WebCID is a software that provides caller ID functionality for analog phone services. It allows users to identify incoming calls and provides detailed information about the caller.
WebCID is an innovative caller ID application that allows users of analog phone service to retrieve caller ID information remotely when away from home. It is an advanced project consisting of a daemon script in Perl that listens to caller ID from a modem, and a web interface used for viewing the caller ID logs. One of the main advantages of this software is its ability to log caller ID information to a MySQL database.
Originally designed for Linux, WebCID should, in theory, work on any platform that meets the requirements. To install this software, you will require a few prerequisites, including MySQL v3.23+ with PHP and Perl client libraries, a web server (preferably Apache), PHP 4+ and Perl v5+. Additionally, you will need cu, also known as Call-Up, which is the old Linux terminal app.
Installation of WebCID involves several steps, including database creation, daemon installation, web installation, and init scripts. To create a MySQL database, you need to grant user access to it and run the database creation script provided in the installation package. After that, you must put bin/webcid and bin/webcid.pl in a local bin path, probably /usr/local/bin. Modify any path information in webcid, and insert the appropriate database values in webcid.pl from step a.
To install the Web interface, put the web/ directory in a web-accessible path and modify web/inc/webcid.php to include appropriate database parameters from step a. There is a sample init script located at init/webcid which can be used to start and stop the webcid daemon but may need customizing for your platform. It was written for Debian Sarge and is known to work well.
However, it is essential to clarify that no security mechanism is built into WebCID to stop anonymous people from using it via the web. Therefore, it is highly recommended to use password authentication through your web server, using htaccess on Apache.
Although most of the software is quite trivial, the Perl script that waits on the modem may need customization depending on your telephone company's caller ID and your modem. It is designed to be as generic as possible for Telus, given the limited information the author has on caller ID standards. The modem (USR Sportster) may not parse the information entirely, which is why it is ripped off the line manually. However, this method was easier to debug and works great.
It is advisable to have a web server running locally; otherwise, logging into a MySQL server over the Internet may be problematic. Additional improvements to the system could include searching of names/numbers, automated e-mails/pages when specific calls are logged, and capturing distinctive ring (sometimes called smart ring) from your telco. However, this depends on the hardware used. Overall, WebCID is an excellent software package that is quite useful for retrieving caller ID information remotely.
Originally designed for Linux, WebCID should, in theory, work on any platform that meets the requirements. To install this software, you will require a few prerequisites, including MySQL v3.23+ with PHP and Perl client libraries, a web server (preferably Apache), PHP 4+ and Perl v5+. Additionally, you will need cu, also known as Call-Up, which is the old Linux terminal app.
Installation of WebCID involves several steps, including database creation, daemon installation, web installation, and init scripts. To create a MySQL database, you need to grant user access to it and run the database creation script provided in the installation package. After that, you must put bin/webcid and bin/webcid.pl in a local bin path, probably /usr/local/bin. Modify any path information in webcid, and insert the appropriate database values in webcid.pl from step a.
To install the Web interface, put the web/ directory in a web-accessible path and modify web/inc/webcid.php to include appropriate database parameters from step a. There is a sample init script located at init/webcid which can be used to start and stop the webcid daemon but may need customizing for your platform. It was written for Debian Sarge and is known to work well.
However, it is essential to clarify that no security mechanism is built into WebCID to stop anonymous people from using it via the web. Therefore, it is highly recommended to use password authentication through your web server, using htaccess on Apache.
Although most of the software is quite trivial, the Perl script that waits on the modem may need customization depending on your telephone company's caller ID and your modem. It is designed to be as generic as possible for Telus, given the limited information the author has on caller ID standards. The modem (USR Sportster) may not parse the information entirely, which is why it is ripped off the line manually. However, this method was easier to debug and works great.
It is advisable to have a web server running locally; otherwise, logging into a MySQL server over the Internet may be problematic. Additional improvements to the system could include searching of names/numbers, automated e-mails/pages when specific calls are logged, and capturing distinctive ring (sometimes called smart ring) from your telco. However, this depends on the hardware used. Overall, WebCID is an excellent software package that is quite useful for retrieving caller ID information remotely.
What's New
Version 1.1: N/A