Re: [misterhouse-users] Solution for ringing all phones based on Caller ID?

[Steve S. <st...@sw...>]

Chris,
   I must admit that I've been thinking of something very similar to this. 
However, I have a different twist and for a different reason.
   I have the Smart Car Sensor working with MH now, and both of our vehicles 
are monitored. As such, I am setting the $mh_occupancy variable based on if 
the cars are in the driveway, and if there's motion inside (neither car in 
driveway+motion = guest).
   My mother-in-law loves to find way to weasel her way into our house. Then 
she makes calls on our phone all day, some LD, and ignores our personal 
incoming calls, etc. So, I was thinking of wiring some relays so that if we 
are not home, the phones are disconnected (No dial tone), and DON'T announce 
CallerID. But there are some exceptions there as well...
   If we have a babysitter, they would need to be able to contact us, and 
answer the phone if WE called. So, I could have the relays triggered if I 
called from my cell phone, even if there were no cars in the driveway, etc.

   Where I think our projects would overlap is the next part... If I could 
filter the ring signal out of the phone line (Allow off-hook dial tone, allow 
answering, etc) so taht no phone will ring, even if the ringer is on, I would 
never know if a call came in, UNLESS the number was non-rejected, and MH 
itself would play a ring sound on the PA, announce the CallerID, Ring, etc.

   I've also thought of using a cheap phone system, and throwing that in the 
middle whenever we're not home, but bypassing it to rnig the phones directly 
if we are home... I just can't decide the best solution. I want callerID on 
the line, but not when the call comes into the system, only if it's allowed to 
pass through.

I could brainstorm on this all day (and sometimes do). :-)

Please chime in with ideas! :)

-- 
Steve Switzer
steve (at) switzerny (dot) org

Quoting Chris Hirsch <ch...@ba...>:

> Ok, I've had it with the telemarketers. I was wondering if anybody else 
> has any cheap solution that will ring the house phones based on the data 
> from Caller ID.
> 
> This is how I was thinking it would work. A module answers the incoming 
> call. It can see Caller ID and puts that out on a serial port. My 
> computer then parses the data, does a lookup and sees that its a friend 
> calling. It then tells the module to ring the phones (and puts the 
> Caller ID back into the phone lines) and I can then answer it. If the 
> computer doesn't recoginise the name then it will go to an answering 
> machine that is basically my spam box. Even better would be that if 
> somebody is calling from a different number than usual and the computer 
> doesn't know that number than can enter a special code that will allow 
> them to ring the phones.
> 
> So does anybody have any ideas on this? Please tell me its not hard :-) 
> I think the hardest (and probably most expensive) is the part that 
> re-rings the phones with Caller ID.
> 
> Thanks for the help!
> Chris
> 
> -- 
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