I've noticed on all the cordless phone sets I've ever had there are several exposed solder pads either on the base station, the phone, or both. I've read about the IM-ME, and how there were pads there that were used to reprogram the device and to do lots of fun stuff (open garage doors, use as a frequency analyzer, etc...). I was wondering if the pads on cordless phones could be used to the same effect, or, if not, what their purpose is. I don't have any particular projects needing a phone, but modern cordless phones are on the same frequencies as wifi, so maybe a wifi jammer would be a possibility? I don't think you would be able to use one to connect to wifi, because they probably are not on the same bands, but I'm sure I could find some use for a reprogrammable wireless phone.
You mean the contacts between the handset and the base that allow the handset battery to charge? No programmability there.
It's unlikely - but not impossible - to hack a phone to do any of those things. The phone manufacturers get no benefit out of making their product hackable and in some cases the FCC regulations specify some pretty tight controls that lock you out of doing those things.
No, there are usually more of them and I've found them on the back of the base stations and in the battery packs of the handsets. I'm having trouble attaching images so I'll put the links to them below.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0ThUaSxk5qZZVFMWS1VNWd5UDQ/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0ThUaSxk5qZQkFsM2U0dFUwT2s/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0ThUaSxk5qZNzVIekxZMmxsNFk/view?usp=sharing
the last one was disassembled and the pins that I could see from the battery pack were the six above "rx tx vss vbat." I'm guessing vss might be base station power and vbat is battery power, but why would they even have pins like these in the first place?
Hex4d617474:
I'm guessing vss might be base station power and vbat is battery power, but why would they even have pins like these in the first place?
Those pads look very promising.
Vss is usually ground.
If you have a logic analyzer you could monitor the tx pad. I don't know what sort of information it would be sending on the tx, but it would be interesting to see.
Yes, I have a logic analyzer, the Open Bench logic sniffer by dangerous prototypes. Do you think that would work? I just got it recently and haven't really had time to familiarize myself with its operation.
Hex4d617474:
Yes, I have a logic analyzer, the Open Bench logic sniffer by dangerous prototypes. Do you think that would work?
You could try. The TX line might output data. You should try monitoring the line while dialing and receiving a call. Maybe there will be caller ID information?
I've been pleasantly surprised how many times I've been able to find "tx" pads on a PCB which would output data.
Okay. Yeah, it would be interesting to see what data comes out. As of now I think I will have to wait a while for a new battery to come, then I'll see what I can find