NCID (Network Caller ID) FAQ

NCID is a Network Caller ID package that distributes Caller ID over a network to a varity of devices and computers.

NCID consists of:

• A server that normally uses a device to monitor a telephone line for CID information.
• A SIP gateway that obtain obtains the CID information using VOIP SIP packets, and sends it to the server.
• A YAC Gateway that obtains the CID information from a YAC modem server.
• A Universal client that obtains the CID information from the NCID server and displays it.

The Universal client has output modules so it can display the information on a TiVo or MythTV. It also has a output module that speaks, and one that sends the information to a cell phone.

The NCID package only comes with one client, but other clients are available such as NCIDpop and LCDncid.

Third party clients are also available.

NCID is designed to have multiple clients. For example: a client on a TiVo, a client on each computer in your network, and a client to handle your cell phone.

There should only be one server per phone line.

The modem documentation should tell you if the modem supports Caller ID and how to set it up. NCID will try two ways to configure a modem for caller ID, and the configuration file has other methods you can try.

NCID has a document called Modem-init that gives some informtion on configurating a modem for Caller ID, and there is also a document called Modem-CID-test that tells how to use ncidd to test the modem.

A CID gateway obtains the Caller ID information and sends it to the server as a CID message. There are two types of CID gateways. One type is a SIP Gateway. It obtains the CID information from SIP packets used by VOIP. The other is a YAC Gateway. It obtains the CID information from a YAC server which gets the information from a modem.

Yes, NCID has a YAC module, and a YAC Gateway. The Yac gateway receives the CID information from a YAC server, formats it and sends it to the NCID server as a CID message. The YAC module is used with the NCID client to obtain the CID information from the NCID server and send them to YAC listeners. If your windows PC has a modem, you can install YAC and configure it to sent the CID to the YAC Gateway.

Yes, NCID supports one modem or serial device, multiple SIP clients, and multiple YAC servers. In addition, Each SIP client can support multiple VOIP telephone connections.

The documentation for aliases is in the ncidd.alias man page, and as comments in the ncidd.alias file.

Most often you want eliminate a generic name from Caller ID, or you want to customise the Caller ID name. You would use this form of alias:

alias NAME "FROM" = "TO" if "TELEPHONE_NUMBER"

Since we do not care what name is there, we will use '*' in the FROM field. The TO field can contain spaces so in our case we want it to say: "John on cell". The most important field is the TELEPHONE_NUMBER, this must match the number ncidd receives, and in most cases, it includes a '1', even though it is not displayed. Putting in the values, our alias looks like this:

alias NAME * = "John on cell" if 14075551212

You need to configure ncidd, yac2ncid, and your YAC server.

If you are using a POTS line and YAC, no additional ncidd configuration is necessary. If you are only using YAC, or YAC and SIP, you need to set noserial in ncidd.conf.

If yac2ncid is on the same computer as ncidd, no configuration is necessary. If it is on a different computer, the IP address of NCID needs to be inserted into the yac2ncid.conf file.

If you are using a POTS line and YAC, no additional ncidd configuration is necessary. If you are only using YAC, or SIP and YAC, you need to set noserial in ncidd.conf.

The NCID YAC Gateway is a YAC Listener, so the YAC server needs the address IP address of the computer running yac2ncid.

The client can display the Caller ID in its own window, a terminal, or send it to a output module.

A output module gets the Caller ID information from the client and gives the client new functionality. One module displays the Caller ID on a TiVo, another speaks the Caller ID, and anoher sends a SMS message to a cell phone. There are various output modules than come with NCID and there are third party ones also.