HomeSeer Phone First Look
By Rick LaBanca 8/21/00 Page 2

HomeSeer phone can work as an answering machine, remote voice or touch tone controller, or dialer. Minimally it would have to be able to answer an outside call. But to control HomeSeer from inside your house requires the Black Box (my name, it doesn't really have a name yet!)

How it works is simple. Pick up a phone in your house and hear the normal dial tone. Press # and the box will send a ring to your modem. Then HomeSeer phone can pick up the line and you're in control! Voice commands work exceptionally well this way. When you're done, homeseer releases the line.

How it hooks up is pretty simple... one picture is worth a thousand words. Well, three pics and some blurbs.

On normal use, the lines are connected, all phones in the house and the modem so it can hear rings and dial out.
When the modem answers, the box connect just the two. If you pick up the in house handsets, you'll get a busy-ish sounding signal. Changes to the box will allow you to "flash" your phone's switchhook to grab the call.
When you press # to control seer, the phones in the house connect to the modem.

The box uses an RJ31X jack. This connects in series with your phone line. Then the box plugs into it, and the modem into the box. An RJ31X jack is special in that it connects the two sides if nothing is plugged into it. These are often used for alarm dialers I'm told. My particular box is jury rigged with two RJ11's wired for testing purposes. Here's what it looks like, and yes I had to take it apart! Notice no wall wart needed, the supply is inside, your power strip will thank you.

The black cable is AC, the thick yellow is to the RJ31X, and the jack is an RJ11.

The box works very well and is solidly built. Pressing # on any in house phone rings the modem, and you hear a ring. To let the software know that it's your house phones and not a normal caller, it sends a distinctive ring. The phone company offers alternate phone numbers that dial the same number but ring a different pattern. Many modems can tell the difference between them, and HomeSeer Phone uses this capability.

For HomeSeer Phone, the box sends a "ring-ring" (two short rings). A very smart idea for identifying. Even if your modem can't detect the rings you can still use the box, HomeSeer Phone will just answer it like an outside call. From there you can press your touch-tone access code to begin controlling.

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