like a ding-dong-ditch, but I end up with cool shit that I ordered.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

We once had a UPS guy who was so good he gave our package to someone down the street who was a friend of theirs. Not ours, theirs. When we checked online to see where our package was, we saw someone had signed OUR name to the package. When we called the office to find out what happened, we were told "we left it at your neighbor with the red car". After eventually managing to get in touch with the Northeast US manager, they sent the delivery guy back out to pick up our package, which had been opened and used by a heavy smoker, and delivered it to us.

By the point that had happened, though, we'd already contacted the vendor and said it had been lost in shipping, and had received a new one. (from woot.com, nicest guys ever)

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Seumas]

When I lived in an apartment, I would be waiting for important packages all day long. When I looked online, the history for delivery would say that they attempted to deliver the package, but nobody was home and they left a note on the door to attempt redelivery the next day. Only thing is, they often did no such thing. It was easier for them to claim I wasn't home and deliver when they had more time than to actually show up, knock, and give me the package. And, of course, there's not really any way you can prove that they didn't come to your door (only your word against theirs).

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Seumas]

The "major fuckwad" is only that, because he is using poor discretion. I would be *more* pissed if my delivery guy refused to leave packages simply because I didn't answer the door. If you live in an area where theft is a concern, then you'd be pissed because it'll get stolen. If you live in an area where theft is unlikely, you'd be pissed if they didn't leave it, because it means you either have to wait another day and be awake and near the door to hear and respond quickly to it and/or make a long trip to the UPS office to pick it up, negating the entire fucking reason that you had it shipped in the first place.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Ogive17]

You must have a really lazy driver. Here they will bring the package up to the door. If you are not home, they leave the note and take the package back to the truck if it requires a signature.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Seumas]

This used to happen to me all the time.

One amusing incident, I had ordered about $10,000 worth of equipment from the Apple online store. I was eagerly awaiting it, for fucking obvious reasons. I was waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Hours were ticking by. The end of the day was coming. I was getting worried. Eventually, I checked online again. It claimed it had been delivered. It had not. It wasn't outside and nobody had knocked or rung a door bell or called my phone or anything.

I called the leasing office to see if it had been left there (often UPS or FedEX will claim I wasn't at my apartment, so that they could just dump the package in the leasing office and skip delivering it to me). Nope, nothing there.

So, I called FedEX. They looked into their information. Confirmed - yep, we delivered it!

Um . . . . no, you didn't. You definitely did not deliver a bunch of shiny expensive stuff to my door.

They said they would have to look into it and call me back, later.

In the meantime, I took a wild fucking hung and called up the physical Apple Store at the local mall. I asked if they had received a delivery today. They confirmed that it was delivery day and they'd received pallets of stuff. I explained my situation and asked if they could look for any out of place deliveries with my name on them.

Yep, they found them.

I went to the store with my ID and receipt to prove that it was my stuff and they gave it to me.

Two days later, I got a call from FedEX to let me know that they believed they might have delivered the items I bought from the Apple Store to the Apple Store.

I told them that I knew that and that I'd already driven there and picked it up earlier in the week.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

Kicking a dog without due cause is generally agreed as one of the best ways to guarantee you're either going to get bit or sued. So don't rush to do it.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[denzacar]

The box has a bar code that is supposed to be used instead of a signature to confirm delivery but obviously anyone with a camera enabled mobile phone can defeat that, or the courier could just scan it and keep the package for himself.

Hmm... Assuming that the box remains unlocked while it is empty, and gets locked once you put something inside (a simple pressure switch could handle that), a randomized date-dependent bar code on the inside of the box should handle the "anyone with a mobile phone" part.
Either have a small, battery operated bar code screen mounted inside, or simply print and paste a new bar code each time you're expecting a package.

Where do I collect my 250000 pounds?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Methuseus]

I've had that happen before, combined with "Well, sometimes she bites, but I thought you were too nice for her to bite." I've also had people warn me their dog will bite and the dog was licking me within a minute or two. So the owner doesn't necessarily know.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[nateand]

This. I worked for them over a holiday season as a "driver helper" once, and the whole experience was pretty eye opening. Pretty much every package is "shipper release" if it's residential. A lot of good drivers would tell me that if it looked expensive (laptop sized box from Best Buy, for example) that I should try to get a signature even though the package didn't require one. But basically, drivers don't need to get your signature anymore. They should still try to deliver something, but if it's 3pm in the afternoon (the routes are designed to have them doing residential in the evening, but if they have an easy day...) they are going to assume no one is home, and might make the bad choice there. UPS makes all their money from commercial stuff anyway, residential is just a side thought that is a total pain in the ass to deal with.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[GauteL]

My favourite is the insistence in the UK (regardless of company it seems) on just giving the parcel to the neighbours, regardless of whether signature is required or the delivery instructions has an explicit "DO NOT LEAVE WITH NEIGHBOURS" note on it.

Not every neighbour-relationship is friendly. Plenty of people have neighbours which would just take the parcel for themselves, regardless of whether they actually want it or not.

In my case it wasn't like that. I had left such an instruction with the company because my (nice) neighbours had been woken up at 07:30 in the morning by a delivery man (I sometimes leave before this time) and had kindly asked me if this could be avoided. But despite my instructions, they were again woken up by the delivery and it was embarrassing to apologise to them over this.

Allowing such instructions are absolutely pointless if drivers don't acknowledge them and it can be a real struggle trying to get it all sorted afterwards.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

With "Shipper Release" why does the carrier even deliver the package? They should just throw it in the trash at the sorting centre.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[NekSnappa]

Thanks for adding the on-topic bit. I'd forgotten what the article was about.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[tehcyder]

Our postie just sticks parcels through the cat flap. And no, that's not UK slang for anything sexual.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[stdarg]

This.

The time it happened to me it was the week before Christmas and I had ordered a king-sized mattress from Amazon (free shipping). It weighed over 100 lbs and I live up a few flights of stairs so it was understandable I guess.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[surgen]

All these horror stories, what are you folks doing to your UPS drivers to make them that way?

Our driver knows us, is an awesome guy, and leaves packages in our garage when we're not around. We've never had a bad experience with this UPS driver. He even gets along with the german shpeard (the fedex driver is still afraid to leave his truck).

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[CastrTroy]

You're lucky. In Canada Amazon recently switch to UPS from Canada Post. UPS just leaves the package on the door step without even ringing the bell, or knocking. Canada Post was great. We all use community mail boxes anyway, no door-to-door delivery for most new neighbourhoods. Instead you walk (or drive if you're really lazy) about a block away at most, and get your package there. They have an extra large mailbox for packages and they leave the key for that in your mailbox if you have a package. Then you drop the key back in the outgoing mail slot for the carrier to pick up the next day. If your package is too big, they will attempt delivery, and if you aren't home, the leave it as a local postal facility which is usually no more than 2-3 KM away, and located in a pharmacy most of the time, sometimes a corner store. Great system. UPS is terrible for home deliveries. Works great for businesses most of the time, but their residential service is terrible.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[tehcyder]

In my case it wasn't like that. I had left such an instruction with the company because my (nice) neighbours had been woken up at 07:30 in the morning by a delivery man (I sometimes leave before this time) and had kindly asked me if this could be avoided. But despite my instructions, they were again woken up by the delivery and it was embarrassing to apologise to them over this.

7.30 is hardly the crack of dawn. Unless you've been up all night snorting crack off Dawn.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Kielistic]

Many things can set off a violent reaction. They are unpredictable. Their job is to waltz onto a bunch of strangers properties which is something dogs commonly take issue with. What their training should be is "dogs are dangerous and hard to predict. Do not take unnecessary risks". You think you have dogs figured out and you do not. Now I like dogs and deal with them the same way and I have never had a problem. But a strange dog and especially a strange dog with the owner not present is absolutely an unnecessary danger.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[stdarg]

I must have rotten luck then. My stupid apartment complex's office closes at around 5, making it next to impossible for me to pick up a package from them until the weekend. And every time I call UPS and begged them to leave my package at the door they said they couldn't. They used to leave the slip of paper and let you check the "leave package" option, now the very first time they say "delivered - office". Basically destroyed half the value of Amazon prime for me.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[tehcyder]

I had ordered about $10,000 worth of equipment from the Apple online store

Why didn't you just drive down there in your fucking expensive Ferrari, or were you too busy getting a blowjob from your supermodel girlfriend?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[blizter]

What does he do, instead? Just parks and gives you 60 seconds to notice him and storm out of the house?

I caught one that wrote that "You weren't in" cards in advance, then came to the door, faked to knock, put the card and just run.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[tehcyder]

If you're seriously afraid of dogs, why would you take a job that requires you to travel to and on stranger's property where there's a pretty good chance you're gonna come across dogs pretty often?

Go fuck yourself, you worthless piece of pond scum. You don't have a right to scare people with your fucking penis substitutes on four legs. If I was coming to clean your pool and I found a great white fucking shark swimming there I wouldn't just nonchalantly carry on with my job.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

It has gotten so bad, that we were sitting down for dinner last week, when all of a sudden our back door opens, and a package comes flying inside.

THAT.IS.AWESOME.

srsly.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Seumas]

The physical Apple Stores usually only carry stock configurations and sometimes not all of those and if I'm going to have to order something at the physical store to be shipped and picked up there, I might as well order it online and have it shipped *home*. Plus, I hate malls.

Also, Apple has a website that makes it easy for companies to let employees apply employee discounts which I've found preferable over the years to dealing with it in person (though the Apple employees have never seemed bothered by it).

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[tehcyder]

I agree. The health and safety training should also include being issued with a large calibre handgun to shoot the barky fuckers through the head if they attack you.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

This happens because UPS regularly assigns more packages to a delivery truck than they are physically capable of actually delivering within one shift. So the driver, when he comes back after eight or nine hours, marks any leftovers as "dude wasn't home" or whatever the technical term is.

I mean, who else are you going to go with? FedEx? They do the same thing.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[tehcyder]

Think about it, "Home Alone", like a lot of shows in that era no longer work - getting separated and being unable to contact people is a rare scenario in the cell phone era.

Most children under ten still don't have mobile phones, at least where I live.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

We had a signature required item for an address a mile away dumped at our house. If they'd actually asked us to sign for it we'd have pointed out it wasn't our name or address. It's not just UPS; that was Royal Mail.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

One amusing incident, I had ordered about $10,000 worth of equipment from the Apple online store.

Let me guess, it was a (one-button) mouse?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[nateand]

Try shipping to work. I live in a townhouse and it's impossible to get a package during the daytime, because I'm at work and they aren't going to leave it on my doorstep (thank god). I have everything delivered to the mailroom at work, it's a life saver.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[mcgrew]

It's still dark at 7:30 in the winter. Someone who didn't work until 9:00 wouldn't be getting up much earlier. It may have been a Saturday as well; I used to live next door to an elderly man who'd piss me off no end, firing up his lawnmower at 8:00 AM every Saturday, the one day I could sleep late. He was retired so he could have cut the damned lawn any day of the week.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is someone taking up a job that's 100% guaranteed to regularly put them in contact with their phobia? Honestly, that's like someone being deathly afraid of water becoming a lifeguard.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Fnord666]

Why didn't you just drive down there in your fucking expensive Ferrari, or were you too busy getting a blowjob from your supermodel girlfriend?

Jealous?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[legojenn]

Go fuck yourself, you worthless piece of pond scum. You don't have a right to scare people with your fucking penis substitutes on four legs. If I was coming to clean your pool and I found a great white fucking shark swimming there I wouldn't just nonchalantly carry on with my job.

Where do you live where it's unreasonable to expect a dog at a home and it's reasonable to have a shark in a swimming pool?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[tibit]

FedEx has been seemingly in cahoots with USPS for quite a while. In my area, nearly every USPS location has a FedEx drop box installed on the property.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[mscman]

Tell that to someone who works 2nd or 3rd shift. They like to sleep too.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

How can you spend $10k in Apple store? you took the furniture?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[AGMW]

Why didn't you just drive down there in your fucking expensive Ferrari, or were you too busy getting a blowjob from your supermodel girlfriend?

Jealous?

No, envious!

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[karnal]

My driver for UPS used to be cool. Any packages needed delivered would always be after 5pm (usually 5:30 on the dot) therefore we were always home to get them. The last 2 packages required signatures and were attempted sometime during the day. Since my wife wasn't home this time around, I got the little "we missed you, no we can't leave it" slip. For the first package - a TV - I was cool; just took the trip down to pick it up. Takes 55 minutes to get it (total travel time + pickup) but I was geeked so it was worth it. The second? I looked on the slip that the driver left - stated would be back between 2-5pm and 5pm+ the next day. So I took 1/2 a day from work since I figured an hour of my time would be worth that and nope, I get home at 12:30pm and there's another slip. I called UPS and raised hell; the best they could tell me is that the times are approximate and they couldn't redeliver that day. I spent another 55 minutes getting the package. Not to mention that you can only pick the items up between 7:30 and 8:30pm; kind of limits your evening. This is why I will pay extra for Fed Ex in the future (heck, the receiving office is on the way home from work too!).

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Jarik_Tentsu]

A friend of mine had an issue with FedEx. He was ordering tires from TireRack in the US and getting them shipped to Australia.

However, all the drivers they use here locally are all private couriers - not directly employed with FedEx.

When the package changed its status to 'delivered', but with a completely different address in a completely different suburb, my mate got a bit worried and called up FedEx, who told them that they didn't have the contact details for the driver. Rather, he contacted *them* and they had to wait for him to come to pick up his next batch of deliveries.

Luckily ends up it was a mistake - he delivered it to the wrong place, and they called up FedEx to return it.

But still, I mean when you ship by a big company like FedEx you kinda assume they'd be using their own, well trained drivers with a bunch of good procedures in place to immediately work out what went wrong. Not private couriers they don't even have a contact number for.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[kurzweilfreak]

You don't have a right to scare people with your fucking penis substitutes on four legs.

Actually yeah, I'm pretty sure I do have the right to own a dog. So go fuck yourself with a cheese grater for trying to tell me what I do and don't have the right to do, you ignorant fuck. I'm more of a cat person though, so should I get rid of my cat too because some people might be allergic? My cat isn't even declawed! OMG furry death machine! What's the cat-to-penis exchange ratio? Fucking retard.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[AmiMoJo]

1. Build it
2. Go on Dragon's Den
3. ???
4. Profit!

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[KDR_11k]

You can rig one up by using a SIP based doorbell, just set it to dial your mobile number and you can even unlock the door remotely using DTMF. They're fucking expensive though.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[KDR_11k]

Does USPS deliver stuff like that? In Germany we use the former federal post (it got privatized and bought out DHL) all the time as they have a post office in every town and are both cheaper and about as fast as the specialized companies like UPS.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[KDR_11k]

If he's afraid of dogs he'll definitely have a nervous reaction.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[operagost]

Our either throws the package on the ground by the mailbox or, if it is dangerously large, leans it against the door in the hopes it will crush the unaware occupant when she attempts to exit. I wish I was joking.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[operagost]

Cat flap? Crazy Brits. Why don't you call it a pussy slot like we Americans do?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[geoskd]

With "Shipper Release" why does the carrier even deliver the package? They should just throw it in the trash at the sorting centre.

Because that would be fraud...

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[operagost]

We couldn't afford the fence, so we thought the shark was a reasonable way to mitigate the issue.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a fine line between someone who doesn't like dogs and one who is a hateful cock-swab, and you crossed it.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you set a bear trap or something? My brother and I tried for years to catch the UPS guy, but the bastard must have been an Olympic sprinter.

We'd be watching tv in the living room, 20 ft from the door. *Ding-dong* We'd jump up and rush to open the door. Somehow the delivery guy would always be back in his truck and driving away. That was a 50 ft sprint across the lawn, into the truck, and in gear in less time than we could go 20 feet. The package, no matter how large, was always under the welcome mat. It was amazing and became a household legend. "Try to catch the UPS man." Hell, we'd have had better luck catching a leprechaun.

We suspect he might not be from this planet.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[kimvette]

Why didn't you just drive down there in your fucking expensive Ferrari,

The Mac won't fit in the car without creasing the leather, of course.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

I sent a package to a rural customer who wanted it held at the depot in the nearest town for pickup. I called FedEx Ground and explained the situation and they assured me it was no problem; just write "Hold at Depot" in the address label.

Days go by with no delivery notification, and the customer is getting upset. Many calls later I discover the damn box has been in a truck with a very confused driver trying to find "Hold at Depot Street".

The chain of stupidity that led to this is baffling. Starting with me, I guess, for trusting anything told to me over the phone.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[GooberToo]

Another time a UPS deliverer just put a "you weren't there" notice while I was at home late one evening, never heard a knock and I would have.

This just happened to me. I was waiting around all day for the delivery. I just happened to update the package's info in the browser to discover the driver had come and gone without knocking or ringing the bell. Happened some twenty minutes prior. While they did reschedule a second delivery attempt that same day, I got the impression they thought my story was complete bullshit.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Golddess]

asshole customers who complain to your boss

Is that before or after they (the customers) are hauled off by the police for animal cruelty?

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[sribe]

You must have a really lazy driver. Here they will bring the package up to the door.

Not lazy, crazy. One thing I didn't mention was that the "package" was an overnight envelope weighing a few ounces!

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[serialband]

That wasn't smart of him. If you had let him go and claimed you didn't receive it, UPS would have to reimburse the sender.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm always amazed by their inability to follow instructions. I have to try and get packages in to a small 3rd party retail unit within a hospital (in the UK), and our couriers, despite being given explicit instructions that it's for the retail unit, and not for the hospital, take it to the hospital stores department, who promptly refuse it. Sometimes I can raise enough stink to get the re-delivery charge waived, and sometimes I can't.

Mind you, the stores department are at fault as well, because they provide a 'refused by consignee' signature to the delivery driver, rather than telling him that they aren't the consignee, and directing him to where the unit it is addressed to actually is.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[manwargi]

They've got quite the rep for that by now.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[cthulhu11]

I have had extremely good luck with UPS, but most peoples complaints are that the delivery driver doesn't even attempt to ring the doorbell, and drives off. In recent years FedEx has become like this for me, along with the USPS. My local UPS delivery guy is actually really good, but the rest of UPS sucks as badly as always.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

why should he take the chance, or brave phobias when he can dump a package in the desert that wont be found for two weeks. Think before you compose.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[jrumney]

They treat residential customers like shit because they are often out, and standing around waiting for people to answer the doorbell makes them run late for other deliveries for customers who have more clout with management when they complain. Doesn't make it right, but it is really just a symptom of "performance targets" being applied as a disciplinary measure to employees.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[garwain]

Yep, I've seen that several times. I had parts for a dead server overnighted to my home office, with a promise of delivery before 10:00. I was working in my shop when the truck pulled in. By the time I got to the yard, he was leaving, and had left a notice, even thought there is a card in the window sayin no signature required. By the time I got my keys, the truck was nowhere to be found, so I called Purolator to complain and they could only promise to ask the driver to return IF he called in before he headed on to the next town, otherwise it would be retried the next day. Sorry, I need that parcel NOW! my only option was to pick it up that NIGHT at the office when the truck returned from his run, if he didn't get back durning the day. Well, at 4:30, there was no package, so I drove 30 minutes to the purolator office, and oops, the package wasn't there it had been left at the post office for me to collect, and of course by that point, the post office was closed. The next morning I was at the post office the minute they opened, just to find the package had been sent out for delivery. I returned home, made several calls to reschedule clients, and inform the big client that I should be receiving their parts any minute. Of course the mail delivery passed by while I was on the phone, and they made no attempt to deliver to the door, just left a card in the box saying the package was too big to fit, and I could collect it at the post office after 4:00. A freeking overnight delivery to a full 2 buisness days for me to be able to collect because no one would be bothered to try to deliver it, or wait 1 minute for me to get to the door!

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Phoghat]

I second that

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[Anonymous Coward]

UPS and FedEx never ring the bell anymore. On packages that require a signature I have seen scribbles from the driver themselves online. The receipt doesn't expressly say that the signature of the recipient is required, just the signature of an adult.

It's a bit disconcerting to come home after a day filled with heavy rain and find a package sitting on the front step that's soaking wet and containing some 100s or 1000s of $$ of goods. Especially when my wife was home all day and the bell never rang. Even worse, this has happened more than once.

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

[TheABomb]

If I couldn't convince the boss that people coming in with half-empty beers in their hands and joints burning in the ashtray were enough reason to call the cops, then a crime in progress that only served to enrage frightened german shepherds against his employees wasn't going to faze him.

A perfect method to warn the British

[Anonymous Coward]

It's what Paul Revere would have used.

Re:A perfect method to warn the British

[Anonymous Coward]

Sarah? Is that you?

Overkill

[frovingslosh]

OK, I'll acknowledge that some people are abandoning their land line and going only wireless, but putting a doorbell on a 3G system strikes me as somewhat absurd. Maybe it will be useful in places where the cell carriers don't rape their customers, but using it in the USA, with the extra account it would require, would be crazy for most people. At the very least it should also have the option to tie into the home's land line rather than use the cell network.

I could "invent" a lot of things, if practical costs of using a wireless network were not a consideration.

Re:Overkill

[Sarten-X]

Let's all stop innovating because of cost, then! This silly progress thing is just plain too expensive!

Re:Overkill

[DMoylan]

well here in ireland a prepay sim can be picked up with no paperwork and i think 5 euros every six months will keep it active and in credit. so 10 euros a year to run it?

it would be nice with a wifi model running voip to your mobile though.

Re:Overkill

[0100010001010011]

Except this isn't anything 'new'. One of the newer apartment buildings built on campus (finished in ~2005) lets you buzz in anyone from anywhere using your phone. I believe the place also had washer/driers that would text you when they finished their cycle.

It may be cool, but definitely not a new 'invention'.

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

Thats it, lets all stop innovating because American companies rip off Americans.

In Europe, this would cost zero euro per month, plus the cost of the call.

Sometimes I wonder if Americans *actually* know there are other countries and just because they take it up the ***, we don't...

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

OK lets break the cost down shall we. (I work with this stuff so I have a pretty good idea of what it will cost)

I shall do it in US dollars
Door bell 15-50 depending on what you buy.
Controller to snag the door bell signal. 30-120 depending on what you get.
3g radio/controller package 200-700. Also yes they are that much if you use CDMA/LTE, 1/4th that if you use, EDGE 1/2 that, 2/3 if you go HSPDA. That is also the low end of these sorts of boxes.
2-30 a month recurring cost for a phone line. Depending on what tech you use and who you go with and how much planned data you use. As you are looking for streaming more probably around the 15 dollar mark. And 15 if you get a good rate. Can be even higher.
20-50 for a camera/mic
30-150 for a zigbee or 802.11 network. You may get lucky and the controller/radio you get has it built in. But plan on spending more to get it.

All in all I would say about 300-900 out the door cost plus a 5-30 dollar recurring bill a month.

OR 15-50 for a door bell.

The tech is seriously cool. It is been around for ages (look up scada systems). But the cost is currently is not in the realm of normal people. Upper class certainly. Middle if they were really into it. Lower class no.

I typically build these sorts of systems for high value businesses. Where if their million dollar equip walked off they want it on film and transmitted ASAP to someone and 10 people to get ther phones paged, and NOW. Dropping a grand on this sort of thing is nothing for them. For average joe blow. A grand is half a months salary plus the recurring cost.

Not exactly cutting edge tech. There are whole companies out there that build these things. They use what he built as sales demos.

Re:Overkill

[11_biznatch_11]

Most apartment building I've lived in, including my current 20 year old one, have the main entrance intercom system just dial a pre-programmed phone number. In the past you would give it your land line and buzz people in from that, but since you can have it call any number most people I know now have it call their cell, since they don't have land lines. I've been answering my buzzer/intercom with my cell phone for 8 years.

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree that 3G in the doorbell is overkill. Honestly, why not tie it into a home's Wi-Fi or ethernet and have it ring your phone via VoIP? It's not like your door is going anywhere...

Re:Overkill

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

The trend toward "every gadget with its own bloody cell contract" is rather annoying, especially when the house in which this item would be installed probably has a perfectly good internet connection already or, even if unwired, a number of devices that could be sharing the single comparatively expensive cellular modem and contract.

Unfortunately, home automation still seems to be in a rather ghastly state. You can get something polished if you pay reasonably serious money or sink considerable time and effort, and the options for cobbling stuff together out of miscellaneous geek gear are better than they used to be; but I do suspect that the rise of unnecessarily cell-driven widgets is (aside from the obvious rapacious greed of the telcos factor) driven by ease-of-use considerations. Embed a cell modem in something and, like magic, you don't have to pay support people to explain the mysteries of whatever horrid mixture of incompetence, cut-rate gear, and sheer mystery lies between the device they just purchased and the internet.

Re:Overkill

[blackraven14250]

I imagine you could use a PayGo contract with this, and any other device...

Re:Overkill

[GNUALMAFUERTE]

Get a cheap android phone, like the i5500, create cheap plastic front end + app. That's all you need to do this.

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

I could "invent" a lot of things, if practical costs of using a wireless network were not a consideration.

I hate these types of comments. Have you a invented anything? If not STFU. Let the doers do it.
If you have, nobody is writing about it enough to be on /. so, STFU. Nobody cares ATM *

* you may have invented really cool/important shit; I dunno that, but at this moment the discussion is not about you. Submit you invention to /. for discussion if you wish

Re:Overkill

[Score Whore]

Or, you know, POTS. The doorbell isn't mobile, it is not going anywhere.

Re:Overkill

[Opportunist]

Think further. Think company doorbell.

Imagine you have a small one-man shop and you just step out for groceries or something, wouldn't you want to be able to tell your delivery guy that he should wait for 5 minutes (and receive a nice tip if he did) instead of having to wait all day in your office for him?

Imagine you're a big company and you try to avoid having a phone system. It's not as absurd as it may initially look, considering that the setup cost of phone systems (even aside of the system itself, cables, phones, etc) is easily overcome by handing cells to all your employees, which has pretty much become the standard in some companies anyway. How about every secretary (or a few of your personnel) receiving a call when someone rings the doorbell and they can even open the door for them? Even if they're not in the company (granted, opening the door should be reserved to certain special occasions in such a case).

I could even see an added security feature, akin to a four-eyes principle, where the security head receives a call when a certain security door is to be opened and only his code, sent via cell, can unlock the door in addition to the guard's button.

I could see a lot of interesting ways this could be used in business.

Re:Overkill

[makubesu]

Did you get sent back in time? My apartment still has us use quarters for the wash.

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

I had a girlfriend once that would do that too!

Re:Overkill

[PJ6]

OK, I'll acknowledge that some people are abandoning their land line and going only wireless

What planet do you live on? Everyone except the elderly has cell phones now, and most got rid of their land lines years ago.

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

There are DECT doorbells (e.g. Gigaset HC450), connect this to a VoIP DECT basestation and your whish has come true.

Re:Overkill

[ryanov]

Except you get what you pay for.

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

>>I believe the place also had washer/driers that would text you when they finished their cycle.

My cellphone already handles that for me.

It's called a "timer".

Re:Overkill

[iamhassi]

Agreed: this is not practical or needed, and that's why no one has "invented" it in the past. Who wants to pay $50 a month for a doorbell? For that matter, who uses doorbells anymore? Friends and family call before they arrive and I'm already home when the pizza guy rings. I can't think of any reason I would need a doorbell that calls my cellphone. The "stops burglars" argument is very weak, I could get a alarm system for the house that would cost half as much monthly than a 3G doorbell would cost. I know they're claiming 20,000+ orders already but I don't buy it, this is a press release remember, I've published press releases and seen writers publish it without even calling or emailing the company to see if they exist.

Re:Overkill

[iamhassi]

Wonder how hard it would be to wire a doorbell to a Droid running Skype? Oh, wait, nevermind, I never answer my doorbell anyway since friends and family call before they arrive. Only people ringing the doorbell are salesmen who can't read the giant no soliciting sign.

Re:Overkill

[bitMonster]

We have VOIP, and we'd rather use that.

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

So unless he's an inventor he can't comment on a stupid invention? Ya, that makes alot of sense, about as much sense as a priest telling people not to judge him molesting kids unless they're priests and know how life is being a priest.

I don't have to be a famous artist to say the sky is blue or the grass is green, so if I see a invention that's worthless I'm going to call it that.

Re:Overkill

[iamhassi]

I've never had a landline. No, seriously. Cellphones have been affordable for 10+ years now, many people under 35 have never needed a landline, they left home at 18 and got a cellphone and that's all they've ever used. My parents and grandparents have landlines but that's because they're old.

Re:Overkill

[iamhassi]

Everything you just described could be done over wifi VoIP without the expensive monthly 3G bill.

Why not just tape a prepaid cellphone to the door with your number in the speed dial and a note that says "hold 1 to call someone to the door"? Wow... did I just invent something?! Now I just need a 13... no, make that an 11 yr old kid to peddle it....

Re:Overkill

[Sique]

And in countries other than the U.S. you get an android phone for free with a two year contract costing you 15 €/month including 1000 minutes. So the total cost will be 24x15 € = 360 € + whatever the system uses for electrical energy during two years.

Re:Overkill

[xaxa]

In some places (here in the UK) landlines can be so cheap when purchased with DSL/TV/etc that its worth having, e.g. to receive international calls, call premium numbers, etc.

I don't have one any more though.

Re:Overkill

[Opportunist]

I know it's hard to grasp for a geek, but most people are not tech savvy. They also do not want to "tinker" with it, they want a solution that "just works". For reference, see Apple and its recent success.

Also, 3G's price is not a killer everywhere either. Especially big companies can easily get a very affordable company rate from cell telcos, where adding another phone to the plan runs in the cents. Plus, you shift the burden of security on the telco. A VoIP solution would again require cables, something you would probably not want, or WiFi, which requires you to run quite a bit of hardware behind it to make it really secure, something the telco does for you. As I said, most people (and also companies) don't want to mess with technology, they want a solution that works out of the box without having to worry about it.

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm pretty sure that's not what grandparent post intends. Ideas like these are a dime a dozen. But unless one's among the reasonably well-to-do, many ideas are completely impractical. I mean, why stop with a doorbell? Why not hire a personal butler to wait for the package, sign if necessary, and then personally bring it to you wherever you may be? It's just a matter of cost. And with technology advancing costs will come down as robots get good enough to replace the butler. Should I start filing a patent now?

Re:Overkill

[DarwinSurvivor]

Sounds like this was in England. Here in Canada it would literally be cheaper to pay for a land line DEDICATED to the doorbell than to got cell connection for 2 minutes of talking per day.

Re:Overkill

[Hal_Porter]

In the UK you could put a Pay As You go SIM in it. In fact if you programmed it to send an SMS every six months (cost £0.10) if a call had not been made in that time that would be enough to keep the account alive. Calls would cost £0.25 per minute, but it's not like you use an intercom very much.

So you could imagine loading the device up with £10 credit and having it last for years. You'd could have it send a text message when it was credit was below some limit or even top itself up automatically from a credit card. Intriguingly you can get unlimited data for £2 per week in the UK (e.g. Tesco Mobile). So if you loaded up a SIM card with £104 of credit you could have internet access for a whole year from pretty much anywhere in the UK. Which opens up all sorts of possibilities. E.g. you could send a text message to a device to make it start streaming audio of video. Or GPS coordinates.

Even in the cartel dominated US you have Pay As You go phones, right? In fact I've got an AT&T SIM card with $100 (i.e. £60) on it that is valid for a year. Of course for data (100MB limit on AT&T) I'd need to pay $20 per month or so. So a remote data logger would cost $240 (i.e. about £146) per year instead of £104. Of course if I shopped around a bit I bet I could find an MVNO in the US like Tesco Mobile that had cheaper data access. In fact if I were making data loggers I'd try and do a deal with AT&T. Either they could drop the prices or subsidize the purchase price.

Incidentally the reason American consumers get charged a lot for calls is because most of them have subsidized devices. So the sticker price is low or zero but the monthly bills are high.

Re:Overkill

[teh kurisu]

Probably so that they can sell it as a self-contained product. Once you start relying on the end-user to provide components of a system critical to its operation, things very quickly start to go wrong.

Also, using VoIP is much more complex than using off-the-shelf cellphone circuitry to place ordinary voice calls.

I agree that a WiFi model is the next logical step, but it sounds to me that they just wanted to get a demonstrable prototype out the door.

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

It would make more sense to embed a WIFI chip in the gadget. More power hungry and Zigbee, but most people who would be interested probably have a base station. And for intermittent use gadgets like this doorbell, power isn't too much of a concern.

Re:Overkill

[teh kurisu]

For that matter, who pays $50 a month for an entry-level contract any more? Mobile contracts in the UK (and this is a UK story so I'll quote prices in GBP) start at around the £10 a month mark. For an application like this, you'd probably be far better off on a pre-pay tariff. The postman only comes once a day, and you're not going to be having long conversations with him over the intercom.

Remember that this system most likely just places voice calls, so won't need any data allowance.

Re:Overkill

[Tasha26]

So in the future mobile phone companies will employ pranksters to ring door bells of people whose bills aren't quite high enough...

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

You misunderstand 'invention'.
This guy got posted on slashdot.

Re:Overkill

[dave420]

Or in the rest of the world (where this kid is from), he can pick up a cheap mobile, pay-as-you-go with automatic top-up, and just hook that up. It'll cost him about $30 in total.

Re:Overkill

[rasmusbr]

Everything you just described could be done over wifi VoIP without the expensive monthly 3G bill.

Why not just tape a prepaid cellphone to the door with your number in the speed dial and a note that says "hold 1 to call someone to the door"? Wow... did I just invent something?! Now I just need a 13... no, make that an 11 yr old kid to peddle it....

That's actually a pretty good idea and probably pretty close to what they've done. I bet they've used a cheap 3G board and designed a second board with a microcontroller, if the 3G unit board doesn't have an MCU. Connect the two and attach a pushbutton.

Your VoIP solution might be more expensive to make and would probably take longer to reach the market and may be more expensive to use. It's not cheaper to call VoIP --> mobile than it is to call mobile --> mobile, especially not if you use a prepaid SIM card on the same provider that you're using for your main phone.

The hassle of filling up the prepaid account every now and then will be a problem...

Clearly, the kid is a businessman, because by the time the customer realizes how annoying it is that the doorbell needs regular maintenance it will be too late to return it to the store.

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

Innovating != replacing a perfectly working and simple system with an unreliable one that requires you to pay monthle fees to telcos.

Re:Overkill

[chill]

What do you consider affordable?

Can you get unlimited calling, to any number in your country (and maybe a neighboring few), any time of day for under $30?

If so, I'm jealous. If not, you people under 35 need to go back and take a math class or two.

Since I'm paying for Internet access anyway, adding VoIP with those features cost me $30 a month.

Working from home, I have 2-6 hour conference calls, 4 nights a week coordinating with team members around the country. That gets mighty expensive on a cell.

I share that line with everyone in the family, which is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than getting them all cell phones with lots of minutes. Considering my wife stays at home to raise the little one, needing a cell because she runs around all day doesn't happen. She's at home, where the VoIP line is and can chat all day with friends and extended family and it doesn't cost me a dime.

Re:Overkill

[delinear]

I read that they expect to sell this thing for around £40, I'm not sure if that includes the SIM but here in the UK you can get a free SIM and pay as you go calls are pretty cheap (lots of networks even do free calls to other numbers on the same network, so potentially you'd not have to pay for the calls at all). At that price point and in this country that makes a lot of sense, definitely needs a land line jack (and perhaps it already does this but they focus on the SIM part in the articles because it sounds more techy) if it goes overseas, and it's a nice-to-have even here in the UK so I guess it's only a matter of time. That or they couldn't hook it into a land line because some product already exists with a patent on doing so.

Re:Overkill

[delinear]

Presumably cost. There's nothing to prevent it using WiFi, but if they make it SIM they can offset some of the cost to a third party (who in the UK will probably give you the SIM for free as they expect to make money back on the calls) and they're trying to hit a price point that's going to sell. Most homes in the UK aren't wired for ethernet, so unless you wanted to run cables all over the house you'd need a wireless air port or something by the door if you went that route, which would add a big chunk of cost and complexity for the average user. Same thing with phone cables, unless your phone is right by your door the SIM prevents running cables around the house. It's a nice solution for this particular market and target audience - just insert SIM, program in your number and away you go.

Re:Overkill

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

At least in the US, for quantity one,(unless you know some tricks, in which case I'd be delighted to hear) the minimum amount you end up paying just to keep a pay-as-you-go line open is, while rather less than a full contract line, often nontrivial.

For light users it is still the way to go; and I wouldn't be surprised if the terms for bulk/reseller integrated SIMs are rather better, but you can end up spending $50-$100 a year to keep the line open.

Re:Overkill

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I suspect that that is a perfect example of where the configuration complexity(for mass-market use) bites you. In an ideal world, a device like this doorbell would either talk directly to some cheap-n-cheerful SIP provider(if the only one of its kind in the house) or act as an internal extension with the ability to dial out, if one of a number of devices sharing the same numbers behind an Asterix box or other soft-PBX. Trouble is, unless you are a bit of a tinkerer, or some outfit decides to deliver an end-to-end-locked-to-them set-forget-and-pay-up appliance, the set of setup instructions implied by those statements is a touch alarming. Not totally hardcore, just read the wiki, man; but I'd pity the phone drone who has to run some n00b who calls his router "the internet" through it...

Re:Overkill

[delinear]

Indeed - we (also UK) have a landline that we basically get free because it works out cheaper to have the package that it's tied to. We've not made a call on it in five+ years, we sometimes get a sales call or a wrong number but we don't bother answering it, just let it go through to answerphone. I've used my mobile exclusively since '98 (well, I did have a landline until 2000 but that was for the internet dialup only). The SIM option is definitely the best option for this market. UK houses are not ideal for running cable everywhere where it's not already convenient, WiFi adds unecessary cost and complexity for the average user and ethernet either takes you back to the cabling option or means you have to stick a wireless base station by the door. I do think there's a rush to stick SIMs in every bit of tech today, whether it makes sense or not, but here I think it's actually a good call.

Re:Overkill

[realityimpaired]

If he's worried about having tons of people ringing his doorbell, he could also get a plan with unlimited calling to one number only. Here in Canada, that costs about $7/mo, so about 4 Euros. But yes, the prepaid cell plans are *much* better in Europe. Around here, unless you put a ton of money on your card, the card will expire in 30 days. I am not putting $100/year into a prepaid cell plan for a doorbell when it'll use $20 at most over the course of the year.

Re:Overkill

[EvilIdler]

Doesn't look that new to me, either. A friend is hard of hearing and has an extra loudspeaker for phone+doorbell hooked up to the phone. Another device sends signals from the doorbell.

Re:Overkill

[realityimpaired]

No it wouldn't. You're looking at the wrong carrier... get a prepaid phone from Telus, pay $7/mo for unlimited calling to one number, and they won't expire your number when you stop topping it off, because you're still paying for a monthly addon.

The cheapest actual landline phone you'll ever find is about $15/mo, and that's after multiple discounts. Unless you're talking VOIP, which isn't a bad idea. I'd have to check the actual pricing, but I know you can get a DID for $2/mo from voip.ms, and usage about $0.01/min. Since the line is outbound only, you can get away with just paying usage, without having a DID. Or if you're a real cheapskate, there's also freephoneline.ca which will give you a "free" phone number/voip line, on the condition that you listen to advertising every time you make an outbound call....

I have gone pure cell for my normal usage. I don't ever use a landline at all, though I do have one still. The plan I got from Koodo includes all the data I ever use (I just use it for gmail, it's on wifi most of the time), unlimited incoming calls, 300 anytime minutes, unlimited evenings/weekends, and doesn't cost significantly more than a landline with all the features. I even opened a yak account, and use the cell for long distance ($0.035/min for canada/us calling, $0.05/min to the UK/Germany/Mexico, etc...). The reason I still have a land line? I work for ma bell, and it is cheaper for me to get a featureless landline phone that I'll never use than it is to pay the band rate for a dry loop for my wholesale DSL account.

Re:Overkill

[realityimpaired]

Orange prepay in the UK also has stupidly long expiry times for the top-ups. You put in £10, and it'll last a year. Compare that to cell carries in Canada/US, $10 will expire in 30 days. You have to put in $100 for it to last a year with most carriers.

You are right about $50/mo being ridiculous for an entry level contract. I am paying less than that for a smartphone plan with data, 300 anytime minutes, unlimited incoming, and unlmited evenings/weekends.

Re:Overkill

[Seumas]

This whole thing seems like a fucking hassle. I have a doorbell. It was like $30 and I can hear it ring no matter where I am in or on my property. If I'm expecting you or expecting a delivery, I'll come answer the door. If I'm not expecting anyone, I will sleep through it or just ignore it, entirely.

Chances are that if you are showing up at my doorstep unannounced, I don't want to talk to you. You're probably selling something, scamming something, preaching something, have the wrong address, are from the city or otherwise simply are just showing up to bother me.

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

wouldn't you want to be able to tell your delivery guy that he should wait for 5 minutes (and receive a nice tip if he did) instead of having to wait all day in your office for him?

Even better, why can't the delivery guy's truck automatically sms me when the delivery is between 15 minutes and an hour away? Then I could go for a shit without worrying about missing him.

Re:Overkill

[Methuseus]

This is exactly why I am looking at a way to move out of the US. You don't get what you pay for here, but you do in most other civilized countries.

Re:Overkill

[rtaylor]

Can you get unlimited calling, to any number in your country (and maybe a neighboring few), any time of day for under $30?

My current plan in Canada with Wind Mobile:
* Unlimited calling
* Unlimited long distance to Canada and United States
* 5GB data per month (throttles at 5GB -- no charges for going over)
* Unlimited text messages, including international
* The usual Voicemail, Caller ID, forwarding, conferencing, etc. is included but may use some of your unlimited minutes.
* Free roaming on any of their locations (5 cities at the moment -- this is not common with Canadian Carriers unlike nearly everywhere else in the world)

$40/month plus tax. It was a limited time package for my area though they do still offer something similar in Vancouver.

The big catch is they only have towers up in about 5 Canadian cities at the moment and being a new carrier there are issues.

Re:Overkill

[rwv]

The doorbell for my apartment calls a Google Voice number which is forwarded to myself and my soon-to-be-wife. Both of us being able to let people in with our phones is pretty handy. Also, programming the contact in our phones to be "Doorbell" is a handy way of answering the buzz.

Re:Overkill

[chill]

Good to know. That is getting close to where I'd think about ditching VoIP.

I paid Vonage for a year in advance, which was $270 + tax for 12 months. That works out to $22.50 per month plus tax, which is just over half of what you pay.

Re:Overkill

[tehcyder]

I believe the place also had washer/driers that would text you when they finished their cycle.

Presumably designed for special needs students who can't tell the time?

Re:Overkill

[tehcyder]

you take it up the ass too, just with different things: like taxes for instance, or lack of freedom of speech

Yes, because the US has zero taxes and absolutely unlimited freedom of speech.

Re:Overkill

[tehcyder]

Only people ringing the doorbell are salesmen who can't read the giant no soliciting sign.

What about neighbours, people asking for directions, the police, the postman, etc?

Re:Overkill

[spliffington]

Think even further. Think social doorbell So you could create facebook integrated doorbell profiles and share them with your friends. Share ringtones and cool doorbell widgets. Doorbell buttons and themes! Add B2B and advertising features and ring my bell! step into my office baby!

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

Is 3G really the important part? I'd say get the doorbell a google voice number or simply do VOIP-VOIP call to your cell. Then you could run it over wifi.

I'd like to see this paired with a wifi/bluetooth enabled lock. That way if it's someone I want to come in, I can then open the door for them. Or, say, if it's me I can open the door through bluetooth.

Re:Overkill

[lmcgeoch]

Think even further....Remember Home Alone with the Pizza Delivery Guy?
yeah...

Re:Overkill

[iamhassi]

neighbors call, and what people asking directions? They have cellphones and they don't stop at my house, there's plenty of businesses to go to. Police? Do you have police ringing your bell a lot? I wish the postman would ring, but they only leave notes and run away or just leave the package and don't even bother to ring.

Only person I want to ring is the pizza guy but since I'm home when he rings I don't need a doorbell that calls me.

Re:Overkill

[Swave An deBwoner]

Oddly enough, the DECT doorbells (e.g., the Gigaset HC450) appear to be a UK thing; I can't find anything like that in the US. Any idea why?

Re:Overkill

[peawormsworth]

I know it's hard to grasp for a geek, but most people are not tech savvy..

What about poverty or just a budget... is that something we can hope to grasp? Reality is that some people "tinker" as you put it because they cannot afford to pay to have others tinker for them.

All I am saying is that when I hear about a doorbell service that can be transported to any of my remote devices... well I think this is something I MAY have. But when I see it used 3G, I realize it is NOT something I will have.

Re:Overkill

[DarwinSurvivor]

Hmm, interesting, I didn't even know single-number accounts were available up here. May investigate that. Sounds like you could easily make that 1 number your home number then route that through an Asterisk server and get VERY cheap long distance/everything...

Re:Overkill

[Opportunist]

Certainly, and this is maybe not a good time to try to market something that has "vanity" written all over it, at least when it comes to the consumer market. It certainly is nothing you actually 'need'. It would at best be something that falls in the 'nice to have' category.

That wasn't the discussion though. The discussion was about the question whether there could be a market for it or whether this is a "useless" invention. And useless it is not. I can people see buy that if they have the money.

Re:Overkill

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder how much work this kid did making this, from the article it seems like a family friend did the legwork of making into a actual product. I guess the advantage to this is that it is cheap, the article says it should cost £40

Re:Overkill

[ryanov]

Depending on where you are, you can still get what you pay for. I feel my standard of living is pretty decent, such as it is, in a Northeastern city. Though that includes our healthcare system which sucks and is expensive everywhere.... but I'm talking about the things you can move to escape.

great!

[CaptPadlock]

now i can answer my neighbors doorbell :-)

Re:great!

[Hognoxious]

1) Outsource answering your neighbor's doorbell to India, 2) Award yourself a massive bonus
3) ...
4) Retire!

"even if you're really across town"

[pushing-robot]

it sounds like you're answering the door over an intercom system, even if you're really across town

oh, there went my how-could-that-possibly-be-abused alarm.

Re:"even if you're really across town"

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

If you're capable of physically ringing the doorbell to cause abuse then you already have a million and one ways at your disposal to do it. You already know they're not home.

Re:"even if you're really across town"

[delinear]

Yeah, I think the whole "scares off burglars" line is garbage designed to market to the security conscious. For most homes it will be obvious you're not there, since you'd just answer the door if you were, or the telecom would be on the other side of the (usually frosted glass) door. They should stick to the primary reason to have this - convenience - and drop the whole crime deterrent thing.

He invented this? How come I had one before he was

[Anonymous Coward]

He invented this? How come I had one before he was born?

I think I still have it saved somewhere in my old "Cool"
alarm equip. I used to do installs in the pre-computer
(pre 386 days). This was a box, with triggers and a phone
module. Event triggers, allowed for voice out, mic in.

Exact same thing. So... innovation?

Kudos to him for a great innovation.

-@|

AC til I find it...

Data plan?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, but I don't want to pay $40/month for my doorbell.

Re:Data plan?

[dingen]

Just get a second SIM-card for your current subscription. A small price to pay for a cool door bell and no extra costs per month.

Re:Data plan?

[petman]

According to TFA, the doorbell has an embedded 3G chip, not a SIM card.

Re:Data plan?

[green1]

I don't know what country you live in, but I have never heard of a carrier that would allow 2 SIM-cards on the same subscription without your monthly cost doubling. I know there certainly doesn't seem to be such a thing in Canada (Though I would absolutely love it if you could prove me wrong!)

Re:Data plan?

[Anonymous Coward]

Lisa needs braces!

Re:Data plan?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, no idea about Canada, but I have 5 SIM cards on my subscription with no extra card specific costs in Finland (well, it is part of the mobile broadband extra service, 14 EUR/month unlimited+uncapped). Very handy when you have a mobile phone, laptop and a netbook with 3G (yes, that leaves 2 extra cards that I haven't in regular use).
I don't think they offer that plan currently (for same reasons most operators don't, I guess), though, but instead one can get 2 cards by adding to your plan a mobile broadband subscription 1Mbps @ 15EUR or unlimited @ 21EUR (single card subscriptions are still 10EUR and 14EUR, though).
I see someone has recorded a video demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4LsY2P1N5E

Slashdot could do better!

[Anonymous Coward]

Guys, why bother with a cell network? We've got smartphones! What we need is a way to get our doorbell online - and make it all accessible from an app.

Re:Slashdot could do better!

[Anonymous Coward]

Then when people show up at your door, they download the app?! Brilliant! Android users can keep iOS users away, and iOS users can keep Android users away, and no one has to deal with the remaining riff-raff.

You know what might be better though? If you gave every doorbell a number, and then you could just enter the number of the person you wanted to talk to.

Re:Slashdot could do better!

[Randle_Revar]

Wasn't there someplace years ago where you could finger the coffee pot to see it's state?

Re:Slashdot could do better!

[black3d]

If you gave every doorbell a number, and then you could just enter the number of the person you wanted to talk to.

I was going to say "they have.. it's called a..." but stopped myself before the Woosh! :)

Re:Slashdot could do better!

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Brilliant! Android users can keep iOS users away, and iOS users can keep Android users away...

As if anybody who would go to this extent would be getting hordes of people knocking on their doors to visit.

Re:Slashdot could do better!

[stonedcat]

You mean this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Room_coffee_pot

Re:Slashdot could do better!

[c0lo]

Guys, why bother with a cell network? We've got smartphones! What we need is a way to get our doorbell online - and make it all accessible from an app.

Mandatory... a door-bell app with single "Like" button to go to Facebook... screw visitors that don't have a Facebook account, you can't expect to engage in social interaction without FB nowadays.

Re:Slashdot could do better!

[SnarfQuest]

You know what might be better though? If you gave every doorbell a number, and then you could just enter the number of the person you wanted to talk to.

What would be awesome is if you could give doorbells to your house to all your friends, then you'd know who was ringing your door before you answered it. And if one of them was pranking you by ringing your door without even coming to your house, you'd be able to tell who the little weasel was. And no ringing the doorbell then being fashionably late.

Re:Slashdot could do better!

[delinear]

Sounds a bit long-winded. If I want to know who has been to my house during the day I'll just subscribe to my front door's Twitter feed.

What's to invent?

[Anonymous Coward]

Before I got it changed, I used to get calls from my old condo intercom from half way across the country. My unit had a separate entrance so I never buzzed people in, even when I lived there. If the system responded to touch-tones then there is not much to invent here. It's just a feature-add. The system already stored phone numbers and forwarded to numbers, so I suspect this isn't a great leap. It doesn't have much utility either. I can't see myself having any rason to buzz somebody in unless I'm actually there. I know the other owners wouldn't have appreciated that. IMHO, A better idea would be to geolock the thing and *prevent* buzz-ins unless you're there. That way there's no way to fiddle with building security just by stealing the phone.

Re:What's to invent?

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Before I got it changed, I used to get calls from my old condo intercom from half way across the country. My unit had a separate entrance so I never buzzed people in, even when I lived there. If the system responded to touch-tones then there is not much to invent here. It's just a feature-add.

No, it's not.

Your condo was using the phone system to act as an intercom, this kid's invention is a phone and doesn't require one already be installed. That means my apartment, which doesn't have an intercom system like your condo does, could have this system with minimal installation work.

RTFA.

Re:What's to invent?

[Miseph]

While I can't see any need to buzz people into my house remotely for myself, it's pretty easy to think of reason's other people might want to do it: a family member or roommate being locked out, a cleaner or pet-sitter coming mid-day, a friend picking something up in an emergency, etc.

Personally, I'd just as soon not have physical keys, and just use an RFID system instead. Having a remote interface would be pretty cool too, especially since it could be used to merely give access to a porch or mud room for a delivery, or into any other room(s) as deemed appropriate. Obviously, this would be limited by the number of closed and locked doors one would want in the house, but 2, even 3 between the outside and inside proper isn't too outrageous or inconvenient.

Re:What's to invent?

[Anonymous Coward]

So.. what this kid made does exactly what other devices have done for many years, the difference being that.... it only works for one door? This is an invention?

Re:What's to invent?

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Yes. That's why we don't measure food by its ingredients.

HA!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ha! Cell carriers raping US customers? Pfffffft. Try looking at what Canadians have to bend over and put up with from our carriers.

Slashdot's UK icon

[Anonymous Coward]

Signs you have been watching too much Doctor Who: "Why is that TARDIS red instead of blue?"

Re:Slashdot's UK icon

[Miseph]

Clearly it's a ginger.

Re:Slashdot's UK icon

[kevinmenzel]

Yes, because clearly a police box and a phone booth look identical... (I know what you mean though. Only I thought initially "Why is that TARDIS red instead of greyish?" - I've been watching the 1965-66 season recently :)

Skype

[Inschato]

Couldn't you just hook the door bell up to your LAN and make it call through Skype or whatever instead of this 3g chip nonsense?

Re:Skype

[BrowserCapsGuy]

Couldn't you just hook the door bell up to your LAN and make it call through Skype or whatever instead of this 3g chip nonsense?

That's what I was wondering, too.

Re:Skype

[Anonymous Coward]

Couldn't you just hook the door bell up to your LAN and make it call through Skype or whatever instead of this 3g chip nonsense?

Or just sign up with a local alarm company which offers cell-based monitoring. Most of them already offer a doorbell service like this.

Re:Skype

[Tim C]

Yes, yes I could.

My elderly parents and semi-technically-literate friends, probably not. Hell my brother doesn't even have an Internet connection, but could still use this.

Re:Skype

[syousef]

Couldn't you just hook the door bell up to your LAN and make it call through Skype or whatever instead of this 3g chip nonsense?

No! Microsoft clowns would eat you!

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[Literaphile]

He invented this? How come I had one before he was born?

I think I still have it saved somewhere in my old "Cool" alarm equip. I used to do installs in the pre-computer (pre 386 days). This was a box, with triggers and a phone module. Event triggers, allowed for voice out, mic in.

Exact same thing. So... innovation?

Kudos to him for a great innovation.

-@|

AC til I find it...

You were using 3G in the pre-386 days?

Had the same set up years ago

[l0ungeb0y]

Nothing new here, aside from maybe the 3G chip. When I rented out a loft in SF 10 years back, the landlady gave me the manual to the door intercom and I was able to program it via it's dial in touch-tone API to dial my cell so I could answer the door from wherever -- which was very handy.

Re:Had the same set up years ago

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly.

I live in a building with an intercom and they asked me for my phone number when I moved in. When they push my number into the intercom, my phone rings. Because I only have a cell phone, that's what I gave them, so if anyone buzzes me, I get it anywhere I have cell service.

Re:Had the same set up years ago

[metlin]

The "aside" is what makes it new. Oh, cars are nothing new, except they don't have horses and use gas.

Re:Had the same set up years ago

[Anonymous Coward]

It'll be the new patent craze to replace "..over the Internet". "Doing X over 3G!"

Think about it, patents on:

-Opening the door.... Over 3G!
-Turning on the TV... Over 3G!
-Selling stuff... Over 3G!

Meh ...

[lennier1]

Call me once it's possible to remotely zap Jehova's Witnesses and other annoyances.

Re:Meh ...

[Anonymous Coward]

I second that!

Re:Meh ...

[owlstead]

Please somebody mod parent funny or insightful or such!

Re:Meh ...

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean you don't have Tesla coils flanking your door, that make ominous charging sounds as people approach?

Re:Meh ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, you can now pretend to be not in when you are ACTUALLY not in!

Sure beats you all hiding behind the sofa.

Re:Meh ...

[Anonymous Coward]

I tried, but i didn't find any option for "such!"

Re:Meh ...

[blackbear]

Call me once it's possible to remotely zap Jehova's Witnesses and other annoyances.

I notice that when the Mormons see the square and compases on my ring, they wish me a good day and leave. Or perhaps it's simply my demenor when strangers atempt to tell my that my religious beliefs are wrong. I don't care for door spamming, which is what this is.

Regardless, that's why I've had a door phone attached to an asterisk box for some years now. And, yes, it can call my cell when I wish it to.

Nothing new here, but congrats to the kid on a nice hack.

Re:Meh ...

[dmmiller2k]

I am waiting for the ability to remotely stamp out flaming bags of doggy poop.

Re:Meh ...

[RivenAleem]

Or you can be hiding nearby in some bushes and throw things at them.

On the bus

[Anonymous Coward]

"Hello? No, I'm not intersted" (hangs up). "Who was that?" "Oh, some Jehovah's Witness trying to give me a Watchtower."

Bill shock...

[agendi]

Now knock and run can cost you a small fortune.

Seems like a flawed Idea

[Teknikal69]

They will be easily recognized and to me seem like a very easy way to rack up someone you don't likes phone bill, all a criminal needs to do to bypass them is simply knock the door.

Really not worth the trouble.

Bueller? Bueller?

[Brewmeister_Z]

This reminds me of the hack used in the Ferris Bueller movie when the door bell was pressed and a recording would playback over the intercom. If Ferris had this then, he could do his improvise the "sick and can't come to the door" routine from anywhere using a cell phone and not get busted by the recording repeating.

Re:Bueller? Bueller?

[Lectoid]

I don't remember where he was when that happened. But I don't see faking sick when you're at a cubs game, or screaming down the road in a 1961 Ferrari 250GT California.

Re:Bueller? Bueller?

[Brewmeister_Z]

Could have worked while at the restaurant if they weren't already on the phones trying to steal a reservation. Also, depending on the ability of the intercom noise feature, you could filter out real background noise and insert fake background noise of a humidifier, fan, or other noisy device associated with being ill.

That's not new

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not new! I have such a system for >8 years.

Mine is not yet adapted to smart phones etc but I can connect to the buidin file server and view photographs of the people that rang my doorbell.

What could possibly go wrong with this idea?

[Anonymous Coward]

I too wonder the logic behind the 3g doorbell.
It obviously isn't going to move and it is going to need credit. Seems like overkill and reminds me of a previous slashdot story...
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/01/08/2244234/Thieves-in-South-Africa-Hit-Traffic-Lights-For-SIM-Cards

Re:What could possibly go wrong with this idea?

[lisaparratt]

Because the line rental for a hardline is more than the ongoing costs of maintaining a 3G connection?

Re:What could possibly go wrong with this idea?

[delinear]

The difference is you can put the guts on the inside of the house and a simple button on the outside. If the thieves get to your SIM card then, they're already inside the house and you probably have bigger things to worry about.

already done

[Anonymous Coward]

I already do this - to my Google Voice number which then rings both my phone and my wife's.

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, the spectrum was nice and clear back then.

Idea vs. Implementation of idea

[YaHooL]

The idea is very nice. Give people the ability to answer their doorbell from wherever they are.
The proposed implementation of this idea might be an overkill but the by idea itself is still rather innovative.
It basically takes an existing concept of an Intercom and enhances it to become easier to install at home and to be able to reach you wherever you are by establishing a connection to a device you already own.

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[rogueippacket]

This was a box, with triggers and a phone module. Event triggers, allowed for voice out, mic in.

Parent explicitly mentions a phone module. So no, not 3G - but a phone nonetheless.

Used to miss packages all the time

[Terranex]

Since joining a company that I can order things to I haven't missed a single package :)

Re:Used to miss packages all the time

[dingen]

Until of course you get a package on a Saturday.

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[geoskd]

He invented this? How come I had one before he was born?

I think I still have it saved somewhere in my old "Cool" alarm equip. I used to do installs in the pre-computer (pre 386 days). This was a box, with triggers and a phone module. Event triggers, allowed for voice out, mic in.

Exact same thing. So... innovation?

Kudos to him for a great innovation.

-@|

AC til I find it...

You were using 3G in the pre-386 days?

the 3G part is not that part that people think is the cool part. In fact, the 3G part is entirely irrelevant to the operation of the invention. You could rig one of these things to work over a ham radio, or better, as was suggested earlier, VOIP through a pre-existing connection and save a fortune. The 3G part was because the kid is 13, and all the components of this setup are fairly easy to wire together (probably doesn't even require a breadboard). All of the parts are standard off the shelf modules. Hell, someone with some programming skill could make an old 486 with a sound card and a network connection do everything this does through VOIP, with only needing to make about half a dozen wiring connections through the game port and the speaker connections. Not that I have put any thought into this or anything.

-=Geoskd

Useless without verifying who is at the door !

[mijxyphoid]

A better doorbell has already been invented....
Its called an intercom.... This in the Slashdot crowd that keep up to date with technology may have heard of these things.

Some of the fancy new ones allow you to actually use a phone line, a PBX extension.
Some even support SIP and IAX2.

Skip the door bell.

[WindBourne]

http://all-productsreview.com/door-knockers/

Re:Skip the door bell.

[Anonymous Coward]

Gotta love the photo of the girl deciding if she really want to use that knocker.

Missed packages?

[networkzombie]

I'm confused. Packages are either left at the door or need a signature. How could faking that you are home convince a delivery guy to leave a package that needed a signature? And if you are not there will he not get in trouble if the package is stolen when you told him to leave it?

Re:Missed packages?

[c0lo]

I'm confused. Packages are either left at the door or need a signature. How could faking that you are home convince a delivery guy to leave a package that needed a signature? And if you are not there will he not get in trouble if the package is stolen when you told him to leave it?

In G3 era, there's an app for that.

Re:Missed packages?

[delinear]

You can give other instructions, like ask him to pop the package somewhere out of sight if it doesn't need a signature, or tell him that your neighbour at number X has agreed to sign for it. I order coffee online every few weeks, sometimes they leave it by the front door in the porch, sometimes they take it back to the depot and drop me a card, even though the package is always the same size and weight and doesn't need a signature. Just being able to say "it's only coffee, just leave it by the door" would be a convenience for me that means I don't then have to wait 24 hours and drive to some out of town location to go collect it myself. It might not cover all situations, but even if it covers a subset it's better than nothing.

This is everywhere in Chicago

[Anonymous Coward]

I deliver pizzas on the north side in a gentrified neighborhood, and 90% of apartment buildings with >10 units have a system like this. Considering these boxes don't move, why the hell would you put a SIM chip in them? Over POTS, it's gotta be as cheap as a phone line and the cost of the call box. Most of them are digital and seem to be made by the same couple manufacturers, but I've seen 80's-era boxes with great names like "EnterPhone 3000". This has clearly been around a while, but I guess a good news headline isn't, "Teenager uses Google to discover his idea has existed longer than he has been alive," like 95% of my "amazing ideas" since the age of 12. But since I'm neither rich nor famous, maybe I'm underestimating the power of stupid people who need to reinvent a fucking bell.

Re:This is everywhere in Chicago

[c0lo]

...who need to reinvent a fucking bell.

Is this a reference to rule 34?

So many comments/questions!

[drunkennewfiemidget]

First, why is a 13 year old having boxes delivered to his house? When I was < 18, getting my parents to let me use their credit cards was not happening.

Second, Fuck UPS. Fuck them in their stupid asses. Ignoring the random useless delivery guy issues people have had, my problem is with their Canadian brokerage fees. They involve sodomy.

Third, I ignore my front door. I don't care who's there. Unless I'm expecting someone, I just ignore it. I don't want to join your religion, buy your crappy product, or listen to you tell me why your political party doesn't suck.

Fourth, add me to the list of people who will be more interested when someone rigs something I can use to fling people off my front doorstep and into traffic or something.

Re:So many comments/questions!

[Anonymous Coward]

I ignore my front door. I don't care who's there. Unless I'm expecting someone, I just ignore it.

Maurice Moss, I presume?

Re:So many comments/questions!

[delinear]

Apparently the idea came about as a result of an invention competition at his school. He got the idea from his mum having to go collect missed packages. I expect someone to hack on of these things to respond to keytones (to release the hounds or whatever) in 3... 2... 1...

English teenager you say?

[metalmaster]

I thought teenagers the world over left voice communication in the dust for the much more trendy sms/mms. With a home networking setup, cheap webcam and some programming sense it wouldnt take much to set up an interactive door bell.

1. Visitor rings doorbell.
2. Webcam takes a snapshot and sends mms to cell phone
3. ???
4. profit!

disclaimer: the above example involves publishers clearinghouse ringing the doorbell

His nationality is important why?

[Michael Woodhams]

So the single category which best sums up this story and so is used for the icon is... ... that the kid is British?

And the very next /. story has 'cellphone' as its category/icon.

While we're at it - why do red antique phone booths represent the UK?

Re:His nationality is important why?

[Thnurg]

While we're at it - why do red antique phone booths represent the UK?

For the same reason that Malt Shops represent the US.

Ignorant foreigners picking up on something that used to be a part of the nation but have long since passed into obscurity.

The whole world knows that here in Scotland EVERYONE plays the bagpipes.

In fact...

[MrEricSir]

...the door buzzer system in my apartment uses a land line.

And you know what? The number it calls when you hit the number on my apartment calls MY MOBILE PHONE!

So what this kid invented is made obsolete by a buzzer system that was installed in the 80's. Great work, kid.

Re:In fact...

[easyTree]

So what this kid invented is made obsolete by a buzzer system that was installed in the 80's. Great work, kid.

Yeah. Pretty good going to make £250K (and presumably another £200K) from selling something obsolete.

Re:In fact...

[Shadow of Eternity]

Great, so for his next project he can go sell sand to the bedouin.

Not new

[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't new, most condo/apartment/high-rise intercoms use the telephone system, even if there is no telephone service to the unit. As a result if you use the intercom you will ring an actual phone and any attached equipment. This means that you could remotely pick up the phone or forward it if you have the right line cards in a computer.

What makes things interesting is if you simply have a "answering machine" that relays it back to another phone line or to a cell phone (eg via skype or google voice) you accomplish what's here.

Now if you live in a older building, or one with a separate intercom, you can't do this.

it's a phone

[networkzombie]

Clearly I will be stealing your doorbell rather than ringing it.

Some buildings in Sweden have a similar system

[lbschenkel]

I live in Sweden and the doorbell in the building's entrance calls my mobile phone. So if there's a package to be delivered and I'm not at home I can still talk to the deliveryman. It's very cool (unless you're at home with your mobile off).

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells? Fix=Post a note on door

[JumperCable]

I used to have this issue too. If you are expecting a delivery, the only solution I have found to this is to post a large note on the door telling the UPS driver that you are home.

I suspect that most UPS drivers don't expect people to be home so they do a light knock & run before you have a chance to get to the door. They are damn fast too. Before I started posting note it was always race to the front door and out the front yard to try and catch the driver before they left.

Welcome to the world of...1980!?

[Pf0tzenpfritz]

This has indeed been one of the basic features of ISDN. Also one of its features that really were implemented and available to the public. You can buy a complete doorbell, camera, and infocom extension as a ready to go ISDN module and, of course, divert incoming calls to 3GP, serial line, the interwebs or wherever. Just, as video phones never became quite popular -nor did ISDN- they have been around as a niche product for almost 30 years.

Re:Welcome to the world of...1980!?

[delinear]

All the "this is old tech" people are missing the point. This is an entire system in a box. You buy the box, stick it on your door (presumably stick in some batteries) and that's it. No wiring, no other infrastructure required, it doesn't matter if you live in a 17th century listed building or a caravan, you can even take it with you when you move house. The innovation is not the technology, it's the convenience to the average person of installing what used to be at best a non-trivial setup.

How about just wifi?

[phorm]

Anyone know of one that will do this on just wifi/ethernet? Probably not too hard to hack up a serial-console based one. I don't see a real reason for 3G, other than to avoid wiring, and wifi wouldn't require signing up with a cellular carrier.

Authentication? If it takes a SIM card, how about a small PROM or even a tiny miniSD with a file containing access-point details?

I'm sorry..

[SuperDre]

I'm sorry to say this, but this isn't anything new.. We already have stuff like that for a long time..

Re:I'm sorry..

[petman]

New or not, the kid's making a fortune out of it.

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[petman]

Actually, the cool part is that the kid is making hundreds of pounds out of this.

So he's reinvented the Gigaset HC450?

[Eunuchswear]

Big deal. Idiots at Siemens EOL'd it though. Looks like the ProTalk IP range makes a good replacement. That plus a bit of Asterisk hacking could be fun.

Great for Pranksters

[Anonymous Coward]

Presumably the "doorbell" calls your phone every time someone rings it. Sounds like a great way to allow people who don't like you much to spend lots of your money by making your doorbell make lots and lots of phone calls.

Re:Great for Pranksters

[ledow]

Dunno what you have in your country but in mine, if you don't answer a call that rings, it costs neither party anything.

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, the spectrum was nice and clear back then.

ZX Spectrum?

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[Nursie]

Likewise, I've seen this sort of thing before. The gate to the development I used to live in had something like this. To get in, a visitor had to punch the house number into the gate keypad. It would then phone whatever number had been programmed into it for that house.

You could then talk back and forth and decide whether to let them in or not by pressing the button combo for gate opening.

It's not a bad idea, but it's not a new one either. At 13 I'm still impressed, but if the kid was older I wouldn't be.

UPS delivers out of office hours??????

[petes_PoV]

Re:UPS Rings Doorbells?

First time I've ever heard of that. Here they only deliver weekdays 8 - 6p.m. Maybe on a saturday morning if you pay two or three times the standard charge and maybe on the day they say they will (but even that's not guaranteed) -- and that's all.

So far as getting domestic deliveries for households where people work for a living, forget it. There's no possibility that ANY of the couriers will work outside business hours. All I can suppose is that they make far too much profit from their current practices to feel the need to expand into actually offering domestic customers a service they could use.

Re:UPS delivers out of office hours??????

[Seumas]

I order stuff from Amazon all the time and if I order it on Thursday or Friday, it often arrives Saturday.

Anyway, as to ringing door bells and leaving packages - I think a lot of that is at the driver's discretion. Whether it's an apartment or a home. The kind of neighborhood. Whether it can be hidden out of the way or not. The experience I've had with UPS and FedEX as a home owner is entirely different than the hassle it was living in an apartment.

Re:UPS delivers out of office hours??????

[anglico]

When I worked for UPS (In USA) back in 2001 we worked up to 13 hours, 12 with lunch was all the law would allow, and we weren't allowed to return to the building until we attempted delivery on all packages. There were many days I clocked out at 8pm, it's expected at Christmas time, but if your loader screws up then it could be anytime throughout the year. I'm not gonna say all drivers are perfect but I would try to get rid of every package, just so I didn't have to see it the next day.

Clue is the word "English"

[evilandi]

> Maybe it will be useful in places where the cell
> carriers don't rape their customers, but using
> it in the USA

Er... the title clearly says "English". He's from England. We give 3G SIM cards away for free, no monthly cost and they remain active so long as you put a few quid credit on every other month or so.

I've got an emergency Nokia 2100 in my missus' car, has had about a ten quid in credit spent on it in the last year and the number is still active and the credit still valid.

England is only 500 miles long and relatively densely populated. It's dirt cheap to run a mobile phone network here. The cellular telcos don't need to rape their customers, they can be profitable just fine being cheap.

Let people know you're out

[gsslay]

BUZZZZZ

"Hello?"

"Hi, I'm a pizza delivery, not a burglar. Could you open the door?"

"Um.. sorry, no not just now"

"Why not?"

"Um, ... I... don't want to."

"You're not even in, are you? You're miles away!"

"No I'm not. I just don't want to open the door."

"Look out the window then. Can you see me?"

"No, I can't go to the window just now. I'm, er, in the shower."

"Yeah, right. Thanks for confirming the house is empty. I'd wouldn't have been sure if I'd just got no answer."

Re:Let people know you're out

[Anonymous Coward]

BUZZZZZ

"Hello?"

"Hi, I'm a pizza delivery, not a burglar. Could you open the door?"

"I didn't order any pizza, go away."

Nothing new, an 19th century invention

[Anonymous Coward]

Doorphones (is that an English word? that's what they are called in Scandinavia anyhow) that have been able to dial a pre-programmed number to any phone have existed since the end of the 19th century. Doorphones that is a mobile phone in disguise have been sold in Sweden since the mid-1980's, e.g. many small Swedish police stations and pharmacies rely on one of those when they are unmanned since at least the early 1990's (which is really annoying).

Re:Nothing new, an 19th century invention

[green1]

I work in the telecom field and we call them Enterphones. 90% or more of apartment buildings use them, of those, over three quarters of them are able to call any number you program in to them, the remaining ones are much older systems (more than 20 years old) that actually are inserted in to the phone line going to the particular suite, most of these are slowly being replaced by the newer version.

Interesting mention on the police stations, I had forgotten about those, at all the rural police stations around here there is no doorbell, instead there is a telephone handset beside the front door, when you pick it up you are automatically connected to the police dispatch centre, who then radio the local police to see if they are in the station to let you in.

Absence Notice

[freudigst]

I'd rather leave a knocker in the dark than remotely respond so as to let him/her know that I am away...

True story

[SpaghettiPattern]

Back in the 70ies my brother in law fabricated a special door bell that opened the door when pushed with a specific pattern. Although it had its flaws it worked well enough. It even had a useful bug in that if pushed for a long time the door would open anyway. Terribly helpful when re-entering the apartment after a night out with loads of booze. I'm not sure the neighbours really appreciated this. We never bothered to care really.

Nothing new.

[Qbertino]

This is nothing new. Seidle ( http://www.siedle.de/ http://www.siedleusa.com/ ), a german manufacturer of door-intercom and locking systems has had this sort of thing in their programm since two decades ago or so. You could use a landline phone to answer your door-intercom. I'm pretty sure they have quite a few options for doing that with your cellphone aswell.

Already been done

[Anonymous Coward]

Siemens/Gigaset has had a door intercom system called the HC450 that allows you not only to answer the door anywere in your home on a DECT cordless phone but also if you are out you can divert it to your mobile. Another feature is you can even use your cordless phone to turn the exterior door light on

http://gigaset.com/ie/en/cms/PressRelease_HC450_20070208.html

Deliver to your workplace

[tomstorey]

This is why I get my packages delivered to my work place.

My employers have not minded the fact that I do this. As long as youre not running a mail order business where packages are comming and going every day I suspect most others wont either.

For you it means you wont miss a delivery because theres usually always someone in the company mail room or at the front desk to receive it, and for your employer it means youre at work being productive rather than taking a day/couple of hours off at home to wait for it. :-)

Re:Deliver to your workplace

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, I did that for years at my last job, and will likely do it at my (new) current one. There's always someone in the mailroom, they'll deliver it to my desk the same day unless there's Customs duty owed, in which case they'll call my desk and have me come down to pay up right then. The other guys in my office order everything from Amazon to Monoprice and have it sent to their desks, no big deal.

I don't know why so many people just don't do this instead.

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[Asic Eng]

Siemens sells a variation of that basic idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdheOROTxuU Came out in 2007.

great one for kid

[Anonymous Coward]

Pretty good idea for a kid....I am surprised, that no one thought of this before, just for the anti theft application portion of it.
I will be watching closely for this, as I want one for sure

Re:great one for kid

[thesh0ck]

This has been around for years. This is not a new idea and is sold by almost every door intercom maker on the planet.

It's been done.

[Tolkien]

Already exists, a friend of mine in Ottawa has an identically functioning system (code at door calls his cell phone, he presses a button on it to open the door).

Prior Art

[brunes69]

I had my apartment buzzer forwarded to my cell phone back in 2004. I imagine millions of people worldwide who do not have landlines do the same thing. What is so novel about this?

This is ancient

[RichiH]

Kudos to the kid etc, but those systems have been for sale from commercial suppliers for years. First via GSM, these days, you can do video, as well.

I did it!

[Max_W]

I've just invented something much better. And I present it to the world under as GPL license.

The doorbell calls to Skype and one can see the doorbell caller. How about that?!? Besides such calls are recorded routinely, even if it was not answered.

"but I haven't told any of my school friends yet"

[Anonymous Coward]

"but I haven't told any of my school friends yet"

Well, I think that is taken care of now...

Packages?

[Anonymous Coward]

Which 13-year-old receives packages ???

Invention?

[Anonymous Coward]

Unless the article is missing something important, there isn't anything new here. Even in old apartment buildings there's often an option to have the doorbell/buzzer call your phone/mobile. I've been letting friends into my apartment from across town for years.

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[delinear]

He's also being a little bit disengenuous on the whole innovation front. Taking a clunky old system that nobody uses and making it ubiquitous through adding 3G SIM support so it can sell cheaply and easily into a modern market is innovative. It might not be world changing but the kid deserves at least some credit, considering anyone could have done this in the intervening 15 years but he was the first who did. Sometimes a simple change can be innovative.

I'm sorry that

[hellop2]

you guys seem to have had a lot of problems with your shipping carriers. I've had to do a lot of S&R over the years and have never had any problems. FedEx/UPS even call me on the phone to come buy when I'm in the office.

Maybe it wouldn't hurt the buy the FedEx guy a pizza once in a while.

How do you mean destroyed?

[denzacar]

It should return to sender if not picked up by certain date, shouldn't it?

Re:How do you mean destroyed?

[PIBM]

If the sender agreed to pay for that..

Re:How do you mean destroyed?

[manwargi]

Perishables may also be sent by UPS.

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[Anonymous Coward]

So you agree that "...but on the internet!" is a valid patent model?

Re:only your word against theirs

[TaoPhoenix]

"Hi. You claimed to deliver a package but didn't. I have my 12 hour front door footage to prove it."

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[Anonymous Coward]

Could you buy that version for £40 at Curry's?

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[multipartmixed]

> You were using 3G in the pre-386 days?

I was doing this via TDMA cell phone. I just forwarded my land line to my phone. And I've actually used it to buzz in a delivery driver.

I also used to use it buzz myself in, since I regularly lost my keys but never my phone.

Teenager and the Bell

[Anonymous Coward]

As a 40+ year old I may be jealous of 13-year-old Laurence Rook getting name and fame. Is is because I have been lazy and not put my thoughts into actions? May the bell inventor be encouraged to invent even better things tomorrow.

Nothing new - already have one

[Bjarne Bula]

Hope nobody gave a patent to him, since we've had a doorbell like this in my house for some time now.

You ring my apartment from the entrance and my mobile rings and I can talk to whoever is outside, and I can also unlock the door for them remotely from my phone. Much appreciated by friends who show up early and otherwise would have had to wait outside until I got back home.

Done at least 10 years ago

[hughk]

This has existed for a long time in Germany for small office phone systems and I think I first saw it in 97. The door-bell intercom was connected as a telephone extension to a mini-telephone switch (I believe from Elmeg). When you pressed the bell, it was routed either to an individual number, a call group or it could be call forwarded to any number (internal or external), The door release also worked by dialling an internal number.

not new...

[Anonymous Coward]

I had this at an apartment I had 3 years ago... this kid better watch his back, lawyers should be coming after him soon.

So...

[Anonymous Coward]

They invented the intercom.

Re:So...

[green1]

No, they invented the intercom on 3G!

This is the new craze, it's just like all the patents that were handed out like candy 5-10 years ago for doing the same old thing "on the internet" If the trend follows, we can now expect a whole new batch of laws making all the same old things illegal "on 3g" that were illegal anyway beforehand.

Why do people think that doing exactly the same thing using a different technology makes for something different?

Not new at all

[nitehawk214]

I had one of these in an apartment I lived in in 1996, and the device looked at least a decade old at the time. If you pressed a key on the pad the outer door would buzz the person in. There are some flaws with this plan, however. When IJ moved away I kept the same phone number, and the next tenant never got the device updated to theirs. So I constantly had people calling me asking to be let in. The amusing part was... I could let them right in.

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[green1]

"nobody uses"? At least three quarters of the apartment buildings in my city use this. making it call out on 3G instead of a land line doesn't make it a "new invention"

As for "anyone could have done this"... they DID.. these devices are made by many different companies and sold all over the world. Used mainly on apartment buildings, however I have seen many houses with similar (although more basic) systems.

Umm...

[denzacar]

I'm pretty sure that is covered by the original postage costs.
Why would you need a return address on the envelope if not for RETURNING the mail to the sender?

Re:Umm...

[PIBM]

For an envelop, that is true. Small packages requires the sender name & address mostly so that they can know who sent it in case of problems when going out of country.. (as if!). Anyway, at least from Canada Poste and from USPS, you need to accept to pay return fees if undeliverable if you don`t want it destroyed. I`ve had it happen a few times over a few hundreds shipments.

Re:Umm...

[denzacar]

That sounds like a scam/bullshiting to avoid responsibility to me.
Return address is for returning.

I mean.. it's not even financially sound.
Instead of destroying it, it is much smarter to attach an automatic "return+storage fee" and inform you with a slip of paper that "the package you have sent could not be delivered, please come to the post office to pick it up".
THEN, if you don't want your stuff back, they destroy it/auction it/take it home/whatever.

Right off the bat undelivered==destroyed sounds more like someone avoiding to do any actual work.

Re:Umm...

[PIBM]

They still have, usually, 1 retry, and a few weeks storage before it`s being destroyed. I`ve shipped goods worth around 50 bucks for 30+ bucks overseas. If it should return, I would have to pay 30 more bucks, and the content of the package (being software based & all) including the box is less than 5$, so I have no reason to accept that the package be sent back to me in case of non-delivery: this is not my problem!

Too expensive

[Anonymous Coward]

Great. So I'll need to buy a data plan for my doorbell.

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[Anonymous Coward]

It's still an innovation since he didn't know about it from before.

And this is one reason patents are absurd.

Why not use Google Voice instead...

[Anonymous Coward]

Not sure if anyone else has figured this out... Intercoms that dial an apartment phone number and the apartment dweller allowing access with something like "9" button push work well with Google Voice numbers. I have a specific Google voice number just for this purpose. I can be anywhere is the world and let someone in. I works great.

Invented? really?

[Lumpy]

I'll have to call doorphone and let them know that their products never existed before.

Um, how many thieves ring doorbells?

[jbarr]

"Pretty clever way to make it harder for a thief to know if a home is actually occupied..."

"Ding dong"

Opens door.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Ms. Jones, I'll be your thief today."

"Ok, come right in."

Re:Um, how many thieves ring doorbells?

[paladinsama]

> Um, how many thieves ring doorbells?

The ones checking a house and expecting nobody to answer.
If they do get and answer they usually pose as a delivery, interview, survey or just leave.

Not new.

[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't really a new invention... My boss's intercom system calls his phone and if he presses the right button it unlocks the door to his building.

Free, anonymous 3G

[Anonymous Coward]

This is great. Now we can attain free internet access for assorted terrorist purposes, send spam text messages, make bomb threats, etc., all by stealing the chip in someone's doorbell.

Re:Free, anonymous 3G

[DavoMan]

except there's only a button on the outside and the wire is going through a door to the 3G circuit on the other side of the house, underneath an angry guard dog.

Incorrect.

[thesh0ck]

This should read english teenager fails to search internet for products that have exsisted for 15 years.

Re:only your word against theirs

[gblfxt]

yes, if there are enough of these complaints, then UPS may start to take notice.

Quick! Write that down!

[denzacar]

When they do a remake, you get to sue them for taking your idea.

You can thank me with 10% of the money you get. Or 250000 pounds, whichever suits you more.

Already Invented and in every apartment

[DavoMan]

They already have these! My doorbell just happens to be down on the ground floor along with everyone elses. When someone pushes my door bell it dials a telephone number. It can dial my cellphone, I just don't pay for the service.

Mod up!

[acomj]

I've seen this system before too in a friends condo building. A code typed in the "buzzer" box call a phone number. If that number is a cell phone than that person can be anywhere. She lets in fed-ex and UPS while at work.

"I was gobsmacked" says the mother

[dmmiller2k]

Kind of gobsmacked myself, but since Verizon Wireless doesn't use SIM cards in the US, I don't feel so bad for not thinking of it first.

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[geoskd]

Actually, the cool part is that the kid is making hundreds of pounds out of this.

Only because two telcos are too stupid to realize what they are buying, and are hoping that someone will actually buy them. Someone made several million selling "pet rocks" once too, that didn't make the product any good.

-=Geoskd

Not Much Use

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Most deliveries don't use the doorbell. They either just leave the package on the door or knock and go away. Only signatures ring the doorbell at my place. And I can't sign remotely.

2. Thief's...really. What thief is going to ring the doorbell.

3. This is another way for the phone company to tack on money to your bill in order to support the 3G service.

I see little practical use for this idea. While it is a nice thought, it does not mesh with actual usage.

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[redfish_bluefish]

Because in the future he invents a time machine.

Re:He invented this? How come I had one before he

[pspahn]

Here as well. It's an awesome convenience to be able to buzz people into your building with a cell phone. It also makes life a lot easier for the rental property agent when people come in to look at new apartments, since potential tenants can go around to different buildings alone and at their own pace and get buzzed in by the agent remotely.

With Apple it's the opposite problem

[sean.peters]

They require a signature for EVERYTHING, no matter how cheap or inconsequential. My favorite: I needed a replacement cable of some kind, which I bought from the Apple online store for like fifteen bucks. I get home on the shipping day, only to be greeted by the dreaded "we couldn't leave this because the shipper required a signature" sticky note. Really, Apple? Come on.

break through? -- been on the market for years

[iggy3]

been doing this since 2005 with the following DoorBell Fon setup: DoorBell Fon Kit Outbound Relay Trigger Controller You can even add an electronic striker to unlock and open the door.

He is doing it wrong.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

He should invent a better mouse trap. And the whole world will ring his doorbell. Now what? He is gone and invented a better door bell. Now the whole world has to trap his mouse or what?

money

[Have Brain Will Rent]

This 13-year-old kid must have a fair bit of it... he can afford to install (basically) a cell phone connected to a switch on his door and have it autodial his other cell phone. And he needs this because of the large number of packages he is receiving....

Sounds like a hard life.

Wait... what? No Internet??

[AlienIntelligence]

Yes, yes I could.

My elderly parents and semi-technically-literate friends, probably not. Hell my brother doesn't even have an Internet connection, but could still use this.

Whoa...Whoa...Whoa...Whoa...Whoa...Whoa...Whoa...Whoa...
[ Family Guy oblig, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPYX0UX7SpY ]

wait... what? no internet connection?

is he in jail? exile on a desert island?

did he choose to not have internet or is it a
money or distance thing?

You know the United Nations has declared
internet a human right.
http://www.mobiledia.com/news/92654.html

-AI

I've had this for 5 years?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had this since 2006 in my condo building by having it ring my cellphone. dubvious "invention"?