chan_mobile - Features, Issues and Compatibility Lists

chan_mobile (used to be chan_cellphone) — Use Bluetooth cell / mobile phones as FXO devices. The official Homepage was http://www.chan-mobile.org (no longer available).

Asterisk Channel Driver to allow Bluetooth Cell/Mobile Phones to be used as FXO devices and Bluetooth Headsets as FXS devices

Features (Oct 2007)

Multiple cell phones can be connected (subject to some limitations – see Notes).
Multiple bluetooth adapters can be supported.
Asterisk automatically connects to each cell phone when it comes in range.
Command to discover bluetooth devices. Useful for configuration. Requires an unused bluetooth adapter.
Inbound calls to the cell phones are handled by Asterisk, just like inbound calls on a Zap channel.
Caller ID passed through on inbound calls.
Dial outbound on a cell phone using Dial(CELL/device/nnnnnnn) in the dialplan.
Use a Bluetooth Headset as extension using Dial(CELL/device) in the dialplan.
Application CellStatus can be used in the dialplan to see if a cell phone is connected.
Application MobileSMS to send SMS via a connected mobile phone
Supports devicestate for dialplan hinting.

Notes:

The above seems a bit out of date (24-11-2011). Branch 1.6 includes chan_mobile in Asterisk Addons, and from 1.8 onwards it is included in the main Asterisk source download (in the add-ons config menu)
FC6 bluez yum packages with latest updates will not work, see comment below
Some mobiles (Motorola V3 and K1) report themselves as a valid headset, but they do not work if you configure them as a headset in mobile.conf (not fully tested)
Not all mobiles with bluetooth profiles have all the features necessary for this channel to work. For example – Nokia E65 is not usable.
Each mobile “eats” one bluetooth adapter. Multiple mobiles cannot connect to the same adapter so if you want to connect multiple mobiles prepare to buy dongles by the basket.

SMS

In chan_mobile.c, you’ll see apps MobileSendSMS(device,dest,message), which allows you to send an SMS message via the dialplan, thru the bluetooth attached phone.

To get an SMS, you have to have a cellphone bluetooth attached, and capable of passing sms messages. When it reports to Asterisk via the bluetooth connection, that an SMS message was received, Asterisk will try to run the “sms” extension, with the channel variables SMSSRC and SMSTXT channel variables set to the appropriate values. In the dialplans you can turn this into an email, an announcement, a text-to-speech (via festival or Cepstral or whatever), or whatever your needs or imagination can supply.

I’ve asked around a while back, and the only phone capable of such sms capabilities was one running the Symbian OS.

Compatibility Lists

They are intended to share information about tested phones on this page.

USB Bluetooth Dongle, Hardware Compatibility List:

Please also mention unsupported dongles. It’s annoying to spend hours testing.

Note: Several dongles based on broadcom chipsets require the option force_scofix=1 to btusb to fix missing audio issues. This can be added to /etc/modules

**USB Bluetooth dongles**
Manufacturer	Chipset	Working	Comments
Acer BT600	Unknown	Y
Anycom CC3032 USB 200 Bluetooth 2.0 ED	Unknown	N
Belkin F8T013DE110M BT.USB AD.CLASS II	Unknown	N
Belkin F8T012DE110M BT.USB AD.CLASS I	Unknown	N
Belkin F8T012UK1 BT.USB AD.CLASS I	Unknown	N
Belkin B8T017 + EDR2.1	Broadcom Corp	Y	Audio over GSM and SIP
Billionton CardBus Bluetooth Adapter (Cambridge Silicon Radio)	CSR	Y	Working, reliable
Cirago BTA-6060	Unknown	Y	class 1, excellent range
Delock USB BT Adapter EDR	Unknown	Y
Integrated System Solution Corp. KY-BT100 Bluetooth Adapter	Unknown	Y	(but flooding syslog)
Logitech Bluetooth 2.0 EDR C-UV35	Unknown	N
Trust 2.0	Unknown	Y
Trust BT-2250p (0a5c:2101 Broadcom Corp. A-Link BlueUsbA2 Bluetooth)	Unknown	N	No sound (tested with force_scofix)
Typhoon	Unknown	Y
D-Link DBT-120	Unknown	Y
D-Link DBT-122	Unknown	N
Edimax EB-DGC1	Unknown	Y	(but flooding syslog)
MSI BToes Bluetooth PC2PC ver.254	Unknown	Y	(no voice, only send SMS)
MSI BToes 2.0 Bluetooth 3XFaster ver.476-CI	Unknown	Y
MSI BToes 2.0 EDR Micro Dongle	Unknown	Y	Voice + SMS
Asus WL-BTD201M	Unknown	N	No sound (tested with force_scofix)
Dell Wireless 350 (413c:8103 Dell Computer Corp. Wireless 350 Bluetooth)	CSR	Y
Noname (Gemini ???)	Accel Semiconductor Ltd	N
LogiLink BT0002	CSR	???
LogiLink BT0004 (1131:1004 Integrated System Solution Corp.)	Integrated System Solution Corp.	N
MSI BToes 2.0 EDR Micro Dongle (ERP: BT2-USB-020R) (0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode))	CSR	Y
STLab B-221	Broadcom Corp	N
Puhuixin Dongle PHX1124	Unknown	N
Targus USB Bluetooth® Adapter – Class 2 ACB10US	Broadcom Corp (0a5c:2100)	Y	SMS maybe not working. Need a phone which does.
Canyon CN-BTU4 (0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode))	CSR	Y
ASUS USB-BT21 (Broadcom BCM2046B1)	Broadcom 0a5c:4500	Y	Works with Voice, SMS not tested yet
ASUS USB-BT211	?	Y	Works with Voice, SMS not tested yet

To avoid flooding syslog read bug report http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6833#c2

Mobile phone, Hardware Compatibility List:

According to chan_mobile docs and talks on digium bug tracker https://issues.asterisk.org/jira/browse/ASTERISK-8668, these phones should support at least some features.

**Mobile phones**
Manufacturer	Firmware *	Hands free	Audio gateway	SMS send	SMS receive	Comments
Apple iPhone	1.13	?	N	?	?	Audio coupling is delayed (5 sec)
Apple iPhone	2.2	Y	Y	?	?	Audio coupling is delayed (5 sec)
Apple iPhone 3g	2.2.1	Y	Y	N	N	Seems to require Kernel 2.6.27+, as well as asterisk 1.6+
Apple iPhone 4s	5.1	Y	Y	N	N	Works with BToes 2.0 EDR micro dongle
Benq Siemens EF81	058	Y	Y	?	?	Working, reliable
HTC Desire (GSM)		N	N	N	N	Connection established but sound quality unusable. Cyanogenmod 7.0.3 Android 2.3.3
LG CU500		?	?	?	?	Working
LG KG800 (chocolate)		?	?	?	?	Working
LG Optimus Spirit LG-P690f		Y	Y	N	N	Working
LG TU500		?	?	?	?	Working
Motorola Dext		Y	Y	N	N	Works. Cyanogenmod 7.1.0 Android 2.3.4
Motorola V195		?	?	?	?	Working
Motorola L6		?	?	?	?	Working
Motorola L7		?	?	?	?	Working
Motorola V3		?	?	?	?	Working
Motorola V3re (V3 edge?)		Y	Y	N	N	Working, blackberry=yes port=7
Nokia 2700		Y	Y	N	N	Working. Needs about 30-60 sec. for BT reconnect after a call.
Nokia 2730 Classic		Y	Y	N	N	Working
Nokia 5000-d2		Y	Y	N	N	Working
Nokia 5200		?	?	?	?	Working
Nokia 5230		Y	Y	N	N	Working
Nokia 5310 XpressMusic		Y	Y	N	N	Working
Nokia 6021		?	?	?	?	Working
Nokia 6102i		?	?	?	?	Working
Nokia 6111		?	?	?	?	Working
Nokia 6131		Y	Y	Y	Y	Working
Nokia 6230i		?	Y	Y	?	Working
Nokia 6233		?	?	?	?	Working
Nokia 6234		?	?	?	?	Working
Nokia 6230i		Y	Y	Y	Y	Working
Nokia 6280		Y	Y	N	N	(Tested with Cambridge Silicon Radio – BlueCore02 Chip)
Nokia 6306i classic	07.10	Y	Y	N	N	Reliable. Perfect audio quality.
Nokia 6310i	5.10	?	?	?	?	Outgoing calls ok, incoming intermittent
Nokia 6310i	5.50	?	Y	Y	?	Working
Nokia 6600		?	?	?	?	Working
Nokia 6680		N	N	N	N	Not Working
Nokia 6830		?	?	?	?	Working
Nokia 7390	04.51	?	Y	?	?	Working
Nokia 7600		?	?	?	?	Working
Nokia 7610		?	?	?	?	Working
Nokia C1		Y	Y	N	N	Good call quality
Nokia E5-00		Y	Y	N	N	Working
Nokia E51		?	?	?	?
Nokia E61		?	?	?	?	Working
Nokia E65		Y	Y	?	?	Working
Nokia E60		?	Y	N	N	Working Voice
Nokia 6500c		?	N	N	N
Nokia 9300i		?	N	N	N
Nokia E70		?	?	?	?	Working
Nokia E72		?	Y	N	N	Working with Voice, CallerId(Name) shows mobile registration info
Nokia N80		?	?	?	?	Working
Nokia N95		Y	Y	N	N	Working
Nokia N96		Y	Y	N	N	Working on first call. BT does not reconnect after first call.
Palm Treo 650		?	?	?	?
Palm Centro (US GSM)	G.R01.12	?	?	N	N	Working, though no caller ID, no SMS
RIM Blackberry 7250		?	?	?	?	Working
RIM Blackberry Curve 8900		N	N	N	N	Very difficult to pair and has repetitive initialisation errors and disconnects within Asterisk using MSI BToes 2.0 EDR Micro Dongle
Samsung Galaxy S III GT-I9300		Y	Y	N	N	Distorted audio on Android version < 4.3
Samsung Galaxy S II GT-I9100		Y	Y	N	N	Distorted audio on Android version > 2.3.6, may need to disable/enable bluetooth to connect.
Samsung Nexus S		N	N	N	N	Connection established but sound quality unworkable. Cyanogenmod 9 Android 4.0.1
Samsung S5570 Galaxy Mini		Y	Y	N	N	Works. Android 2.3.4
Samsung SGH-E630		?	?	?	?	Working
Samsung SGH-E720		Y	Y	N	N	Working, Only voice, NOT SMS
Samsung SGH-L700		Y	Y	N	N
Samsung SGH-A707 (sync)		Y	Y	N	N	Working, Only voice, NOT SMS
Samsung SGH-X820		Y	Y	N	N	Unless you reboot phone after enabling bluetooth, outgoing calls won’t work (phone ignores ATD command)
Samsung S3030		Y	Y	N	N	Incomming calls and outgoing calls work but have a voice delay of 3 sec not useable.
Sony Ericsson K series K700i, K810i etc		?	?	?	?	Working
Sony Ericsson K750i		Y	Y	N	N
Sony Ericsson P series P800, P900 etc		?	?	?	?	Working
Sony Ericsson P990i	R9GA001, R5A01	?	Y	N	?	Working
Sony Ericsson T series T68(i), T3x0, T6x0 etc		?	?	?	?	Working
Sony Ericsson T630		N	N	N	N	Pairs OK, but has repetitive initialisation errors and disconnects within Asterisk using MSI BToes 2.0 EDR Micro Dongle
Sony Ericsson V series v600i etc		?	?	?	?	Working
Sony Ericsson T303		?	N	N	N
Sony Ericsson W300i		?	?	?	?	Working
Sony Ericsson W810i		?	Y	N	N	Working, Only voice, NOT SMS
VK 2020		?	?	?	?	Working
ZTE Racer (Android 2.3 CyanogenMod rom)		N	N	N	N	Phone connects OK to Asterisk and sends call correctly through bluetooth – but sound quality is unacceptable. No SMS support according to Asterisk

To find the firmware version enter *#0000# and press send (Nokia phones)
For SonyEricsson press >*<<*<*
“<=left move on joystick”
“>=right joystick move….”
“then service info > SW information”

Phones which Support All Features

Nokia 6021
Nokia 6230i
Nokia E51

By now are known to support all features. Other phones may support voice but not support SMS, or support sending SMS, but not receiving (as Nokia 6131).

Phones with Partial Support

According to chan_mobile docs and talks on digium bug tracker https://issues.asterisk.org/jira/browse/ASTERISK-8668, these phones should support at least some features.

Benq Siemens EF81 (sms untested)
LG TU500 – Working
LG CU500 – Working
LG KG800 ( chocolate ) – Working
Samsung SGH-E720 [x] Voice [ ] SMS

It is intended to test as much phones as possible, give them rating and post results here.

Checklist

Before you try to use this channel driver, please check the following requirements:

You need to use asterisk trunk from svn, otherwise you’ll need to do some patching (I believe this is not applicable anymore – 24-11-2011 – xj25vm)
It is critical to use recent bluez-libs, either compiled from source http://www.bluez.org/, or you have to use recent distro. Ubuntu 7.10 is reported to work, others with bluez-libs >= 3.19 should work as well
Check if your phone is supported in list above. In case your phone is supported, check if it has recent firmware. For Nokia phones, firmware revision is showed upon typing *#0000#.
Check if your bluetooth dongle has CSR chipset (lsusb -v), this is known to work. Some bluetooth dongles just suck.

Known Issues:

Sometimes changing SIM card helps to solve a problem of routing bluetooth voice channel to Asterisk during incoming calls (voice goes to phone speaker).
Many Nokia phones disconnect the bluetooth connection at the end of the call. This seems to be known behaviour, and a bug has been submitted (and closed) here: https://issues.asterisk.org/view.php?id=10824 See the last 2-3 entries in the bug report. I’ve set “interval=5” under “general” section in chan_mobile.conf, to at least get the mobile reconnected as soon as possible. Not sure if using such a short bluetooth scan interval has adverse effects on anything else.