Last Updated on March 17, 2024 by Vincent Zhu
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology has been widely used in the hotel door lock system and industry. RFID non-contact key cards (room cards) have replaced the original mechanical keys to enhance the customer experience.
After more than 20 years of rapid development, almost all hotels use contactless RFID hotel door locks.
There are two main RFID card hotel locks: 125Khz Temic hotel locks and 13.56MHz Mifare hotel locks, but many customers may not know the difference between the locks and don’t know how to choose suitable hotel locks.
This article will explain the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of the two types of hotel locks. To help customers choose the appropriate hotel lock system from function, demand, and cost.
Mifare hotel lock-—- Use Mifare cards. The frequency is 13.56Mhz.
Temic hotel lock—– Use Temic card, frequency 125Khz.
Extended usage and functions:
Suppose the hotel needs to collect the door opening and closing date from the hotel lock.
The Mifare card hotel lock system only needs to use the Mifare 4 S70 card to obtain the MIFARE hotel lock data, but the Temic hotel door lock should be collected using a data collector.
The Mifare 13.56MHz RFID hotel lock will be better for hotel applications than the Temic hotel lock regarding security, reliability, and system scalability.
Working and reading distance:
Simultaneously, the Mifare and TEMIC hotel key cards differ in using RFID door locks.
Since most hotel door locks, the primary material used for hotel door locks is metal; except for the front and back sides, the antenna will be surrounded by metal, which will attenuate RF signals. The 125KHz and 13.56MHz RFID signals will be affected.
In this environment, the higher frequency (13.56MHz) can maintain an acceptable working distance within 3-5cm, which is better than 125KHz (only 1-2cm left).
Temic Hotel Door Locks | Mifare RFID Hotel door locks | |
Working Frequency | 125KHz | 13.56 MHz |
Brand | Temic E5551 Atmel T5557 | Mifare |
Major brand used | Temic E5551, Atmel T5557 | Philips Mifare S50 |
Capacity | 264bit / 330 | 8Kbit 16 sectors |
All-in-one card Application in hotel | unavailable | Available |
Working distance from the hotel door lock | Less than 2cm | Contactless More than 3-5cm |
Stability of card data saving | Easy lost | Never lost |
Cost | Low | High |
Hotel Door lock cost | Low | High |
Card encoder cost | Low | High |
Security | Simple Encrypted | DES Encryption |
Easy copied by a special device | Not easy copied | |
Room key Read/write life | More than 100,000 times | More than 100,000 times |
Data collection Device | Temic data collector | Mifare 4 S70 card |
Hotel elevator control | No supporting | Supporting |
Therefore, after the detailed comparison above, the MIFARE RFID hotel lock system is better than the TEMIC hotel lock system.
If you are still using the TEMIC hotel lock system, please consider replacing or upgrading the current TEMIC hotel lock system.
And the entire RFID hotel door lock system usually includes four essential elements: RFID hotel locks, RFID guest room cards, RFID card encoders, and hotel lock system management software. These four elements are interrelated and crucial.
The hotel lock (main PCB), RFID room card, management software, and encoder must be compatible with the RFID hotel lock system. And these products must come from the same manufacturer or supplier as much as possible;
Otherwise, they will not work because different manufacturers or suppliers have encryption methods to encrypt these products. You cannot use a hotel lock from one manufacturer but software and encoders from another manufacturer.
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