Replacing an Analog Gate Call Box with a UniFi Intercom
Upgrading Failing Copper Phone Line Call Boxes
Many gate call boxes dial out over a copper phone line, and carriers including AT&T are retiring copper lines. CloudCentric is a managed IT provider in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, serving businesses, office parks, marinas, storage yards, HOAs and gated properties across Charleston and the Lowcountry whose gate call box runs on a phone line or is failing.
Replacing the call box with a network intercom removes the phone line instead of adapting it.
Answering Intercom Calls and Opening the Gate
The person answering sees live video from the intercom camera and talks to the visitor before opening. A call from the intercom can ring the UniFi Access app for admins, the UniFi Endpoint app for staff, a phone number, a SIP desk phone, an Intercom Viewer desk screen or a chime. Several ways of answering can ring at once, and different people can be set to answer different gates.
The intercom can ring an existing phone system over SIP, including UniFi Talk, RingCentral, FreePBX and FreeSWITCH. A phone number receiver opens the gate without installing an app; a SIP desk phone opens it by pressing * on the keypad.
Hardware and Gate Compatibility
UniFi intercoms that support doorbell calls include the G3 Intercom, Intercom, G6 Entry, G6 Pro Entry and the Reader Pro models. Published prices, checked 2026-10-26 on store.ui.com: Access Gate Hub $279; G3 Intercom $479 (US list).
The Access Gate Hub (UA-Hub-Gate) drives sliding, single and double swing, barrier and roll-up gates, plus one pedestrian side door. Ubiquiti recommends a gate operator with an auto-close timer, so the gate shuts on its own after the hub opens it.
Access for Staff, Residents and Visitors
Staff and residents can also open the gate with a card, PIN, phone or wallet pass, and visitors can get a QR code or PIN that expires after the visit. Each gate opening can record a short video clip automatically.
Paired with a UniFi AI camera, the Gate Hub opens for licence plates assigned to users, and each user can have several plates. Plate unlock works only when the operator's UL 325 entrapment protection devices are connected to its control board.
Site Survey, Installation and Handover
CloudCentric surveys the gate first: the operator and its control board, entrapment devices, the cable distance and route, and power at the gate. The Gate Hub can run over existing twisted-pair cable to the gate using two-wire PoE extension, so a new trench is not always needed. Long runs are extended or converted to fibre, with surge protection at both ends.
Hardware near the marsh and beach is chosen and fixed with salt air in mind. At handover the people who answer the gate are set up on their phones, listed vehicles are tested, and the old call box line can be cancelled. Phone (844) 422-7000.