SageInfoPopup and Caller ID in Canada

[Dave.ca]

I'm interested in using the SageInfoPopup customization that displays Caller ID info in Sage. While looking for a modem that suports CID I have found information on the net that seems to indicate that modems with CID can be problematic in Canada (specificly Bell Canada region) because CID information is parsed differently from the U.S.

Is anyone out there (Bell Canada customer) using this customization without issues? If so, what modem are you using? What ajustments (if any) did you need to make?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[Comitizer]

Well, I'm using this with Telus in Alberta and I don't have an issue.

I had to add the following:

AT+VCID=1

to the modem's extra initialization parameters. This told the modem to start reading the caller ID information.

From what I can tell this is a "standard" AT command in the sense that although it isn't standard, a lot of modems support it.

If I were you, i'd pick up a cheap winmodem and give it a try. Mine doesn't explicitly state that it supports CID but it does and it's a cheapie that came in my Dell.

By the way, the device manager lists my modem as a "Conexant D850 56K v .9x DFVc Modem" (seems there are lots of these on ebay for like $10 CDN).

Lastly, you can easily try this in a terminal program to make sure it's working before you try with YAC, etc.

This page has some additional AT commands that might get your modem into the correct state:

http://www.talkingcallerid.com/CallerIDCapable.htm

Good luck!

[dstanley]

I am in Ontario and on the Bell network. I am using it with a US Robotics USB modem on my WHS machine. Sometimes it seems a little spotty and works, then doesn't work - I haven't really tracked down why. The server sends messages out to my clients and HD200's. I do change the STV with new updates so that might be my problem - not getting it imported properly sometimes maybe ... when it does work it is pretty sweet. Doesn't seem to have been updated for a long time.
I am almost postive that I had to add the initialization code to my hardware parameters as Comitizer did.

[herrdude]

I just finished setting it up this weekend. I am in Montreal on Videotron phone service. From all the reading I did, I saw very few mentions of problems in Canada with regards to caller ID. I had serious problems tweaking the mdm*.inf file. Why these files were never written properly in the first place is beyond me. After hours of playing around, I downloaded PhoneTray Free and it actually puts the correct settings into your registry.

The best advice I could give you is to start with Hyperterminal first. Once you know your modem is able to do caller ID (and apparently most are), you can tweak it to get PhoneTray to work. Once it works, jump to YAC. After that works, then you can set up the sage side of things. I hope you have time on your hand, you will hit a snag at some point. Modems are pure evil to set up.

Come back if you have any questions!

[plawlor]

Dave,

I am an Aliant (Bell) customer in Atlantic Canada. I apparently have a modem capable of Caller ID in Canada (according to its manufacturer), but after 3 days of trying to get it to work, no go and don't have the time to keep messing with it. This was a few months ago, so don't recall all of the details, but vaguely remember it having something to do with the way Aliant implemented Caller ID services -- not the standard way and not recognizable by all modems and/or their drivers...

[herrdude]

Did you try phonetray? There is an option to modify the registry that make most cards work? And if it doesn't it has a button to remove the registry changes. It is pretty painless and well worth the effort.

[SteveW]

Originally Posted by plawlor

Dave,

I am an Aliant (Bell) customer in Atlantic Canada. I apparently have a modem capable of Caller ID in Canada (according to its manufacturer), but after 3 days of trying to get it to work, no go and don't have the time to keep messing with it. This was a few months ago, so don't recall all of the details, but vaguely remember it having something to do with the way Aliant implemented Caller ID services -- not the standard way and not recognizable by all modems and/or their drivers...

I'm on Aliant in NS, and it's working great for me. Only problem I have is that the string the modem is giving YAC is causing it to display "O" on the extenders instead of "Out of Area" and "P" instead of Private.

I read that YAC interprets these correctly, so there must be an extra character in there somewhere messing up YAC that I'm not seeing in Hyperterminal. Only happened when I moved the modem to my permanent Sage server... Maybe I'll see if phone tray can help me straighten it out...

Anyways, yes, working on Aliant. It can be hit or miss. Had an external USB modem that was supposed to work, but never received the Caller ID info. Changed to a PCI card and poof - it worked.

-Steve