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Posted by Gordon Burditt on 05/13/05 00:02
>> You need to give more information. What is the incoming call
>> supposed to be connected to? A modem? Voice? A voice-response
>> system? A quick click and hang-up?
>Is a small restaurant order system with 2/3 incoming lines. Currently
>everything is handled manually. The idea is to have a php app in the
>intranet where orders will recorded. The operator would still use
>normal telephone lines, but they would like as a plus to grab the
>caller id info and pull customer info (using the caller id info from a
>previous order.. if any) from the system. For this I would need
>X-HARDWARE (this is what I want to figure out). Then X-HARDWARE would
>pass the caller id-info to the php server (I need to fiture this out
>too depending on what X-HARDWARE is). X-HARDWARE doesn't even have to
>answer or do anything with the call just grab the caller id info and
>pass it appropiately.
>
>> A 2FXO/2FXS card is likely much more expensive than 2 dirt-cheap
>> modems with caller-ID capability. And the modems don't HAVE to
>> answer the call to get the caller ID. On the other hand, if you
>> really wanted to use the caller ID to route the call, asterisk is
>> quite capable of doing this in a way you're unlikely to get with a
>> cheap modem. asterisk might even leave the info around for your
>> app to get hold of it (e.g. the guy currently called into Extension
>> 203 has caller ID XXX XXX-XXXX).
>>
>> Gordon L. Burditt
>
>I know as a fact that asterisk can do this and more, but i was
>wondering if there was an easier solution and cheaper hardware to
>accomplish it.
A cheap standalone modem connected to each phone line and serial
ports can act as a caller-ID device. Have some task monitor the
serial line from each modem and record the caller ID somewhere (PHP
is not a good candidate for this since you want to monitor all the
time, and PHP has things like run time limits, although it's possible
to do this with standalone PHP). You want the caller ID captured
BEFORE the operator opens up the order web page. Sticking the
caller ID and a timestamp in a prearranged file location is one
approach.
PHP looks at that file (when someone opens the web page) and picks
up the caller ID, then does its thing with it.
You don't care about the speed of the modem at all, as the intent
is never to answer the phone. It does need to do caller-ID, but
not necessarily 56K. You might be able to pick up modems like
this on Ebay for $10 each plus shipping.
Gordon L. Burditt
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