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Tin Can, a 'landline' for kids

Tin Can, a 'landline' for kids

tejohnso

Comments (115)

  • ripplefringe
    A year ago, I got my 8 y/o a landline (we used Ooma). It has been absolutely wonderful.By far the best thing is that he makes his own playdates. I'm not the middleman anymore. He just makes plans and asks me if it's ok. And if his friend doesn't have a landline, I let him call their parent. It surprises them, but when he leaves a message, they love it. He's definitely had more time with friends because of it.Another funny thing was he complained about writing a thank you note, so we said "OK, the alternative is that you have to call them". He called them, had a nice conversation, and thanked them. Honestly, it was better than a thank you note.It's been one of the best purchases we're made. I feel some hope this will delay the eventual begging for a smart phone because he's able to do the most critical thing, connect with friends.
  • bit_logic
    Why does it seem like many parents are unaware that a hand me down iPhone can be heavily locked down with screen time settings? A list of things you can do:- allowed list of apps, can reduce it to just phone, imessage, and utilities like weather app- effectively permanent downtime, just set the end time less than start time such as 3:00 am to 2:59 am (technically 1 minute of non downtime). This blocks apps except for the allowed apps- disable installing apps from app store- disable adding new contacts and block calls and messages not in contact list. This allows parent to control who the phone can be used to contact- none of these settings can be changed without the screen time pin- also configure the phone with a minor apple account and add to your family group so you can monitor and control screen time settings from your phone.So start with a super locked down phone that can only be used to communicate with parents. This is very helpful when they start after school sports. And the phone is so locked down they don't really have any interest in it.Later when they're older start allowing communication with friends from school. But still only phone and imessage, no other apps. This reinforces that it's a communication device, not for endless scrolling and watching videos.
  • greesil
    I was thinking of doing something like this for text with LoRa. But, having kids I don't have time to do that. This seems really great!I read the previous discussion, oof:S04dKHzrKT wroteMake note of the privacy policy[1]. Some users may not like the data they collect. > Information Collected from Children: As detailed in Section 3.C, we collect voice audio during calls, call log information, and utilize the Parent-provided contact list in relation to the Child's use of the Tin Can Device. We may also collect device identifiers and technical usage data related to the Service.[1]: https://tincan.kids/policies/privacy-policy
  • semi-extrinsic
    I "made" something like this 7-8 years ago for our first kid. When I say "made" I mean I bought a "fixed wireless terminal" for $40 on eBay, a classic landline phone for $30, and a cell phone subscription for kids ($5/month). Then I connected the parts, and voila, we had a landline for kids.Obvious benefits include low cost, full interop with all other phones, and having the kids learn our phone numbers by heart after punching them many times.
  • shykes
    I'm a happy Tin Can customer. For young children (5 and 7 in my case) it's especially delightful to give them a measure of autonomy, at an age where they don't yet have a mobile phone. They get to call their friends and family on their own terms, without any safety or "screen time" concerns.It's especially fun to watch them discover the very concept of a landline: the keypad (they thought it was a pin code); the dial tone; the memorizing and writing down of phone numbers.5/5 highly recommended.
  • alexchengyuli
    Funny enough, China already ran this experiment. Kids' smartwatches started as call-only devices for safety. Then they added friend lists, status updates, like counts, popularity rankings. Little Genius now has 48% of the global kids' smartwatch market [1]. Kids delete real-life friends for not having enough likes on the watch. Once a device enters a kid's social life, there's no market incentive to keep it simple.[1] https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3328227/move-o...
  • pqs
    Why not using the actual land line? I still have one. My 13 year old son, who has no phone, uses it and it works. I'm just curious.
  • SoftTalker
    > Alarmingly, some Gen Zers don't say "hello" when they answer a phone call; they expect the caller to just start talking.I'm an older Gen-X and I've stopped doing this unless I recognize the caller. I'm not going to give a scammer anything to build a voice print on. I also use the stock greeting for voicemail instead of a personal one.
  • digital_af
    If you live in Germany and have a Fritz!Box router, you can just buy a second old-ish Fritz!Box and a simple landline phone (from the likes of eBay, Kleinanzeigen...) and hook them up via WiFi.Voilà, telephone service as it used to be. No proprietary payphone with questionable ToS and privacy policies needed.
  • gnabgib
    Discussion (197 points, 8 months ago, 132 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44587018
  • 0xbadcafebee
    For the nerdy who might want to set up their own similar system for their kids, and let their kids pick any landline phone they want, you can get an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter) on eBay for cheap, then connect it to a Raspberry Pi with Asterisk, and any VOIP provider, to make your own PBX. (https://www.littlebytesofpi.com/raspberrypihomephone/)
  • aaronharnly
    I have a Tin Can for my 8 year old – it is terrific and he loves it. He can call friends, grandparents, and his cousins; it is more reliable than the DIY version I was cobbling together with a Pi and some Legos; and my spouse or parents can supervise or update it too.
  • sharkweek
    We got one of these for our elementary-aged kids because it took off in our network of families at their school.It’s so fun watching them talk to their buddies from school, planning play dates, just chitchatting etc. My favorite thing is when they prank call one another, cracks me up.Maybe the novelty wears off soon but for at least the last month or so they’ve used it every day. It feels like it gives them a bit of autonomy they’re seeking right now at their ages, but in a relatively safe way.Highly recommend it.
  • pcblues
    This is a nice idea, because it physically limits the place the child can call from. Even a very under-powered phone sets them free.However, a new severely under-powered phone with no graphics or apps would probably meet the requirements of not being sucked into the grown-up world too early, and the kids can maintain their own contact lists.And they'll grow super-fast thumbs like we had to in order to text :)They cost about $50 but are still 4G.
  • kleiba
    > she's found another way to put off getting her [8-year-old] daughter a cellphoneI don't live in the US but my child, who is 9, does not have a cell phone nor does any of his school mates. They "chat" when they see each other in school, or when they hang out together to play after school.
  • quijoteuniv
    I like the idea. We tried with licence free walkie talkies, but it did not catch on. What it worked is the xplora watches. Only approved contacts and we can also contact our kids and check GPS position . They are a bit buggy sometimes but mostly fine
  • philips
    I am working on a similar project. I have something working for my own needs and a few other families already but a long road to go before making something GA.You can waitlist at https://havenphone.com if you are interested.There were three major things I wanted to do differently from Tin Can:- I wanted to use off the shelf VOIP hardware so if the company ever went out of business I (and any of my users) had an escape valve or could just sell the hardware.- I wanted to have a code base I could open source. (not open source, yet!)- I wanted flexibility to offer ATAs (devices that let you connect any ol' "analog" phone)- some of my parent friends wanted cordless "DACT" phones, interestingly.It has been quite an adventure entering the world of VOIP.The SIP protocol has so many esoteric options (understandably given its history!) it could make TLS look simple.My most recent learning is this crazy protocol called TR-069 that ISPs use to configure endpoint hardware like home routers, cable modems, and VOIP phones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TR-069Also, interestingly every cheap (sub-$50) phone and ATA I have tried has a built-in OpenVPN clients.Oh, and one more interesting thing Grandstream ATAs are able to be taken over by the Grandstream cloud service by just providing the ATA serial number and mac address on the back of the device- I did not love that workflow when considering long-term security. (:If you have $50 and some time to kill you can do it all yourself right now. In voip.ms you can use the phone book and the caller id filter to create a "*" hang-up rule and an "allow phone book" rule.- https://major.io/p/85-cents-home-phone/- https://www.voipsupply.com/fanvil-h3w-wifi-hotel-ip-phone-wh...- https://www.voipsupply.com/fanvil-h2u-black-hotel-phone-v2- https://www.voipsupply.com/grandstream-ht801-v2-ata
  • Tepix
    This seems to be begging for a DIY project, doesn't it?A 3d printed case, a little SoC, perhaps a Raspberry Pi Zero, as the brains with asterisk and some additional open source software providing a web interface running on it.
  • AnotherGoodName
    >some gen Xers don't say hello..That's entirely pragmatic in this data collecting age. Being silent and hanging up as soon as you hear the spam won't get you marked as a phone line that has a human on the other end nor do you risk your voice being recorded. If you're silly enough to say your name when answering you'll just end up with text and email that is now personalised with your name (it's much faster to identify and hang up when their best intro is to say "hello who am i speaking to?" on a single person line click).I don't know anyone in my age bracket (45) who doesn't do this let alone those younger. It's entirely understood and expected. Fuck anyone who says it's rude and those of an age particularly prone to falling for scams (70+ and 15under) should be encouraged to do this. You should be telling your kids "never say anything on picking up, let the caller to your phone identify themselves! They could be scammers trying to get your details such as your name".I feel all these "OMG the kids don't say hello anymore they have no etiquette!!!" statements are either from the clueless or from spammers frustrated that it's much harder to get through if you don't know their name.
  • utopiah
    Most of those "ideas" are basically :- take a phone, remove features, package with bright colors, profit (or VC then profit, maybe).Sadly a lot of those aren't recycling old gadgets, they are just making new ones and block features, lock down in their own "store", etc. I think it's actually quite terrible.
  • galaxyLogic
    Wonderful idea. The kid can call their friend "Let's meet outside". Then they go outside and (must) leave the phone at home. They use the phone to organize no-phone time together. Might be good for adults too.For instance my boss couldn't call me while I'm out and about. What you expect me to carry my landline with me?
  • Daneel_
  • apparent
    > There's also a free plan where Tin Can users can call only other Tin Can users.So you have to pay a monthly subscription for this, in addition to $75 for each phone, if you want to talk with anyone outside of their walled garden?
  • anon
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  • zabzonk
    Somewhat OT:It is actually amazing how far with a couple of tin cans, greaseproof paper taped around one end, and string attached to the paper. You are not going to do VOIP, but 50 yards is possible.Even more OT:One Xmas my Dad (unredeemable gadget freak, early adopter of the TRS80) gave me and my little bro two wired handsets with batteries and a ringer. We wired up brother's bedroom to living room, but soon realised our horrible mistake:[ring, ring]"Can I have a glass of water?"[ring, ring]"Can I have a glass of water?"It lasted less than a day.We also had a similar setup that did morse code, that was much less intrusive, not least because me and my little bro did not know morse, except for SOS.
  • Markoff
    I fail to see any benefit over:1. dumb phone with fixed dial contacts2. properly set smartphone which can be used as dumb phone with restricted contacts and no app install allowed, apps screen time limited to zero or heck even browser disabled in guest profile3. kids smartwatch with parental controls which limit who they can call and who can call and message them, I'm just working on one of these and it's great even for seniorsIf you don't like kid having wearable with them I have shocking news for you - you can leave all of the above at home!Btw. kids nowadays don't really call each other, they text (IM) each other. And for the record I am one of those few parents who didn't give phone/tablet to their toddlers hands like majority of people do wheever they are (public transport, car, waiting room, etc.), my older elementary school kid has "dumb" phone (my old Symbian Nokia, but he use it only for calls/SMS anyway, though I will probably switch to restricted smartphone since it's inconvenient even for me not being able to send whatsapp message, battery is crap and classmates have whatsapp as well), my younger elementary school kid doesn't have anything, but when she goes outside alone she takes Motorola walkie talkie with roughly 0.5-1km range in city.edit: related call scene from Fight Club how Tyler properly answers the phone (not answering but calling back and his first response is "Who is this?"):https://youtu.be/tlw677Une_Q?si=xj3Sce9RdQ-_UfZP&t=85
  • bitwize
    This is the ultimate "parents think it's great, kids will think it's lame" product. I mean, I like it. And just the name conjures images of GenXers yelling at clouds on TikTok about how they used to use tin cans or Solo cups connected with string to talk to their friends, so it's clear who they're targeting with the marketing. But if I were 11-13yo and I got this when all my friends got an iPhone? I'd be furious.But I dunno. Kids being what they are, seem to be developing curiosity about "retro tech". So maybe there's some sort of whiplash effect occurring among them.