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m2m Machine to machine calls

I maintain wind data loggers distributed about the US and many are provisioned with cell network modems such that I can call them to both download data and manage the loggers if need be. My old cell phones behaved nearly exactly like a Hayes compatible land line modem. I connect a USB cable from the phone and it appears as a serial port to the Mac or PC. I run a terminal emulator, in this case ZTerm on the Mac, and then I issue the AT commands to call up the logger
I need to communicate with. I use the older circuit switched data (CSD) communication protocol. I would like to be able to do this with my iPhone.

I know this is very engineering centric and there may not be much call for it.

Iphone (Verizon), iOS 4

Posted on Feb 17, 2011 7:59 AM

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11 replies

Feb 17, 2011 10:16 AM in response to deggie

I started with Google. Not much there really. Thought Apple might want to weigh in. I'm not trying to evade tethering usage fees, I just need to call another modem. I have no doubt this is within the capability of the phone and of course it is perfectly legal. I thought maybe some developer would possibly be interested in this problem. I would pay a reasonable amount for an app to do this.

Feb 17, 2011 10:32 AM in response to wms25

wms25 wrote:
Thought Apple might want to weigh in.

They won't. For the most part, Apple personnel does not post hear. The few Apple employee's you will see are hosts of the forum and, as a rule, do not comment on products or feature enhancements.

I thought maybe some developer would possibly be interested in this problem. I would pay a reasonable amount for an app to do this.

This also won't happen. My understanding of the app developer agreement is that there are core functions that the Apps are not allowed to alter. Usage of the dock connector or BT for such purposes is one of these functions.

Feb 17, 2011 1:05 PM in response to wms25

A company called [Redpark|http://www.redpark.com/news.html] makes a serial adapter for iOS devices. They only supplied to OEMs until recently. However the only [non-OEM adapter available says it's for attaching to the serial ports on Cisco switches|http://www.redpark.com/shop.html] using the [Get Console|http://itunes.apple.com/app/get-console/id412067943?mt=8] app from the App Store. "Every" blogger and magazine writer was showing pictures of the other serial adapter that Redpark made (with a standard DB9 connector) and speculated on the numerous uses for such a devices, (i.e. specialized equipment such as yours and medical equipment.) But the only thing that appeared to the general public was this Cisco adapter. You'd want to contact Redpark to see what can be done for you.

Yes, there are several articles that show adapters for jailbroken devices. But the Redpark adapter and Get Console does not require you to jailbreak.

Feb 17, 2011 2:38 PM in response to Asatoran

Just followed your lead and spoke to Redpark. Very interesting devices they are manufacturing, but not applicable to what I am trying to do. Once again, I really just want the iPhone to act like a land line Hayes compatible modem. I can see where your thinking was going. Connect to the iPhone through Redparks serial cable to a USB serial adapter connected to my Mac. But that is all presumably unnecessary since I have a usb connection to the iphone through its doc connector already. Redpark confirmed that there serial solution was not what I am looking for.

Feb 17, 2011 3:46 PM in response to wms25

Sorry for the confusion. I'm re-reading your original post over carefully. You want to use your Mac to direct-dial your logging device. In that case, then no, you can't do that with modern cellphones. No cell phone carrier supports CSD anymore. (I don't know if current digital cellular protocols support CSD, but when the government mandated the retirement of analog cellular, I notice the carriers dropped any mention of CSD on their support sites and other publications.) So currently you can only do CSD on land lines AFAIK.

What other manufacturers have done for their remotely managed devices is to "upgrade" the modem to cellular capable modems. You may want to check with the logging device manufacturer to see if that is possible in your case. Often, it requires "replacement" rather than "upgrade", but may be your only choice if you want to use a direct cellular connection. For example, our alarm system has a cellular modem to dial the alarm company as a backup in case our internet connection goes down. When analog cellular was retired, the modem module had to be replaced since it was analog in addition to it using CSD. (Several hundred dollars! 😟 ) But the alarm company had to replace a bunch of modems on their end as well so it was not insignificant for them either.

Alternatively, if you can "upgrade" your equipment to use some sort of internet connection, then you can use whatever internet connection on your computer directly; tethered to cellphone, Wi-Fi, etc. Either way, you're "upgrading" the logging device, but an internet connection means you don't have to upgrade anything on your computer side.

Luck be with thee! 🙂

Feb 17, 2011 7:07 PM in response to Asatoran

You are correct in that the carriers (Verizon, ect) don't advertise CSD, but they grudgingly support it. I am still using CSDmaking machine to machine calls, I just have to use my 5 year old cell phone. When I bought my new iPhone, I thought somebody somewhere had done what it is I need to do. So I won't toss out that old LG VX3200 yet!

m2m Machine to machine calls

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