Wireless vs Hardwared smart doorbells, reasons why you should choose PoE smart doorbells
When many people opt for battery powered wire-free smart doorbells, some people choose hardwired smart video doorbells. Offering do-it-yourself installation is the main feature of wire-free smart doorbells, this does not mean the wire-free products are suitable for all different installation. Each has pros and cons, it’s a rational choice to choose the right type according to your own requirement or condition. Before we make the choice, we may do a joint evaluation which can help us to know which type of smart doorbell is more suitable.
Wire-free Vs Conventional Vs PoE
| Type/Category | Feature | Installation | Reliability | Distance | Maintenance | Price/Stars |
| Wireless smart video doorbells | Video on request | Easy (built-in battery, competely wire-free) | Medium (vulnerable to Wi-Fi signal interference, low bandwidth problems) | Short ( max. 10-20 meter) | Need to charge battery periodically, battery capacity drops in winter season/or low temperature condition, need to replace it when battery drains completely. | High price, ☆☆★★★ |
| Conventional smart video doorbells | Video on request, 24 hours video streaming/recording | Hard (Ethernet + power cable wiring) | High (Ethernet offers reliable network connection, max. 100/1000Mbps bandwidth) | Long (50-100 meter) | Maintenance-free | ☆☆☆★★ |
| PoE smart video doorbells | video on request, 24 hours streaming/recording | Medium (PoE, Power over Ethernet, eliminating power cable wiring) | High (100/1Gigabyte bandwidth) | Long (50-100 meter) | Maintenance-free | Value for Money, ☆★★★★ |
According to the above chart and from the long term perspective, PoE smart doorbell is the winner. The wire-free smart doorbell uses battery that usually has life-span of 3-4 years, adding the factor that battery capacity drops gradually through passage of time. The possibility of dyfunction of Wire-free smart doorbell is not low. If you think Wire-free smart doorbell is more suitalbe for your requirement, then it’s recommended to avoid Wire-free smart doorbells have batteries built-in, because it’s difficult to find the replacement parts and difficult to replace them. In contrast, PoE smart doorbell does not have this problem, it’s a highly reliable product that works for 10 years or even 20 years.
How to install/use PoE smart doorbells?
PoE is the acronym of power over Ethernet, the smart doorbell that features PoE can transfer data and obtain power through Ethernet cable (Cat5, Cat5+, Cat6) at the same time. Simply running one Ethernet cable between the doorbell and your PoE switch/router, it works immediately and no power cable wiring is required.
If you use a regular router and do not have a PoE switch, you still can use the PoE smart doorbell by connecting a PoE injector. The PoE injector works as the AC/DC power supply, but it has extra function that combining data and power together. Lastly, our PoE smart doorbell support PoE, AC8-24V, DC12V different power inputs, this provides good flexibility for different installation/requirement.
