Ultra compact landline phone, or hacking a cellphone

[pex]

I'm looking for a small landline phone (preferably the size of today's bar cellphones that lack significant features.)  I know I must have come across such things in the past, but this would have been years ago.  I'm doing research now to see if a cellphone can be hacked for direct plug into landline (solely for the purpose as acting as a landline, not for enabling home landline phones to call through it), or for such a small landline phone.

I'll post here as I find things.  (How I came to this line of research and what I've found since has been quite interesting and has made for hours of good reading.)

[pex]

Looks like at least someone is doing it commercially.
http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Innovage-Deluxe-Handheld-Mini-Flip-Phone/1567489/product.html

And maybe another example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-Hands-Free-Headset-Home-Phone_W0QQitemZ220434299169QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090614?IMSfp=TL090614164002r36646

[chimera15]

I'm looking for a small landline phone (preferably the size of today's bar cellphones that lack significant features.)  I know I must have come across such things in the past, but this would have been years ago.  I'm doing research now to see if a cellphone can be hacked for direct plug into landline (solely for the purpose as acting as a landline, not for enabling home landline phones to call through it), or for such a small landline phone.

I'll post here as I find things.  (How I came to this line of research and what I've found since has been quite interesting and has made for hours of good reading.)

Pretty interesting.  I guess this is kind of the opposite of what you want to do.

http://www.phonelabs.com/

[chimera15]

Also I guess not quite:

http://www.smarthome.com/9622/Universal-Desktop-Station/p.aspx

Most things I've found are ways to turn your cell phone into a replacement for the landline, not vice versa. Heh

[chimera15]

I was thinking you might be able to do something with bluetooth...  If there's a landline phone with bluetooth you might be able to work it that way...

[chimera15]

Aha!! Think this might be it.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10064590-1.html

Oh nope, maybe it's backwards as well..

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-AT-T-TL92328-Dect-6-0-Bluetooth-Enabled-Phone_W0QQitemZ260387719484QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ca051493c&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

It says it has a landline though...so maybe it would be possible to use your cellphone as a handset as well through it? Not sure..need to do more research on it.  Pretty sweet looking system though, either way.

[pex]

Everything I found so far was using your cellphone as the client to a service provider, and essentially plugging all your home phones into that.  I guess it's possible I might have come across some device that pretends to be a cell tower and converts what your cell is sending to the converter and uses landlines.

None of those solutions were found the be compact (even if they had been what I was looking for.)  

While the cellphone hax was a long shot, I thought I'd be able to find miniaturized lineman's handsets (DIY maybe) or something similar from our friendly phreaks.  Haven't stumbled upon such a thing, however.

[Rajagra]

I remember reading about mobile phone cell base stations intended to go in the home, but the only ones I can find now connect to broadband, great for the mobile phone company, not much use for users.

I tried hooking up my mobile to my Bluetooth home phone  - didn't do what you need, as the mobile won't act as a BT headset for something else.

You don't say whether you actually need a cordless system. Could something like this help? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260428498216

You could plug in one of those first generation bluetooth adapters (e.g. Jabra A210) for mobiles then use a plain BT headset.

[bhtooefr]

I KNOW there used to be tiny corded landlines that make cell phones look huge...

[pex]

Yeah, all the noise about cellphones has drowned that kind of information out.

I just want an ubercompact landline phone I could stick into my pocket, and take out, and plug into a rj-11'd cord where necessary.

Rajagra, I have already see that one (perhaps linked above in my post if it hasn't expired on ebay.  It's certainly an option and more like what I'm looking for.  I find the double-ports interesting also.

[bhtooefr]

And, those things on eBay are what I was thinking of. I didn't check the links because I was posting from my phone.

[pex]

No idea how I forgot about beige boxing... gg me.
http://www.exegesis.uklinux.net/gandalf/phreak/beige.htm

Now if I can just figure out how to hum and whistle at the same time, I don't even need to find a way to miniaturize a dtmf tone generator.

EDIT: whistle and hum is out.  I'll just check out the small beige boxes people make, hopefully.
EDIT2: I guess since everyone carries a cellphone nowadays they are tone generators you can just play through the mic of the beige box.

[pex]

I wonder if it's possible to gut a slimline of all the 'junk' and just use the very basic components, reassembling them as a beige box.  It could be more cost effective, if possible, than going the parts route if one is forced to buy bulk parts, and maybe someone is discarding a phone.

EDIT: and some perhaps quite useful information about the phones and interfacing with the network:
http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/teleinterface.html

[DrunkenDonut]

You're really having a tough time finding these? Just to check again - you're just looking for a tiny landline set? Minimal features - small dial pad, etc.. ?

I used to see these all the time in dollar stores and whatnot. They're basically a tiny keypad, electronic ringer, and headphone/mic jack. Quality was questionable, but it did what it needed to.

Something like this?
http://www2.dealextreme.com:8080/details.dx/sku.1473

The site's being updated right now.. Link may break, when it does, just hit the normal dealextreme URL and search for the SKU.

[xsphat]

How many people under 45 even have a landline they use (excluding those who live in the boonies or dead zones). I haven't used a landline at my house for like 8 or 9 years now.

[Rajagra]

How many people under 45 even have a landline they use (excluding those who live in the boonies or dead zones). I haven't used a landline at my house for like 8 or 9 years now.

I can see the temptation to use your "free" minutes to make calls from your mobile, but if anyone calls me at home I'd want it to be on the landline - more phones to pick up, better sound quality, more comfort.

[pex]

to xsphat: It's 2009 and call quality on cellphones is still ****.

I had little need for cellphones and only even had one in the recent few years.  I do not make use of them for the general purposes of conversation.  They are better suited for emergencies (i.e. having a phone WHERE and WHEN you need) it for reasons such as intransit notification, as a notifier (via text/data apps) and as a tethered modem for where there is no wire or wifi.

I already saw the phone on dealextreme (and the same thing, I think, on ebay).  It still looked kind of big or thick, although it's hard to tell.  I definitely do not see these things at dollar stores, however; I wish I did.

Ideally I want something I can carry in the pocket with ALL THE OTHER junk I carry.  That means space is limited and however small we can get it at the lowest price is what I want.  It is nice to find the small-form-factor phones for under 10 bucks shipped.  I think better can be done, however.

The ultracompact landline phone is just a limited tool as part of a communications/testing toolkit.  For example, if you've got the phone (with a RJ-11 connection wire, and also a alligator-clips/bed-of-nails), MagicJack, a cellphone (with wifi capability, and if possible, USB port), and a satphone, you cover a wide range of needs with the least amount of equipment.  All the functionality created by that smallest amount of equipment could be created by more equipment, but then mobility is reduced.

EDIT: I failed to take notice the first time around the dealextreme phones were 3.99 shipped.  I will probably buy one or two for testing purposes/just to have.  Also in my searches I came across http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=350100821947&Category=22789&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26its%3DI%26otn%3D2

EDITEDIT: There's way too much cool stuff at dealextreme (((

[DrunkenDonut]

Ahahaa... be careful at deal extreme though... Some things are, as their price may foreshadow, crap... But if you need that *one* gizmo that you'll almost never need again, you can probably find it there for reasonable price. Make use of their comment and rating system - read other people's opinions.

Not all of it's crap either. I've gotten a whole bunch of neat / cheap stuff since I found them. Just be aware that shipping is slow but it'll eventually get to you.

Not much interesting in the area of keyboards though.

[xsphat]

Man I love having my phone on me all the time. I also like checking my email and websurfing anywhere I am.

When I leave the house without my phone I go back home and get it. If I don't have it I feel naked.

[crashnburn]

I'd get a small phone from Xtreme as well.

But, please tell me there is some device that lets me convert standard Telephone land line and use it via any Bluetooth headset. i.e. Landline to BlueTooth Handsfree/Headset converter?

[hyperlinked]

I'd get a small phone from Xtreme as well.

But, please tell me there is some device that lets me convert standard Telephone land line and use it via any Bluetooth headset. i.e. Landline to BlueTooth Handsfree/Headset converter?

Does it have to be a physical land line or do you just need something with quality reception that you can bank on? If you have good broadband you could always go with a VOIP technology.

My land line's been replaced by AT&T with VOIP that is part of a comprehensive data, cable, and voice package and the call quality is no different from the formal land line that we had (as far as I can tell). The only drawback is that if the broadband goes out, so does your phone, but that's a rare occurrence and we have cell phones anyway.

While I haven't noticed any drop in call quality when using our VOIP service, I have noticed that occasionally when I'm using my cell phone while it's making calls through my WiFi network that there's packet loss and the voices start getting s-l-o-w and choppy so I suppose the same could happen with our proper VOIP service and I just haven't noticed because I rarely use the "land" line.

[trievalot]

slight variation from here.....im using my iphone with a SIP app, i can use my home VOIP account on the ibone anywhere and make 12 cent calls (counting the fact i dont pay for Data  work does )

[pex]

I actually had a happenstance the other week that required me to use my portable phone (which is a flip phone but it is huge compared to the other flipphone example on this thread.)  Luckily I had my car with me, where I carried the phone, so I could access a telco interconnect box on a house from which I was locked out because I forgot my key and at a time which my cellphone was disabled.

I was looking at http://www.exegesis.uklinux.net/gandalf/phreak/beige.htm again the other day.  I don't have a background in electronics.  Can someone briefly explain which resistor values on the circuit for this phone schematic are absolute and which may be off by a certain amount (what amount?)  I was checking out assorted resistor packs at radioshack to get an idea how cheaply I could acquire all that I need, and in some cases I'd find a 650 when the schematic says 680, 40 when I needed 43, etc.  (Is this question unanswerable without more information about the L3280 IC, a LOW VOTAGE TELEPHONE SPEECH CIRCUIT?)

[pex]

Right now I'm leaning toward constructing my own small form factor phone.  Unfortunately I have a minimal electronics background and have no idea what I'm doing.  I just asked CLARE if their IC is right for me.  Maybe you could also advise: do you think the LITELINK III is an acceptable speech interface IC for my simplistic phone?  http://clare.com/Products/LITELINK.htm

[pex]

Right now I'm leaning toward constructing my own small form factor phone.  Unfortunately I have a minimal electronics background and have no idea what I'm doing.  I just asked CLARE if their IC is right for me.  Maybe you could also advise: do you think the LITELINK III is an acceptable speech interface IC for my simplistic phone?  http://clare.com/Products/LITELINK.htm

In one of the support docs (for an older version?) they recommended some literature.
http://www.clare.com/home/pdfs.nsf/www/an-140.pdf/$file/an-140.pdf
6.2 Third Party Design Resources
The following also contain information useful for DAA
designs. All of the books are available on amazon.
com.
Understanding Telephone Electronics, Stephen J. Bigelow,
et. al., Butterworth-Heinemann; ISBN:
0750671750
Newton’s Telecom Dictionary, Harry Newton, CMP
Books; ISBN: 1578200695
Photodiode Amplifiers: Op Amp Solutions, Jerald
Graeme, McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing; ISBN:
007024247X
Teccor, Inc. Surge Protection Products
United States Code of Federal Regulations, CFR 47
Part 68.3

So I guess I will try to seek these out so I can design my circuit.  I hope "Understanding Telephone Electronics" is what I think it is.
EDIT: o sht, "Understanding Telephone Electronics" is on google books
EDIT: sort of

[pex]

It turns out a few manufacturers of telephone speech ICs have made the mistake of letting noobs like myself access sample ordering interfaces, so my next update will probably be about whether or not I ever received those samples. Would be nice...free sample, shipping paid for by them.

[bhtooefr]

I love sample ordering interfaces.

(Want a no-slot clock for an Apple II (Maxim/Dallas DS1216E)? $25, or free through a sample ordering interface.)

[pex]

I love sample ordering interfaces.

(Want a no-slot clock for an Apple II (Maxim/Dallas DS1216E)? $25, or free through a sample ordering interface.)

I think I may or may not have sampled heavily during the dot-com era.  That was a time to do it.  Maybe I was just requesting free gimick ****, I don't remember.

One of the companies set up a fedex tracking number, so I guess they're serious.  But I am wondering what country they're sending it from...

[pex]

One of the companies set up a fedex tracking number, so I guess they're serious.  But I am wondering what country they're sending it from...

lol what are these assclowns doing



they have US distributors, is it really less expensive to ship me some chips internationally than it is to just pay your distribs to do it?

[pex]

So the destination is new-england/mid-atlantic area.  The package arrives in Newark, NJ, and instead of sending it up to where it needs to go, it arrives in a hub in Memphis, TN.

I'm starting to feel bad about all the waste I'm generating.  Maybe that's part of their cunning samples ordering plan for deterrence!

[pex]

my free samples have been delivered, yay

unfortunately (and of course I knew this before ordering, but it's the only type they seem to offer in sample) they are all surface mount ICs...going to be a pain for a soldernoob

and now i have to design a circuit too ((

i wonder if the other company is going to send me anything.  their samples interface was not cold, streamlined, and mechanical like this one was, and may involve a person reviewing my sample order.  they have not contacted me yet on my question or my order, so i dunno.

[pex]

in the alternative, i can glue the chip down and make cute little aluminum foil leads at different lengths that flare out

i thought i've seen chipholders before that hole a surface mount ic and space out the leads for other types of construction, but i don't recall the context  

edit: the chip package I use will either be an SOIC-26 or a 32-pin TQFP so i am searching for solutions now
this is absolutely not what i mean but it's interesting nonetheless as i try to find a solution:

http://www.proto-advantage.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2200011




check out the badass vids on this page
http://www.proto-advantage.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2210011
kinda cool

[pex]

my bios chip for my desktop is in a package like the kind i need
i wish i knew what the device was called, because terms like 'socket' and 'adapter' pull up 100+ dollar devices for programmers...

here's some tips forworking with SMDs
http://www.prc68.com/I/SMT.shtml
http://www.piclist.com/techref/smds.htm