asterisk users - Feb 2013 - How to connect a POTS robo alert dialer to asterisk with email notification

Hello!

I'm totally new to the world of Asterisk, and so my apologies in advance if
my question has been asked before or is in the manual because I'm too new to
even know what to search for.

I own a property far-away that isn't inhabited year-round.  I want to come
up with a low-temperature alert system so I can be notified that there is
insufficient heat for whatever reason (e.g. failed boiler, or ... ?).  There are
some systems in the several hundreds of dollars price range that could either
hook up to my WIFI to a monitoring service (sometimes with monthly fees), or a
cell-phone based one that sends a text message.  Then there are inexpensive ones
for about $60 that can hook up to a plain old telephone jack and dial a number
with an automated voice to alert the receiver of the problem.  But I don't
want to buy phone service to this place just for this device.

So I'm wondering if I could buy an adapter of some sort with a phone port
and ethernet port.  An "ATA"?  But then I'm sure it'd need to
talk to some sort of VOIP service.  Where I live year-round I have an
underpowered build-your-own HTPC computer that stays on the internet all the
time and occasionally I access it remotely.  Perhaps I could install asterisk
there.  But then I have no idea.  Ultimately I want to get notified somehow
(e.g. email) that this phone dialer sent an alert.  Maybe this is more trouble
than its worth :-)

~ David

David Smiley wrote:
> Hello!
>
> I'm totally new to the world of Asterisk, and so my apologies in
advance if my question has been asked before or is in the manual because I'm
too new to even know what to search for.
>
> I own a property far-away that isn't inhabited year-round.  I want to
come up with a low-temperature alert system so I can be notified that there is
insufficient heat for whatever reason (e.g. failed boiler, or ... ?).  There are
some systems in the several hundreds of dollars price range that could either
hook up to my WIFI to a monitoring service (sometimes with monthly fees), or a
cell-phone based one that sends a text message.  Then there are inexpensive ones
for about $60 that can hook up to a plain old telephone jack and dial a number
with an automated voice to alert the receiver of the problem.  But I don't
want to buy phone service to this place just for this device.
>
> So I'm wondering if I could buy an adapter of some sort with a phone
port and ethernet port.  An "ATA"?  But then I'm sure it'd
need to talk to some sort of VOIP service.  Where I live year-round I have an
underpowered build-your-own HTPC computer that stays on the internet all the
time and occasionally I access it remotely.  Perhaps I could install asterisk
there.  But then I have no idea.  Ultimately I want to get notified somehow
(e.g. email) that this phone dialer sent an alert.  Maybe this is more trouble
than its worth :-)
>
> ~ David
Sounds like a nice application for an HP Thin Client, AstLinux and an FXS ATA
Even simpler would be an ATA and a VOIP service, though I don't think much
of SIP exposed to the Internet. I suppose since this will only be placing calls
from the ATA though.

What would you do IF there is an alert?Do you have someone who could respond
that is nearby and is able to fix whatever is wrong?


John Novack
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On Sat, 2013-02-02 at 18:36 -0500, David Smiley wrote:
> Hello!
> 
> I'm totally new to the world of Asterisk, and so my apologies in
advance if my question has been asked before or is in the manual because I'm
too new to even know what to search for.
> 
> I own a property far-away that isn't inhabited year-round.  I want to
come up with a low-temperature alert system so I can be notified that there is
insufficient heat for whatever reason (e.g. failed boiler, or ... ?).  There are
some systems in the several hundreds of dollars price range that could either
hook up to my WIFI to a monitoring service (sometimes with monthly fees), or a
cell-phone based one that sends a text message.  Then there are inexpensive ones
for about $60 that can hook up to a plain old telephone jack and dial a number
with an automated voice to alert the receiver of the problem.  But I don't
want to buy phone service to this place just for this device.
> 
> So I'm wondering if I could buy an adapter of some sort with a phone
port and ethernet port.  An "ATA"?  But then I'm sure it'd
need to talk to some sort of VOIP service.  Where I live year-round I have an
underpowered build-your-own HTPC computer that stays on the internet all the
time and occasionally I access it remotely.  Perhaps I could install asterisk
there.  But then I have no idea.  Ultimately I want to get notified somehow
(e.g. email) that this phone dialer sent an alert.  Maybe this is more trouble
than its worth :-)
> 
> ~ David
> --
Usually the problem with remote locations is the absence of (low cost)
internet connections.

If you have internet access to the property all year round, then get a
usb temperature monitoring dongle (there are several prices around 15-20
$) and find/write a script to query it every X amount of minutes and
send you a notification either by email or even sms using a (usually
free) email to sms gateway

Again if you have internet access you can put the monitor device that
has PSTN output to an ATA and have the ata register to an asterisk at
your home,so you won't need to pay monthly fees to a Voip provider.
That would require to setup a "permanent" asterisk server at your
"main"
house, but you could do it with VM image and avoid setting up a new PC
You then need to do some port forwarding in your router for ports 5060
(for the sip signaling)  and 10000-11000 for the RTP stream
Assuming you don't have static ip's in either place you will also need
to set up DynDNS so that the phone knows where to find asterisk

There are several other options but which one is best  depends on
budget, knowledge for hooking up the stuff and time it takes to do it :)

Stelios