Make phone calls over GPRS without Phone Edition OS

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lonifasiko
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Lonifasiko

Hi group,

I want my iPAQ h5500 device with PPC2003 OS, to make voice calls.
I've read some posts where it is said that you need PPC Phone Edition
or SmartPhone platform in order to make phone calls. I was trying with
OpenNETCF.Phone.Phone class from SDF 2.0 Beta 1. The error message is
that "phone.dll" is not found, that's why I've done a little research
and have seen that phone.dll only comes with Phone Edition or
Smartphone. It was just just to confirm.

My iPAQ has got a jacket and inserting a PRETEC GPRS CF card, I've got
a software from PRETEC with which I'm able to make phone calls without
problems. So, can I make phone calls with this device from code? I've
also tried to initialize GPRS and then call using same method, but the
problem is the same: phone.dll is missing in my device. Maybe need to
install something more in the device? As you see, I'm quite lost in
these communication issues. I've got another two devices with Windows
Mobile 2003 SE. What do I exactly need? My application MUST make at
least emergency calls. The problem is I don't know how :(

Thanks very much in advance.
 
The driver for that external GPRS device would have to provide the API.
You'll have to contact the guys making the card.

Paul T.
 
Thanks Paul for the info.

I understand the unique way for making calls from my PPC would be
PRETEC providing me access to their API (I suppose C++), and me
P/invoking from my managed code functions inside the API. Correct?

Therefore, in order to make calls from a non Phone Edition PPC, you
always have to access the API of the driver giving you GPRS/GSM
functionality? Isn't there any common and standar way for making calls?

Thanks in advance.
 
I've also read something talking about Alex Feinman's TAPI wrapper. Is
hier Phone Edition also needed?
I've downloaded TAPI but I'm having problems with compilation. Also
read that TAPI does not work with CF 2.0.
Could somebody explain me what is the real purpose of TAPI?

For talking to my GPRS Modem CF card, I would need something to connect
to COMx port and then talk to it sending "AT" commands and so on, like
a normal modem? Would I be able to make a phone call this way?

Thanks very much.
 
Hi again,

PRETEC has sent me a large document with all AT possible commands for
Sagem modems.
I've also detected that the CF card is located at COM4.

Therefore, is correct if I try to connect to COM4 like if it was a
serial device and I send an AT command to see if the modem answers me?
If not, what should I do? Seems like PRETEC don't want to give me
access to their API? If they would give me the function name and DLL
name they use to make calls, would be perfect. I suppose they use a DLL
that I could P/invoke without problems.

Thanks very much.
 
This is all specific to this particular card, so I can't answer in general.
If they're unwilling to tell you, use someone else. You don't need the
frustration of trying to pry information out of unwilling hands.

Paul T.
 
Since the manufacturer gave you a list of AT commands, I would assume this
GPRS card appears to the system as a modem (some appear as network cards).
Therefore, it is correct to open up the COM port, send AT commands and read
the responses. You don't need a special API to do this, just the ability to
write to and read from the COM port. I haven't done much of that in .NET,
only in eVC++, but I understand there is support for serial comms in .NET CF
v2.0. I imagine there is 3rd party support for doing this in .NET CF v1.0
too (maybe OpenNETCF?).

Refer to the entry in the manufacturer's documentation for ATD to see how to
set up a voice call. On the GPRS modules I have worked with, you send ATD
followed by the number followed by a semi-colon. The semi-colon tells the
modem you want to make a voice call rather than a data/fax call. Send ATH to
hang up.

Hope that helps,
Darren
 
Tried the CF card with a PCMCIA adapter in a laptop with HyperTerminal
and the comunication with AT commands was successfull. I was able to
make data and voice calls without problems.

Now I have to do it in my CF 2.0 code in my PPC. Card appears in COM4
and I've tried with SerialPort component using same configuration
parameters as HyperTerminal but it does not work. I think it's related
to delay between characters, RTS and DTR flags enabling, EOF character
or something similar.Must be a trivial problem but had no time to see
it more in detail.

Has anybody got any example of how to communicate with a modem using AT
over SerialPort component in CF 2.0? Just in case ;-)

Thanks very much.
 
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