I’m building an interactive prop telephone for a phone booth in a British pub. Guests will dial fictional numbers to hear recordings, and staff will trigger incoming calls that play a recording when someone answers. Maybe we can add in a mystery that gets solved over multiple calls over time. One way to think of this project is as an escape room.
I have done this in the past by installing an arduino in an old payphone, but this time I thought of connecting the existing analog telephone to a Grandstream HT801 v2 and running Asterisk on a Raspberry Pi. Maybe build a small web interface to:
Upload and manage recordings.
Map fictional numbers to recordings.
Trigger calls and stop them.
Show whether the phone is idle, ringing, or answered.
Does this make sense or is there an easier way? A few questions:
What OS and Asterisk version would you recommend for a Raspberry Pi 4 with 2GB or 4GB RAM?
For a simple web page that triggers calls, selects recordings, and shows phone status, what is the easiest way to control Asterisk?
Are there existing open-source projects providing a similar interface?
Any pitfalls with the HT801 v2 for ringing, audio playback, or hangup detection?
All suggestions are very welcome. The idea at the end is that the staff can maintain and configure the numbers and recordings over time. I’m doing this for fun, not as a commercial project.
A few people have set up escape rooms that have different phones and clues involved with characters from the Maltise Falcon and that turns out to be a lot of fun!
I’m building an interactive prop telephone for a phone booth in a British pub. Guests will dial fictional numbers to hear recordings, and staff will trigger incoming calls that play a recording when someone answers. Maybe we can add in a mystery that gets solved over multiple calls over time. One way to think of this project is as an escape room.
I have done this in the past by installing an arduino in an old payphone, but this time I thought of connecting the existing analog telephone to a Grandstream HT801 v2 and running Asterisk on a Raspberry Pi. Maybe build a small web interface to:
Upload and manage recordings.
Map fictional numbers to recordings.
Trigger calls and stop them.
Show whether the phone is idle, ringing, or answered.
Does this make sense or is there an easier way? A few questions:
What OS and Asterisk version would you recommend for a Raspberry Pi 4 with 2GB or 4GB RAM?
For a simple web page that triggers calls, selects recordings, and shows phone status, what is the easiest way to control Asterisk?
Are there existing open-source projects providing a similar interface?
Any pitfalls with the HT801 v2 for ringing, audio playback, or hangup detection?
All suggestions are very welcome. The idea at the end is that the staff can maintain and configure the numbers and recordings over time. I’m doing this for fun, not as a commercial project.
Wow, that looks awesome. I appreciate the heads-up as none of my searching found this - I will give it a go and see if this fits the bill. Open to any other suggestions.
If you are new to the idea you can get an auto-configuring box or just put a URL into a grandstream you might already have and the Operator can set it up for you - what I love about this is that the Operator picks up the phone when you pick up, so you can use an early candlestick without a dial and she can transfer calls!
Wow, that looks awesome. I appreciate the heads-up as none of my searching found this - I will give it a go and see if this fits the bill. Open to any other suggestions.
Seems relevant – yet not posted it before on the forums – definitely Allison’s voice on several of these “VOCS Telephone System” destinations at the Meow Wolf exhibit in Denver
– definitely Allison’s voice on several of these “VOCS Telephone System” destinations at the Meow Wolf exhibit in Denver 