[Solved!] Can't get modem CallerID to work

[SurrealMustard]

I'm working on a T61p (which should have the same modem as the other T6*, R6*, Z6*, and X6* series laptops, so if you have it working on one of those, feel free to chime in) and am not able to get CallerID to work. Using Putty to connect to the modem's COM port, I used the "AT+VCID=1" command to turn CallerID on and then issued the "AT+VCID?" command to verify that it took. Everything looks good up to this point; However, when I receive a call, the CallerID information never shows up in the terminal like it is supposed to. The fact that it is ringing shows up, but the data never appears.

These results were collected using the driver from the support page for the T61p, which shows up in the device manager as "ThinkPad Modem", but I have also tried the default "HDA CX11254 Soft Modem" driver as well as the newest one from the catalog.update.microsoft.com website when searching for "VEN_14F1 DEV_2BFA".

Any ideas or is this modem just not up to the task of CallerID?

Solution in post 6!

[ajkula66]

Any ideas or is this modem just not up to the task of CallerID?

My memory is not what it used to be, but I believe that one needs a 64K bandwidth instead of 56K in order for caller ID to be displayed...

[rkawakami]

Have you verified that CallerID works on a regular phone?

edit: @ajkula66 I think the signaling method used to transmit the Caller ID information is more like 2400 baud than 56K or 64K.

[n2ri]

caller ID is not normal part of a Modem. its an added box or feature on some phones. most phones didnt even have it when it came out.

[SurrealMustard]

Okay, I have made a bit of progress. After running the Lenovo driver installer again (in compatibility mode this time), it installed all the extra utilities. I don't know why this would make any difference given that it is installing the same exact driver version I had before, but now, when viewing the output in the terminal, I do see the CallerID information displayed when the phone rings!

This is a very good thing. So now we're at least as well off as on the X200 where I can use a COM PORT Access-based CallerID program like the circa-2002 EfTech PC Caller ID app (which works, but is rather dated). I'd prefer to use a TAPI-based implementation like Yac, which is more user-friendly and up-to-date. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done because Yac won't work with it out-of-the-box. According to the Yac FAQ document, this may be because Tapi isn't set up properly for the modem. I've been checking out the guides here and here to find out how to check to see if calls are being logged properly or not, but I'm not getting anything at all when the phone rings in that log textfile. I'll play around with it a little more and report back.

[SurrealMustard]

SOLVED IT!! Here's the rundown:
Copying and pasting from the aforementioned sites into the registry did not work because this modem has a slightly different format when reporting the CallerID data. I was about to give up, but then I remembered that we have another computer with the same setup that worked properly out of the box. After examining the logs and registry settings for that modem, I cracked the code and added the correct settings. CallerID is now fully functional in both the COM-Port-based and Tapi-based programs (such as YAC). Here's what has to be added to "HKLM>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Unimodem>DeviceSpecific>ThinkPad Modem...>Responses":

Code: Select all

create binary value "<cr><lf>DATE = " without quotes, set to "93000000000000000000"
create binary value "MESG = " without quotes, set to "97000000000000000000"
create binary value "NAME = " without quotes, set to "96000000000000000000"
create binary value "NMBR = " without quotes, set to "95000000000000000000"
create binary value "TIME = " without quotes, set to "94000000000000000000"

Before anyone asks: Yes, those are eighteen zeroes and yes, the space before and after each "=" sign is intentional, so don't forget about it. Lastly, make sure to stop at the modem's page in the device manager and add "+VCID=1" to the "Extra Initialization Commands" under "Extra Settings" inside of the "Advanced" tab. Reboot, install your favorite CallerID application, and you should be set to go.

Just FYI for anyone else considering Yac on a 64bit installation of Windows, do yourself a favor and download the 32bit version from the website because the 64bit version doesn't let you save your settings. Given the fragmented nature of all of this information, a YouTube tutorial may be in the works.