[VoIP] Questions about payphones (was Re: CAMA and UK billing)

[Jayson Smith]

Hi,

     Unfortunately, I'm in Louisville, KY, so not close enough to pick up.
His facility does sound like a neat place though!

     So what you're saying is, a standard four-wire phone cord would do the
trick as far as all phone service and coin relay control is concerned? So
could I have him just run a four-wire modular jack or plug, connecting all
relevant wires, and have all my bases covered?

     That's what I thought about initial deposit. So, have him set that to
five cents, so it never becomes an issue.
     How are you thinking of pulling this off in software? Will there be a
configuration file with rates and time limits specified? Or will an
extension need to call an application and specify what rate to charge for
how long, and if no application call is ever made, the call is free?
Jayson

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Rudholm" <mark at rudholm.com>
To: "Voice Over IP Tandem for Analog Switches" <voip at lists.ckts.info>
Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2007 2:09 AM
Subject: Re: [VoIP] Questions about payphones (was Re: CAMA and UK billing)


> Jayson Smith wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> >      I had a long chat with Phil tonight, and he does have some
available. I
> > think what I really want is just a standard payphone, not the panel type
he
> > has. He can get one of those for me though. It would save some shipping
> > charges also!
>
> Are you near enough to him to pick it up?  His facility is worth
> seeing.
>
> >      I have a few questions. Mark, in your design, do you envision your
coin
> > relay controlling device being used only for that purpose, or also
hooking
> > up to a source of telephone service, and having the payphone entirely
hooked
> > up to your device? If you don't understand, let me say it this way.
Would I
> > have a standard phone connection from the payphone which goes to a
Sipura,
> > IAXy, or other Asterisk-controlled phone service providing device, and
extra
> > wires going from the payphone to your proposed gizmo which would perform
> > coin relay control? Or would your gizmo hook up to the device providing
> > phone service, and also hook up to the payphone? The reason I'm asking
is,
> > I'd need to know how to tell Phil to set up the phone. He can put a
modular
> > plug on the phone so it can hook up to a standard phone jack, but
there's
> > the issue of the relay controlling wires to worry about.
>
> Well, the coin-relay control signal is sent to the payphone's Tip and
> Ground.  As long as the line coming out of the payphone has Tip, Ring,
> and Ground (Ground is customarily on the yellow wire) then it's fine.
>
> My intention is to create a small box that sits between the payphone
> and an FXS port.  This small box will either connect to the Asterisk
> box' USB port or parallel port (I haven't yet made up my mind).
>
> >      Also, how are you going to handle initial depositing, in the
absence of
> > an initial deposit test? Will you be looking for ground on the phone
after
> > the user dials a number, then returning money, and asking for money, or
will
> > you just ask for money, or return, then ask for money? It seems to me
that
> > if you just ask for money without returning first, anyone who put money
in
> > before dialing would just have that money wasted, or have to hang up in
> > order to get that money returned. As I understood what Phil told me, the
> > payphone puts ground on the line when it has received a
> > dipswitch-configurable amount of money, the initial deposit. This
contrasts
> > with what I'd earlier heard from phone phreak files talking about how
you
> > had to put a nickel in the phone in order to red box, because of the
ground
> > test.
>
> I think there are two tests, Coin Presence, and Initial Rate Deposit.
> Red boxing works with just one real nickel, so I think
> ACTS is just looking for Coin Presence, not Initial Rate Deposit.
> Red boxing doesn't work on local calls (that don't go through ACTS)
> so local calls would seem to be keyed off of a different test, the
> Initial Rate Deposit test.
>
> I've been suffering from a bout of busyness and lack of documentation
> lately, so I need to do some reading on these things, but it's really
> not important, since if you set the Initial Rate (those DIP switch
> settings Phil mentioned) to 5 cents, the Initial Rate and Coin
> Presence tests stop mattering.  All you have to do at that point is
> listen for the coin tones, since setting the Initial Rate to 5
> cents causes the phone to send coin tone for *any* coin deposit
> (since it's impossible to deposit less than 5 cents)
>
> So at that point, the ground-related Coin Presence and Initial
> Rate Deposit tests become unnecessary for our purposes.
>
> >      Sorry for such a long message, but I'd love to get these questions
> > answered.
>
> I hope I did that.  ...if not, you can try reaching me on CNET
> 377-0500.  I'm on Pacific Time and usually up until about 1:00 AM
>
> -Mark
> _______________________________________________
> VoIP mailing list
> VoIP at lists.ckts.info
> http://lists.ckts.info/mailman/listinfo/voip
> Project Web Page: http://www.ckts.info/