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Chat Online with Cordless Phone
buckymatters writes "Christoffer Järnåker has converted an old home phone to be used with Skype, MSN voice chat or other similar software. Using the 'highly scientific method Trial and Error' he uncovered the input and output of the phone, wired it up and began talking 300 meters away from his computer on MSN."
From the article:
But hey, I have an old Siemens Gigaset 3010 phone laying around that my children play with ('cause the 2 key was a bit broken), I wonder if I can use that one? So I did.
You're a bad, bad man.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
...I just plug it into the back of the VOIP adapter that Vonage sent me.
Noble effort indeed but here in Japan we Pioneer has a USB Chordless phone that I can use with Skype. Great quality! http://tinyurl.com/9ahkw/ http://tinyurl.com/ckveb/ Are these available in North America/EU? Not sure.
I have a bluetooth headset, i just paired it with my iBook, and now i can walk anywhere within approx. 50 feet and hear my music, or talk in Skype.
Next up, get Bluetooth 2.0 which has a further reach.
cat
When the article said "old phone" I pictured one of those 12 pounders from 1976. You know, the black or beige kind that would allow you to unscrew the mouth piece and pull out the unwired (not wireless) audio receiver so you could listen to your parents conversation downstairs without them hearing you while you hid in their bedroom... Imagine my shock when I saw a cordless handheld like the one in my kitchen right now. I'm super old.
I just bought a VOIP to PSTN box on EBay for approx $50 and am using it to connect a cordless phone with skype.. Works very well.. But, I am not saying what this dude did is not worth it.. I like tinkering with stuff.. but they seldom work after I have torn them apart ;-)
Coral Cache
Thats really neat! perhaps he can make one more modification to it. Make it so he can use it with any wifi router and then he can make calls from anywhere in the city where there is free wifi! It's almost be like a cell phone, only free.
Tired of Apathy? http://apathyonline.net
anyone this uber-nerdy surely would have nobody to call to talk to. . .
Domino's.
KFG
Cost $0.
Material used: one wireless phone, and one 3.5mm to 3.5mm plug (cut in half).
Tools used: screwdriver, knife, soldering iron.
So, the problem. You have a computer, your friend has a computer, you both have a broadband connection, and you make use of Skype or like the voice chat in MSN or something like this - And - you're sick and tired to sit by the computer all the time when you talk. And you might even sit with one of these ridiculous headset (hmm, yes I also have one) on your head just because the echo cancellation feature isn't that great in reality.
So, the solution. A year ago or so I tried to connect a professional headset from Plantronics to my computer just because they're so damn good and fit perfect. Well, I did get it to work after having a couple of boxes in-between the computer and the headset, but I was still tied to the computer. Now, I've seen some other devices around that basically give you an handset to connect to the USB port and then you can use that. Well, you're still tied to the computer huh? No fun. Then I read in a local magazine (Veronica magazine here in the Netherlands) about Siemens making a DECT USB adapter so that you can connect your DECT phone to the computer - and I though Wow! that's what I need. Well, 119 for another toy that I'll use like not that often? I don't think so. But hey, I have an old Siemens Gigaset 3010 phone laying around that my children play with ('cause the 2 key was a bit broken), I wonder if I can use that one? So I did.
The victim
So, how did I do it? Not that simple at first, but very much simpler at the end. I started with opening the base station (Duh!) to see what chipsets were in it. I was hoping for like an RF part a couple of lines on the circuit board and then a telephone circuit. Tji fick jag! No of course not. As any standard electronics they make use of a whole bunch of circuits, so I started looking up on the internet what they did and again - nothing to be found. Then I decided to make use of the highly scientific method Trial and Error and hoping for a bit of good luck.
By having the phone off hook I carefully inserted my little screwdriver here and there until a heard a click in the handset. And when I found that click I injected a signal from my MP3 player - and it worked! Then reverse, by blowing in the handsets microphone I used the regular headphone for my MP3 player to see where I could 'hear' the phone. By grounding on wire and using the other as a probe I quickly found the spot next to the first spot.
Note the red (sound to the phone) and green (sound from the phone) circles on the board.
Then taking an 3.5mm to 3.5mm plug cut in half connecting L+R and then attaching it or respective place (for in and out) making use of the downside of the RF part as ground plane I ended up with this.
As you can see I've used an unshielded cable, but it works perfect anyway!
So how did it work? Outstanding!!! Incoming sound in the handset is perfect. Outgoing sound is a bit on the loud side but that's easy to adjust on the computer. It really feels like you're talking on the phone and I have a 300m radius from the house that I can use. While chatting on MSN! Perfect!!!
So, what are my tips to you? Do you want to try it, but you don't have an Gigaset 3010? The tips I can give you is the following:
*
Look at the picture above and you'll see two big capacitors (silver can with a black line on it) and a voltage controller (black small box with five legs) in the lower right corner. Avoid this area! If you connect your headphones or MP3 player here you will most likely fry them. In any other base station you should find a similar area close to the power input (red on mine).
*
Be prepared that if you connect anything in the wrong place, even when trying to figure out where the signals are, you can damage the phone, MP3 player or whatever you connect. That is a -might-, and my experience is that it usually turns out fine
If you don't want to do all that, get yourself a chat-cord (http://www.chatcord.com/ and just connect your soundcard to your phone using regular pots line. No need to do any modifications. If you buy it through fwd (fwd.pulver.com) it'll only cost you 19.99 (plus 10 bucks shipping unfortunatly)
I've been using this product and it rocks. My wife and I were just talking to our relatives and if you're phone has a sattelite the two of you can talk at the same time!
It comes with free software (on XP) that will allow you to dial a number from the phone as well. Not possible yet in linux, but if you know how to decode the DTMF signals, one could easily write something to do the calling for you through the SKYPE API.
The quality has been great, and you can also use it for free world dialup or whatever. The only disadvantage is that it's not like a real phone, it won't ring if someone calls you. You have to rely on perhaps your computer ringing through the speakers.
sri
Dissodance is not permitted!
Why yes it is. What is also permitted is labeling of each post by the group and filtering based on the label. Perhaps you'd rather Slashdot strip everything from a post but the content, and forbid users from creating an external comment moderation system.
He should have used DC blocking capacitors to couple audio in and out of the phone. He's lucky he didn't blow out something in either the phone or his computer.
"Christoffer Järnåker, who knows just enough about electronics to be dangerous, has somehow managed to kludge a new-ish cordless POTS phone to be used with *insert popular MS-based proprietary VOIP software*. Using the 'oh jeez I hope I didn't fry my phone, computer, and mp3 player method' he uncovered a spot on the circuit board which didn't immediately destroy everything, soldered three wires, and somehow got on slashdot for it.
----
All of whose base are belong to the what-now?
Isnt the article just about providing for a head phone and mic wire from an existing phone?
It doesnt allow you to punch numbers and call to skype directly.
Nice hack but the story title is misleading.
Siggy Say, Siggy Do
Finally got it working and said....
"Mr. Watson come here"
Siemens already has a USB attachment that lets you use VoIP (skype) from your Cordless Phone.
M34 USB
I'm using it now, and it works really well. One thing about using the hack in the article is your phone won't ring when you get a VoIP call... with the adapter it works just like a normal phone.
Online backup with Mozy, sounds like Ozzie, but more!
with a Rolm phone 240. I have quite a few of them so what the hell. Matter of fact, I have a full 12 node Rolm CBX II 9000. And I don't have a POTS line to my name.. Long story..
Anyway, I took the Rolm phone and on the main board in the base unit I soldered two cables to the connection for the handset and speaker. So the handset runs straight into the soundcard of a machine that does Sykpe.
When the phone is on hook, the magnet in the handset cause a reed relay to pass audio from the soundcard to the speakerphone speaker in the base unit so you can hear it ring and hear normal sound events through it. When you lift the handset the sound re-routes to the handset and you use it like a normal phone.
You can't dial from it, none of the buttons or lights work, but the sound quality is excellent and you can rest it on your shoulder because it's a full sized handset, unlike the dinky cell phones of today.
To use it, you would SWEAR you are talking on a standard POTS phone. My friends are amazed and befuddled by it, so I have been building them for all my friends.
Next project is to go buy a cheapo cordless, my local grocery has them on the imported crap isle for $14 for a 2.4ghz.. It's probably crap but it's cheap enough to experiment on. I have a $300 Vtech 2 line cordless that I don't want to experiment on, I'll save it for when I get an adapter..
That's not a theory, you know. That's a friggin' AXIOM.
You were 80% angel, 10% demon. The rest was hard to explain. - Over The Rhine
"Math in a song is good."-Linford
I also modified a cordless phone for use with online voice conversations. It's a Sanyo CLT-9171, one of the early 900 MHz spread spectrum digital ones. Using an oscilloscope it was easy to find where to connect. The phone still works for standard phone conversations, and I can even use one of the connections I added to record conversations.