CIDTracker F.A.Q.

1) Does CID Tracker completely take over the modem?
2) Are Apple modems supported?
3) What modems are supported?
4) What's all this client server stuff?

Does CID Tracker completely take over the modem?

Yes. When CIDTracker is in Server Mode and is Enabled then it is in control of the modem and you can't do anything else with it. To start a dial-out session to the Internet you'll need to disable Server Mode or quit CIDTracker.

Are Apple modems supported?

No. At least I haven't found or read about any that decode CID information. This is an accurate statement as of 1/13/2003.

What modems are supported?

Below are the most common modems that support caller id:

AT#CID=1 Used in USR, Texas Instruments, Rockwell compatible modems (excluding software modems and Rockwell HCF), Hayes, several Pace modems, PowerBit, GVC PCTel, IDC (VR series) devices, Diamond Supra (Rockwell compatible).
AT+VCID=1 or AT+FCLASS=8;+VCID=1 All IS-101 modems, Lucent LT, Rockwell HCF (V.90 or K56FLEX, e.g. PCI modems from Creative), some Pace modems (IS-101 compatible), MultiTech, IDC, Cirrus Logic, most of IDC modems.
AT#CLS=8#CID=1 Caller ID in voice mode in some 56K USR modems, some Rockwell compatible (Boca Research, Cardinal, voice Zoom).
AT#CC1 Older non-voice Aspen modems, older Cirrus Logic, Motorola Voice Surfer Phoebe.
AT*ID1 Some Motorola modems.
AT%CCID=1 or AT%CCID=3 Practical Peripherals modems.

What's all this client server stuff?

Hopefully I can make this easy. The most simple way to explain this is by imagining the simplest setup. Imagine you have two Macintoshes connected together in a network. One of the Macintoshes has a caller ID capable modem attached to it. This will be the "Server" and will read the caller ID information from the modem. The second Macintosh runs CIDTracker in "Client" mode. This Macintosh doesn't have a modem attached to it, it will get CID information from the Server. In other words when a call comes in the server will read the data from the modem, display it, then send the data to any clients. The clients will act as if they received the CID data from the telephone line.

A more complex setup may look like this...



The neat thing is there are servers and clients for Windows PCs and an internet appliance called the Audrey (look for them on EBay). CIDTracker only runs on the Macintosh but in server mode it can feed CID data to your Windows PC or Audrey. If you have an Audrey, it can act as the server and you can just run CIDTracker in client mode. The Audrey Server/Client application is called ACID. If you have a Windows PC with a CID capable modem then you can have your PC act as a server by running a program called CallerID Sentry (it is a client also).

In a little more technical detail here is what happens...

You start CIDTracker in server mode and CIDTraker opens a connection to the modem and sends it a initialization string to get the modem to report the CID information when a call comes in. Second, CIDTracker starts "listening" for client computers to make a connection request. When a client computer makes a connection request, CIDTracker makes a note of its IP address and the internet port to send the CID data to. Client computers simply start up and make a connection request to the server then sit and wait for data.