[HN Gopher] Tin Can - The landline, reinvented for kids
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Tin Can - The landline, reinvented for kids
Author : derwiki
Score : 85 points
Date : 2025-07-16 21:33 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (tincan.kids)
(TXT) w3m dump (tincan.kids)
| clutch89 wrote:
| Love everything about this!
| actionfromafar wrote:
| Incredible
| floren wrote:
| Highly, highly, highly recommend you enable 911 calls by default
| on all plans -- let parents disable it if they want. Cell phones
| do this, even without a SIM card. Don't gate safety for $9.99/mo.
|
| Edit: "The FCC requires that providers of interconnected VoIP
| telephone services using the Public Switched Telephone Network
| (PSTN) meet Enhanced 911 (E911) obligations."
| https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/voip-and-911-service
|
| Also "911 Services: Providers of "interconnected" VoIP services -
| which allow users generally to make calls to and receive calls
| from the regular telephone network - do have 911 service
| obligations" https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/voice-over-
| internet-pro...
| ars wrote:
| Is it possible to call 911 from a phone that doesn't have an
| incoming phone number assigned?
| turnsout wrote:
| Yes, because you can pull the SIM card out of a cellphone and
| dial 911.
| tiagod wrote:
| As far as I know, you can even call 911 with a SIM card on
| but no service to your network. It will just use another
| network.
| lucaslazarus wrote:
| Yes, because cell phones can do it even without a SIM card
| davideg wrote:
| This is a really good point, though E911 probably costs the
| provider something. I wonder if they could offer 911 support at
| actual cost ($1-2/month).
| eterm wrote:
| > probably costs the provider something
|
| Yes, So what? Eat the cost.
|
| Any life saved was worth it.
| winstonewert wrote:
| Then I'm sure you're willing to donate the cash to make it
| happen.
| __float wrote:
| This _should_ be such an infrequent occurrence that the
| cost should be negligible. Surely their $10 /month plan
| has enough margin that this can be covered?
| wizzwizz4 wrote:
| Donate my time and services? Sure.
|
| Donate the cash? To a _business_? ... So, you mean,
| paying someone else 's profit margin, while they hold
| lives hostage? Immanuel Kant says you don't negotiate
| with terrorists.
| neilv wrote:
| Yeah, that jumped out at me. If you're doing something that
| looks like a phone, _just do 911, always, even if you 're
| losing money by doing that_.
| turnsout wrote:
| It's not arbitrary--if you look at your cellphone bill, there's
| a tax for 911 access. They could probably offer a cheaper plan
| with just 911, but they can't make it free. But I think $9.99
| is fair all things considered.
|
| I'm not sure I see the safety issue. My 7 year-old currently
| doesn't have the ability to dial 911 without an adult's
| cellphone. If I give them a Tin Can that has no 911, they are
| no more or less safe than they were before.
| ars wrote:
| > they are no more or less safe than they were before.
|
| I disagree. They _think_ they can call 911 from it, so in an
| emergency they will try that, and fail, and try again
| (because things fail all the time in today 's world), wasting
| a ton of time.
|
| Without this device they would try some other plan, maybe go
| outside and scream for a passerby to help.
| J_McQuade wrote:
| I kinda get why they think they don't want to enable this, but
| when I was a kid I once called 999 (in the UK) as a joke and
| let me tell you it was only once. My friends and I were there
| in the room watching films that we shouldn't and the uniformed
| and kitted-out Constables turned up and gave us an incredibly
| stern dressing-down about 30 minutes later.
|
| Luckily, I am in the UK where a bunch of 12 year olds who've
| just watched Scream calling the police about shadows doesn't
| result in something getting shot, but still - I think I learned
| something about actions and consequences that day.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Way back when, my toddler loved to play with the cordless
| phone, and just happened to be able to dial 911. a lot. We'd
| realize a connection was made but not who was on the other
| end and just hang up. Eventually, 911 called back inquiring
| why so many hang ups and if someone needed help. I was
| surprised they took our explanation without dispatching
| someone to follow up. Maybe that's different now as I know my
| city has a policy of all calls require a follow up even if
| it's hours to next day later when they know it's not an
| emergency
| gerdesj wrote:
| What is bloody annoying is that you can't even test 999. When
| you set up a PBX it would be nice to know that it would work
| via the obvious way of actually calling it.
|
| Surely it would be possible to create a test version which
| gets terminated by a computer instead of hassling an operator
| - you could send DTMF codes or something similar to indicate
| a test.
|
| I suspect that there is a little more to your story. Probably
| that the fuzz had some spare capacity at the time and decided
| to do an educational exercise on you lot - which worked
| nicely. Nowadays you hear about all sorts of daft 999 calls -
| there is a TV programme about it.
|
| Now we are moving into the SOGEA era in the UK. That's where
| we have "glass" phone lines (FTTP) that don't supply power
| but have jolly fast internets. 2025 is the year that the
| copper network gets shut down, except that it wont be! Oh and
| we will all be using VOIP ie SIP n RTP. The final pretense of
| circuit switching will trot off into the sunset and be
| bundled behind a green tent and a single shot will be heard.
| ocdtrekkie wrote:
| I would be surprised if you got in trouble for occasionally
| calling emergency services to clearly communicate you were
| testing if it works. During normal operations they should
| have extra capacity and they presumably also would like you
| to be confident you can reach emergency services in an
| emergency.
| ortusdux wrote:
| I vaguely recall that there was a time when cellphone companies
| were required to provide free 911 access. People that only
| wanted a phone for emergencies were advised to get one and not
| pay for service because it could still dial 911.
| actionfromafar wrote:
| I think that still is the case in Europe?
| floren wrote:
| It's still the case in the US, pop your SIM out and note
| it'll still say "Emergency calls only" on your lock screen.
| emrehan wrote:
| FCC has rules for calling 911, and many state statutes
| reinforce or extend FCC rules.
|
| Tin Can is probably not bound by these rules, but it looks like
| a phone and works like a phone. In an emergency where seconds
| matter, it better not fail anyone.
|
| Enabling 911 calls for all could not only save lives, but also
| save the company from lawsuits.
| turnsout wrote:
| This is really cool--love the branding, concept and even the
| price point.
|
| My cynical side thinks there's probably unlimited money to be
| made taking items from Millennials' youth and marketing it to
| their kids on a subscription model (I realize there's a
| subscription-free way to use Tin Can).
| digi604 wrote:
| Why subscription service on top?
| saubeidl wrote:
| Companies like making money.
| ars wrote:
| The covers the cost of calling actual phone numbers, which
| probably does cost the company something.
|
| The direct calls are free, and don't have a fee, because those
| go over the internet.
| wrs wrote:
| Making real phone calls costs real money.
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| > Bestie has a Tin Can? Free calling to other Tin Cans is
| included for every device, no subscription required.
|
| > Subject to a valid account & our terms of service.
|
| Yeah, subscription aside (though that alone is a deal-breaker
| for me) I don't like it requiring an account.
|
| Might there be a way that an open-software/hardware device
| could simply have a person enter, what, a friend's IP address
| to make a call? Or is there more middleware required to connect
| the two VoIP?
| bigyabai wrote:
| Neat, but is this one of those things that becomes plastic
| e-waste the moment you stop supporting the service connecting it?
| floren wrote:
| Of course!
|
| "+Lifetime calling subject to _continued availability of our
| services_ , a valid account, and our terms of service."
|
| Unless they open it up enough that you can change the VOIP
| server it uses.
| ars wrote:
| Agreed, I would be much more likely to buy this if I had some
| kind of assurance it would not stop working.
|
| Maybe instead of a flat $75, charge $5/month for the first 15
| months.
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| Someone should open source something similar.
|
| Why is everyone looking at me? I'm busy obsessing over how to
| bring BBS's back.
| ceocoder wrote:
| Love it!
|
| To quote Dennis Duffy - The Beeper King - technology is cyclical!
|
| https://youtu.be/bzm53FAo_q0?si=GNAiR_fgfL3xHNFX
| darepublic wrote:
| nostalgia as a service
| Nevermark wrote:
| If there was an adapter version, for real old school phones, that
| would be fun.
|
| There are so many real old school styles. [0]
|
| [0]
| https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=vintage+phone&_sacat=0&...
|
| [0]
| https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=scooby+phone&_sacat=0&_...
| kevmo wrote:
| You'd be better off just activating a real landline and not using
| an app.
| sugarpimpdorsey wrote:
| Is this just an ad for a VoIP service?
|
| Your residential internet provider will probably already sell you
| VoIP that you can plug a real phone into.
|
| Put that old hamburger phone to good use.
| derwiki wrote:
| I wouldn't call it an ad because I'm unaffiliated. I thought it
| was a neat techie gadget that other HN readers might enjoy.
| tiagod wrote:
| And Dropbox is just rsync.
|
| The value is in the app for the parents. I would pay $10 not to
| deal with shitty VoIP interfaces.
| derwiki wrote:
| Several comments in this thread give "Dropbox is just rsync"
| vibes. I'm curious how many of the commenters suggesting to
| DIY understand that having small children means essentially
| no free time to hack on something like that.
| tiagod wrote:
| And it's mostly tech workers here. I would say most parents
| are not technically inclined. It would take the average Joe
| god knows how many hours to set something like this up.
| Even for a techie, and even if you value your time at only
| $10/h it would be worth it even if it took only a weekend
| of hacking something together, and you get something that
| was built specifically to your use-case.
| bityard wrote:
| For technical parents, you can do this with a SIP server, a pair
| of ATAs, and of course the phones. No subscription needed.
| spankalee wrote:
| For those of us who are aware that these things exist, but now
| how they all integrate: how do you go from SIP server to actual
| phone service?
|
| Are you meaning that the SIP server is shared by all the
| friends in the network who want to talk to each other, or that
| you can get phone service via the SIP server?
|
| My dad worked on a lot of VOIP equipment in his career, so I
| always kind of wanted to do this, but don't like the $10/month
| for something almost never used, and got my kid a phone anyway
| because the portability and camera are pretty key. We just
| control the phone so that it acts like a land-line. I might be
| templated to do a VOIP setup for the house any if were easy
| enough.
| freddie_mercury wrote:
| It's a little bit hard to figure out from the marketing but...is
| this just a regular old VOIP phone for $75 + $10/month? The same
| that Vonage, Ooma, axvoice, voiply, and others offer? Sometimes
| your ISP will even give it to you free or very cheap (we have it
| free with ours but don't have a phone plugged in to it).
| __float wrote:
| Do these services have anything like the easy-to-use allowlist
| feature? There seems to be some value in the parent-friendly
| angle here.
| lukas099 wrote:
| Man, I like this idea but I also really love this website.
| bja wrote:
| This just seems like another VOIP service wrapped in nostalgia.
| There are MANY cheaper and better options. I say this because I
| recently added a VOIP line for exactly this reason to give my
| kids a way to call their friends without a smart phone.
|
| Here are many good options https://www.ooma.com/blog/home-
| phone/best-voip-service-for-h...
| turnsout wrote:
| Keep in mind, the main use case is allowing kids to call their
| friends and family _and no one else._
|
| VoIP nerds out there, is there any simple PFSense equivalent
| for VoIP that would allow you to DIY this? Basically restrict
| inbound and outbound calls to a whitelist?
| wffurr wrote:
| Some of the providers on that link have "allowlist" as a
| feature, but I am curious how easy it is to manage. The
| parent app seems like the real value proposition here.
| subhro wrote:
| Yes, get a trunk from someone like BulkVS, SignalWire and run
| your own freeswitch or asterix. You can set up arbitrary
| "allowed" lists. Hell you can even get fancy with lookups and
| decide on the fly to allow a call or not.
|
| There are other comments about providers, but my way is way
| cheaper and you can run you EPBAX on a pi or even get a pre
| made VM from Azure, Amazon, etc.
|
| Damn I hate paying rent.
| turnsout wrote:
| Whoa, love this. Do you have any recommended resources if I
| wanted to try this out? Any comments about FreeSWITCH vs
| Asterisk, or BulkVS vs Signalwire for a simple setup like
| this?
| subhro wrote:
| Freeswitch is more complicated and has a steeper learning
| curve, but you can pair it with FusionPBX and it will
| make things a lot more palatable. Asterix is the grand
| daddy of this stuff. The community is stronger for
| Asterix. Freeswitch is pretty much infinitely
| customizable.
|
| SignalWire is the primary sponsor of Freeswitch but is
| mainly geared towards HUGE installations. BulkVS is
| cheaper and better in my opinion. You can also look at
| AnveoDirect, which is more raw than BulkVS, but you can
| become really really fancy with it. Like, call center
| fancy.
| wffurr wrote:
| How easy is it to manage the calling allowlist for those
| providers? That seems to be the key value proposition here; the
| parent app that controls the allowlist.
| scosman wrote:
| And that's fine. It's cute. It's fun. Looks like they are
| optimizing for UX, design, and marketing.
| S04dKHzrKT wrote:
| Make 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
| neilv wrote:
| Yeah, this was buried under a section about "child users". I
| don't know how that's legal in a two-party consent state.
|
| > _C. Information Related to Child Users (Collected via the
| Service):_
|
| > _Voice Audio Data: Audio data transmitted during calls made
| or received on the Tin Can Device._
|
| Between this, and the civil and possibly regulatory liability
| of having 911 not necessarily work, this company might end up
| blowing their runway and more on lawyers.
| lukas099 wrote:
| It also says,
|
| > This includes the real-time transmission of voice packets
| necessary for the call to function. If voicemail features are
| implemented, this includes recorded voicemail greetings and
| messages.
|
| So maybe it is "collecting" the data only in these limited
| capacities? (which seem necessary for the thing to function)
| legitster wrote:
| I really like this idea, but I have 3 pieces of feedback:
|
| 1. I love the idea, but I do not love the pricing. $10 a month
| for something you can get for free with a Voip box is tough to
| justify.
|
| 2. It looks like they are refitting "antique" phones for their
| Flashback model. If they just sold the standalone Voip kit with
| their service wrapped around it, then we could find our our
| vintage hardware to use.
|
| 3. Realistically, 90% of the time my son would be on this would
| be to voice chat while playing Minecraft. So knowing that it has
| a decent speakerphone would be nice.
| ortusdux wrote:
| It should play the dialup handshake every now and then.
| idkwhattocallme wrote:
| The local public elementary school blocked all chat programs on
| student chromebooks. The 3rd graders figured out that they could
| chat with another in a shared google doc. They had thousands of
| pages of chat before the teacher finally put an end to it. The
| teacher only found out because a kid shared that it was getting
| unruly during class. I share this because most kids have an ipad
| and are digital communication natives. This landline concept is
| like puting a lid back on a can of worms.
| derwiki wrote:
| 3rd grade, sure. This seems like a great fit for my 3 year old
| and her friends who don't have unfettered iPad access.
| idkwhattocallme wrote:
| A landline for a 3 year old to communicate with her friends.
| lol
| anotherhue wrote:
| Google Wave!
| floren wrote:
| I only used Wave a little (because my netbook was far, far
| too underpowered to work properly with it) but I really
| really enjoyed it for both serious collaboration and random
| bullshitting with my friends. Haven't seen anything
| comparable since.
| eszed wrote:
| Wave nostalgics of the world, unite! It's the best remote
| collaboration tool I've ever used, and imo nothing I've
| seen since has really come close. It still baffles me that
| it wasn't successful.
| addisonj wrote:
| I am experiencing a strong sense of "why didn't I think of that"
| while also _really_ hoping it isn 't another strong, family
| friendly concept that gets quickly enshittified for profit.
|
| Seriously, kudos, for a great concept, good website, and really,
| not that bad of pricing. Sure you can do it cheaper DIY... but
| where is the fun in putting an office-styled VOIP capable phone
| in a kid's bedroom? (though converting an old-phone to tunnel
| over VOIP sounds like a fun weekend project to do with my pre-
| teen)
|
| But... dang, does it feel like yet another thing that will start
| great and get terrible over time or just dropped and be e-waste.
| Kid cell-phone plans that don't give me choice of provider,
| youth-focused budgeting/saving apps that are 4x more expensive
| than just a classic bank account and require an app to
| effectively use, and by far, worst of all, all the "kid" versions
| of tablets, youtube kids (which I can never get to not show ads
| even though I pay for premium!), that claim to give parents
| control... but really just seem like the minimum effort to make
| parents feel like they are putting in guardrails while still
| being designed to maximize the addiction early.
|
| While I am really glad we are trying to build tech that helps
| kids have a better relationship each other while still using
| technology... it seems like most still fall to pressure of profit
| and either term into extremely over-priced offering that is hard
| to justify _or_ can 't make it and turn into junk with no re-use.
|
| Once again, this product, right now, does not look to be that...
| but now having been bit a few times, I am much more cautious and
| either worry it will become e-waste or the price jacked up by 3x
| what it is today.
| TimTheTinker wrote:
| There's a cheaper alternative, if you don't mind some manual
| setup:
|
| - buy an ethernet -> phone adapter (Grandstream, Cisco, and Poly
| sell these) and a cheap analog phone.
|
| - get an inexpensive VoIP number[0] and set up the phone adapter
| to log into the service you set up.
|
| - set up a Google Voice[1] number if you haven't already. When
| you want to make an outgoing call, use the Google Voice app to
| initiate a call to your VoIP number[2] -- that way you're
| technically receiving the call there, so it's cheaper or free,
| depending on your plan.
|
| [0] CallCentric has a $3/month plan that gives you free incoming
| calls and e911 service: https://www.callcentric.com/faq/46/529.
| This works well if you initiate outgoing calls via the Google
| Voice app.
|
| [1] As of 2023, Google Voice doesn't work directly with Obitalk
| VoIP service anymore, or with any other VoIP devices :(
|
| [2] if you need to let kids make outgoing calls via Google Voice
| unattended, set up the Google Voice app on an old iOS device in
| Guided Access mode and plug it in next to the analog phone. (But
| make sure they know to make 911 calls using the phone itself, not
| the GVoice app. I suggest printing a "Emergency: call 911 on this
| phone" label and putting it on the back of the handset.
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(page generated 2025-07-16 23:00 UTC)