DOORKING DKS INTERCOM AND GATE CALL BOX REPAIR
If the box at the end of your driveway stopped letting people in, you're in the right place. Most people call it the intercom, or the call box, or just "the thing that buzzes the gate open." The manufacturer calls it a telephone entry system. Whatever you call it, we repair them.
DKS and DoorKing are the same company. DoorKing, Inc. has been building this equipment since 1948 and puts the DKS name on most of it, so if the faceplate on your unit says DKS and the paperwork says DoorKing, nothing is wrong. It's one manufacturer.
We work on the whole DoorKing entry line, from the 1812 that sits on thousands of Bay Area driveways to the newer eVolve video units. We repair the ones worth repairing and we tell you honestly when a unit is past it. A lot of these boxes are 15 or 20 years old and still perfectly serviceable, so replacement is not always the answer.
- Gate intercom and call box repair
- Keypad and code problems
- Speaker and microphone faults
- Cellular and internet conversions
- Lost or forgotten programming
- Water damage and corrosion
- Directory and resident lists
- Full unit replacement
YOUR LANDLINE IS BEING SHUT OFF
This is the reason most people are calling us right now, and a lot of them don't know it yet.
Your DKS intercom probably works by dialing a phone. When a visitor pushes the button, the box places an actual phone call over an actual copper phone line, and you press 9 to open the gate. That copper line is going away.
AT&T started permanently shutting down its copper network in June 2026. In California, the company has said it will begin discontinuing traditional copper phone service on or after June 1, 2027, and the FCC cleared away the rules that used to slow this down. Copper now serves a tiny fraction of California households, and AT&T has been paying about a billion dollars a year to keep it alive. It is not coming back.
Here's the part that catches people out. Your gate intercom does not move over on its own. When the copper at your address is cut, a landline-only call box simply goes dead. No warning, no error message, no dial tone. Visitors push the button and nothing happens. We've already seen it, and it will get much more common as the shutoff spreads.
Which DKS units are affected? If yours is a 1812 Classic, a 1812 Plus, a 1802, 1808, 1810, or anything in the 1833 to 1837 range, it was built to run on a landline. Those are the ones at risk.
What we do about it. There are three honest options and the right one depends on your unit and your property:
- Add a cellular module so the box calls out over the mobile network
- Move the unit onto your internet connection
- Replace an old box with a current model that does both
- Keep your existing gate operator either way
- Keep your existing keypad codes where possible
- Reprogram the resident list and phone numbers
- Test every entry point before we leave
You do not have to wait until it dies. If your line is still up, we can convert on your schedule instead of on an emergency call the weekend your guests can't get in.
DKS 1812 REPAIR
DKS 1812 Repair - The 1812 is the unit we see most often on single family driveways and small gated properties around the Bay Area. It handles voice communication for up to 27 residents from the main entry, and it can be expanded to control several additional access points, so one box often runs the driveway gate and a pedestrian gate together.
There are three versions and the difference matters. People often don't know which one they own, and it decides what we can do for you:
- 1812 Classic - landline only
- 1812 Plus - landline only
- 1812 Access Plus - landline, internet or cellular
- Board level diagnosis and replacement
- Cellular or network conversion
- Keypad, speaker and mic service
- Reprogramming and code recovery
If you have a Classic or a Plus, your box is on borrowed time once the copper in your neighborhood goes. The good news is that an upgrade board kit exists for the 1812, so you are not always buying a whole new unit. We'll tell you which way is cheaper for your situation rather than defaulting to replacement.
Not sure which one you have? Send us a photo of the faceplate and the label inside the door. We can usually identify it without a trip charge.
DKS 1802, 1808 AND 1810
DKS 1802, 1808 and 1810 Repair - These are the other 1800 series boxes we get called out to. They do the same basic job as the 1812 and they age the same way. Each comes in a plain version that runs on a landline and an Access Plus version that can also run on internet or cellular.
- 1802 and 1802 Access Plus
- 1808 and 1808 Access Plus
- 1810 and 1810 Access Plus
- 1816 intercom, needs no phone line
- 1819 information phone
- 1838 access controller
- 1838 Access Plus
The 1816 is worth calling out. It's a straight intercom and it never needed a phone line to begin with, so the copper shutoff does not touch it. If you have one of these and someone tells you it has to be replaced because of the landline retirement, get a second opinion.
The 1838 is a different animal. It's an access controller for bigger properties, running card readers, keypads and multiple doors rather than just buzzing one gate. We service those too, though they turn up more on HOA and commercial jobs than on private driveways.
DKS 1833 TO 1837 REPAIR
DKS 1830 Series Repair - The 1833, 1834, 1835 and 1837 are the PC programmable boxes. Instead of tapping codes into the keypad, somebody sets them up from a computer, which is why they turn up on properties with a real resident directory rather than a single household.
DoorKing splits several of these into an 80 Series and a 90 Series. The number on your label tells us which parts fit, so it's worth reading it off before you call:
- 1833 - 80 Series
- 1834 - 80 Series and 90 Series
- 1835 - 80 Series and 90 Series
- 1837 - 80 Series and 90 Series
- Directory and resident list rebuilds
- Programming recovery after a board swap
- Landline to cellular conversion
These are landline boxes, so the copper shutoff applies to them as well. The complication is the directory. If a unit has 60 residents programmed into it and the board dies without a backup, somebody has to key all of that back in. We pull the programming off before we touch the hardware wherever the unit still lets us, which saves hours on the other end.
DKS eVOLVE VIDEO ENTRY
DKS eVolve Video Entry Repair and Installation - eVolve is DoorKing's current line, and it's what most people end up on when an old landline box is replaced. The call goes to your phone wherever you are, with video, and you open the gate from the app.
- 2108 eVolve video entry
- 2112 eVolve video entry
- 2132 eVolve video entry
- 2137 eVolve video entry
The 2112 is the one that suits most large single family properties. It rings up to four phones at once when a visitor pushes the button, so a call isn't missed because one person left their phone in the kitchen, and it can control up to three entry points from the one box. It runs over your internet connection or over cellular.
Two things nobody tells you before you buy one, so we will.
First, eVolve has a monthly fee. It's a cloud system, and the service runs about $19.95 a month on an internet connection, with roughly another $14.95 a month on top if you run it over cellular instead. That is not a hidden charge from us, it's how the product works, and you should know it before you commit and not after.
Second, if it's running on your internet, it is only as reliable as your internet. On a property with a long driveway and marginal wifi at the gate, that matters. We'd rather talk that through in advance than install something that frustrates you.
COMMON DKS PROBLEMS
Most calls we get about a DKS box are one of these. If yours sounds familiar, we've almost certainly fixed it before.
"Nobody can call me from the gate." The box dials out and nothing happens on your end. This is the landline problem more often than not now. It can also be a dead board or a cut line, and we check the line first because that costs you nothing.
"I can hear them but they can't hear me," or the other way round. That's the speaker or the microphone. These face the weather for years and eventually the grille corrodes or the element gives out. Usually repairable.
"The keypad stopped working" or some buttons need a hard press. Keypads wear out. On the units that use a membrane pad it's a straightforward swap.
"My code stopped working" or "we lost the master code." Very common, especially on a property that changed hands. If nobody has the programming code, we can usually get back in and reset it without replacing the unit.
"It buzzes but the gate doesn't move." That's often not the intercom at all. The call box is doing its job and the gate operator isn't responding, which is a different repair. We do both, so you're not chasing two companies.
"There's water inside it." Coastal air and sprinklers are hard on these boxes. Corrosion on the board is sometimes terminal and sometimes not. We'll show you what we find rather than just quoting a replacement.
"It worked until the power went out." Surges take out boards, and a gate at the top of a hill takes lightning and utility spikes that a house never sees.
"We just bought the house and nothing is programmed." The previous owner's numbers are still in it and yours aren't. That's a programming visit, not a repair.
PRICING AND CITIES WE SERVE
We offer free on-site estimates. No two of these jobs are the same. What your box needs depends on the model, how it's wired, whether the line into it is still live, and what the weather has done to it over the years. So we come out, look at it, and tell you what it needs and what it costs before anything starts. You decide from there.
Bring us in early if you can. If your intercom is still working but you know the landline is going away, an estimate now is a lot cheaper than an emergency call the weekend nobody can get through the gate.
- Free on-site estimate
- Firm price before any work begins
- Repair quoted against replacement
- Licensed CSLB #1098597
- Send a photo of the label for a faster answer
- We tell you when a unit is not worth fixing
- Gate operator and intercom in one visit
- Same crew does the follow up
Where we work. We cover the properties that actually have gates and call boxes, which means the larger lots on both sides of the hills:
- Danville, including Blackhawk and Diablo
- Pleasanton
- San Ramon
- Atherton
- Palo Alto
- Los Altos and Los Altos Hills
- Menlo Park
- Hillsborough
- Burlingame
- Castro Valley, Fremont and the East Bay
Licensed CSLB #1098597. Call 510-458-2048 and tell us what the box is doing. If you can send a photo of the label, even better, because we'll know what parts to bring.