Remote power switch via mobile?

[RTuesday]

Originally Posted by petkow

There just must be some better dedicated "box of tricks" based on gsm (and not pstn) technology available somewhere?

I'd be interested to hear if you do find anything. I'm thinking about something similar to switch on air conditioning or heating (depending on the season) when say an hour or so away from the house when I'm returning from a trip. I don't have a landline.

I like your idea of sensing something happening on the phone, no wires. How about some sort of fairly standard controller based on dtmf (touch tones), X!0 or some other home automation thing (or just a relay). That could listen to the phone for a ring.

On the phone, set a different ring tone depending on who is calling in (lots of phones can do that), and if it's the call/text from you it'll be the right ring tone (a series of dtmf tones) and trigger the right action. If it's a wrong number it'll be a different ring and be ignored.