Swiftlane Review – Intercom Upgrade for an HOA Building Gate

Context: This is a testimonial from a Swiftlane customer, Gary Based in Florida. Gary and his HOA association was looking for a gate access control and intercom upgrade, and came to Swiftlane to explore a new solution thats modern but also cost effective to retrofit. This involved many complications, like reusing hundreds of clickers that are already with residents, without having to replace all of them. Gary offered to write up a testimonial detailing his feedback, we are really appreciative!

Hi, my name is Gary and I am part of an HOA in Stuart, Florida. I was responsible for replacing a 20 year old gate entry system at an HOA (homeowner’s association) in rural Florida.

I demanded an all digital system, with no mechanical buttons, no moving parts, and a robust, compact vandal resistant keypad.

I also required an “unlimited” capacity to accommodate our present census of users, plus any future increases in residents, visitors, vendors, delivery companies, etc.

Other requirements:

• A “mug shot,” under all lighting conditions, of those having entered keypad codes to enter
• No requirement for a landline or cellular phone hookup at the gate (just internet)
• The ability to use existing (old design) 418 MHz clickers as well as new-style 433 MHz clickers
• A comprehensive log of entries and the particulars thereof, for both clicker and keypad entries
• A “lookup table” of all residents, at the keypad, for newcomers to use
• The ability to have multiple resident listings within a household, to alert the actual resident expecting the guest
• An automatic phone call to residents’ mobile phones via the lookup table, with a mug shot of visitor
• The ability to alternatively call a resident’s land line, if no mobile, or if by resident’s personal choice, for entry
• The ability of residents, from any location:  home, work, the grocery store, or elsewhere to grant entrance to visitors
• The ability of residents to enter via clicker, keypad, and even their own mobile phone (as an additional “clicker”)
• Different user “categories,” with entry-time-window limitations, such as for contractors
• The ability for residents themselves to set up a temporary entry code, such as for parties, meetings, etc.
• The ability to delete abusive and non-credentialed, expired codes
• We also required an extended clicker distance range of at least 250 feet (we are a rural HOA with lots of open space)
• It was also essential to allow all gate management functions to be done remotely, and not at the gate

Swiftlane ticked all the boxes!

One particular challenge was having a clicker receiver that could handle both the old and new style clickers.

A problem most HOAs would likely face, ours included.

This was essential to us:  we had an entire community of hundreds of existing clicker users who preferred a transparent changeover, i.e., no personal expense required to buy a new clicker:  just click their “old” clicker.

Swiftlane provided us with the exact receiver hardware to seamlessly do this!

Our residents were very pleased and pleasantly surprised.

Swiftlane also provided us with even more:  The ability of the gate keypad to allow hands free, express entry via facial recognition of registered, credentialed users, including the residents themselves!

And…an additional true handsfree entry option via mobile phone, simply by using the “hey Siri” function.

The system has performed flawlessly. 

However, if we do encounter a glitch or need support, Swiftlane staff is there to diagnose and fix the problem!

The overall system was reasonably priced, better in fact than older clunky “moving button” systems.

Our installers, who were very experienced and well established locally, had never heard of Swiftlane.

The gate hardware was simple and intuitive for the installers, who were impressed with the robust build of the keypad, its housing, and also the box containing the control electronics and power supply system.

I can confidently say that our new system can handle just about any requirement that an HOA could have.

We are living proof.

Gary Krosin

Trailside HOA,

Stuart, Florida