'Use' your landline phone jack to power a lamp... for free

[AndrewZorn]

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/11/sweet-revenge-phone-jack-powered-lamp-rips-off-telcos/

Looks pretty neat, and it's really cheap.

[Hofy]

but that would require a land line phone.  Something I have not had in almost 5 years.

[AndrewZorn]

no, just the jack...

[Rajagra]

I bet you could charge your mobile phone from a landline socket.
Now that would be ironic.

[xsphat]

but that would require a land line phone.  Something I have not had in almost 5 years.

I know, who uses these anymore? I got a deal on my cable and net if I packaged it with a land line and the guy came to install it, checked it and right after he left I unplugged the phone and tossed it. I never even knew the number.

[Rajagra]

You often need a landline number to register or apply for certain things. It might be unreasonable, but it's true. Having no landline is one step away from being homeless in some people's eyes.

And if you have one, why not use it? The sound quality is better, the handsets are the right size and more comfortable, the batteries last longer on cordless sets, calls are cheaper unless you're using inclusive minutes.

[itlnstln]

You often need a landline number to register or apply for certain things. It might be unreasonable, but it's true. Having no landline is one step away from being homeless in some people's eyes.
 
And if you have one, why not use it? The sound quality is better, the handsets are the right size and more comfortable, the batteries last longer on cordless sets, calls are cheaper unless you're using inclusive minutes.

While quite rare now, if I need a landline, I just use my work number.  I just got my plan upgraded with Sprint, so now that all my mobile to mobile calls are free (and no one has a landline anymore), I haven't had to use any of the minutes against my plan, and my plan is cheaper than ever before.  It's actually kinda nice.

[AndrewZorn]

you don't need a phone for this!

[itlnstln]

you don't need a phone for this!

Now instead of a lamp, we need an adapeter to hook up anything we want to it.  It would be pretty limited, though, to things that would draw only a little electricity.

[AndrewZorn]

yeah i agree the cell phone charging thing would be great
and would also fix the possible problem of being disconnected due to inactivity

[xsphat]

It'd be even more ironic to use the phone jack to power your Skype phone.

[TWX]

Pfft.  Amateurs.  I have a couple of 48VDC computer power supplies for telco switching centers.  Of course, the cabling would fry if I tried to use then on a Cat3 line like this.

[SCTony]

A cell phone charger would be handy for emergencies - we occasionally have hurricanes take out the mains power for several days.

[kode]

Haven't had landline phone service for years now, but yeah, I like this idea. I think I might've put a bookcase where my jack is, though. The idea isn't bad though, I definitely see some hack value in this.

[microsoft windows]

A cell phone charger would be handy for emergencies - we occasionally have hurricanes take out the mains power for several days.

I lost both power and phone for a few days after a tornado snapped a power pole in my yard in half.

[ch_123]

A cell phone charger would be handy for emergencies - we occasionally have hurricanes take out the mains power for several days.

I'm thinking something along the lines of what MS Windows is thinking - you must have some very strong telephone poles that can withstand a hurricane that can take out a power mast...

[itlnstln]

I'm thinking something along the lines of what MS Windows is thinking - you must have some very strong telephone poles that can withstand a hurricane that can take out a power mast...

I was thinking the same.  Unless the telephone cables are underground, if your power is out, I would think the telephone would be out, too.

[SCTony]

Yes, most of the phone system is underground, so we have usually had phone service and no electric. Cell systems have generators and batteries and are seldom interrupted.

[Langley]

If that lamp could make the sweet sound of my old 9600 bps modem, I'd consider letting it into my lamp collection. God, I miss that sound sometimes. So many hours spent trying to muffle it while trying to use the internet at night without waking my parents up.

[kode]

I'm thinking something along the lines of what MS Windows is thinking - you must have some very strong telephone poles that can withstand a hurricane that can take out a power mast...

Well, regardless of whether the lines are on poles or underground, it may be of importance to consider that the spare power for the telephone is not usually _that_ much to count on. Battery power for a couple of hours top, and if you're lucky there's working diesel generators after that. I'd probably sooner get myself a proper emergency generator than siphon a few watts off the phone grid.

[AndrewZorn]

i dont know what you are getting into, i thought telephone is underground often enough that it outlasts most people's electrical systems...

battery power?

[kode]

Yeah, but the phone lines aren't powered by magic, really. If the magic, err, power supply to your telephone base stations are cut, it runs out of magic, err, power when the battery backup runs out, unless the backup generators have started working by then. Something that happens quite a lot is that they don't test these magic generators very often, which means it is very likely that they don't work. And I still say that if you get a lot of power outages, you should look into getting a magic generator for yourself, test it at regular intervals and hope that it still works when it is a real emergency and you need the magic to power your tv or something.

But yes, DC with battery backup does indeed often last longer than AC without backups. Still doesn't mean the power supplied would be very useful for anything other than emergency calling in such a situation anyway. 48V DC @ 20-50mA doesn't get you _that_ much emergency lighting, for example.

[msiegel]

hey, how about an answering machine that uses the ringer voltage to charge a supercap as its long-term power source?

surely the phone company wouldn't object to that

[AndrewZorn]

Yeah, but the phone lines aren't powered by magic, really. If the magic, err, power supply to your telephone base stations are cut, it runs out of magic, err, power when the battery backup runs out, unless the backup generators have started working by then. Something that happens quite a lot is that they don't test these magic generators very often, which means it is very likely that they don't work. And I still say that if you get a lot of power outages, you should look into getting a magic generator for yourself, test it at regular intervals and hope that it still works when it is a real emergency and you need the magic to power your tv or something.

But yes, DC with battery backup does indeed often last longer than AC without backups. Still doesn't mean the power supplied would be very useful for anything other than emergency calling in such a situation anyway. 48V DC @ 20-50mA doesn't get you _that_ much emergency lighting, for example.

i am saying that the reason people are saying this could be used for 'emergencies' is because the phone lines remain fine during storms and power outages in a lot of areas (including mine)
i dont know the last time my house phone did NOT work
even during multi-day power outages
yes, it will fail eventually... but whatever they do, they do it more reliably than cable/power/internet

[itlnstln]

I guess that's a car UPS.

[itlnstln]

I take it your real name is Jack Bauer.
 
You also know where Chloe went.

[itlnstln]

Oh, I know...

[itlnstln]

Curiosity killed the cat... so to speak.

[Langley]

Curiosity killed the cat... so to speak.

Jack Bauer kills kittens?

[itlnstln]

No, it has to do a little more with the picture ripster posted.  A very subtle double-entendre.

[Langley]

I know, I just wanted to accuse Jack Bauer of killing kittens he suspected of leading a terrorist cell.

[Rajagra]

How do you know I'm not Chloe?

How do we know you're not Peter Griffin?