Although I have tried to put the more interesting programs first, I haven't tried all these programs so I welcome anyone else's opinions on them, and suggestions for new programs to include. I'd like to do some screenshots, but that will have to wait.
Other places to try are http://www.shout.net/~wildixon/callerid/software-free-shareware.html and commercial-software.html, and simply searching for "caller" in the System Utilities section of www.download.com.
Talkworks Call Display
Vendor : Symantec
Download : ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/products/winfax_pro/ver8/utilities/CallerID.exe
Price : Freeware
OS : Windows 95/98
This is really intended for checking that your hardware setup is right
before installing one of Symantec's more sophisticated products like WinFax,
but if all you want is a popup window to tell you an incoming number, it's
fine. Personally I think the large display is a little garish, but you can't
argue with the price and I like the minimalist approach; I've not checked
out version 2.
WaveCaller
Vendor : John Symonds
Website : http://www.caller-id.co.uk/
Download : http://www.wave.f9.co.uk/download.html
Price : UK£10
Platform : Windows 95/NT TAPI
Screenshot : http://www.wave.f9.co.uk/v1.jpg
A nice little program, most notable for the integration of UK geographical
info. This alone makes it worth a look - John's using the Oftel code list
to translate codes to places, including the London subcodes I think.
Has now spawned features like MS Agents, and John's done a version for
the Concept
Devices box (UK£69)
Who's Calling
Vendor : UK Software
Website : http://www.uk-software.com/whoscalling.htm
Download : http://www.uk-software.com/downloads/whocall.zip
Price : US$25
Platform : Windows 95 ?!?!? It doesn't say.
Screenshots : http://www.uk-software.com/whoscallingshots.htm
As well as doing all the usual things like automatic rejection of calls
from certain numbers, speaking the number, address book matching and the
like, this has one outstanding feature that I've not seen anywhere else.
As well as normal Caller ID, it can automatically dial 1471 after every
call and retrieve the data from that. This means you can have logging
of everyone who calls you without even paying money to your phone company
for Caller ID! This sounds very neat - can't wait to try it.
IDentify!
Vendor : Impulse Technologies (Craig Duncan)
Website : http://www.imptec.com/idfeatures.htm
Download : http://www.imptec.com/download.htm
Screenshots : http://www.imptec.com/idsshots.htm
Price : 30 day trial, US$15
Platform : Windows 95/8 TAPI
Nice little program that does the simple things well. Features include
auto-lookup, ACR and pager notification But you might like to try
its big brother, Phone Plus, which
adds a speakerphone and PIM features for not much more money.
IdentaPop/Identafone Pro
Vendor : Maurice Dykes
Website : http://www.identafone.com
Download : http://www.identafone.com/download.html
Price : US$20/US$30
Platform : Windows 3.1, 95/98 & NT (COM port and TAPI, 16 bit and
32 bit versions)
Screenshots : http://www.identafone.com/screens.html
Lots of features
, but concentrates on new ways of delivering Caller ID (such as speech,
paging, SMS, email etc) rather than adding fancy telephony features. Nice
phonebook too. One of the cheapest ways of integrating Caller ID with Outlook.
Maurice has also worked hard to ensure that it works for as many people
as possible, with support for ISDN modems, dual lines and the like. Well
worth looking at, especially given the reasonable price. Got 5 stars from
ZDNet.
Talking Caller ID
Vendor : Stealth Software (Norman Tanner)
Website : http://www.talkingcallerid.com/default.htm
Download : http://www.TalkingCallerID.com/DownloadFullProgram.htm
Price : US$40
Platform : Windows 3.1 and Windows 95/98 TAPI and NT
Screenshots : http://www.talkingcallerid.com/ViewProgramScreens.htm
This has been around for a while, and has matured into one of the more
impressive Caller ID-only programs. The new 32 bit version has all
the bells and whistles such as text-to-speech, Microsoft's annoying new
Agent technology, DDE to the program of your choice, and pager, email &
messaging Caller ID delivery. It even offers a UK area code database
as a separate download.
and an addon
for remote access to the program's databases. ZDNet made it a file
of the day, and it seems in demand among the warez fraternity - not surprising,
given the relatively high price.
Norm's also developed a US$79 Internet
Call Waiting box which also uses the software.
CallTrace
Vendor : Arash Ramin
Website : http://www.digitalroom.net/calltrace/index.html
Download : http://www.digitalroom.net/calltrace/download.html
Price : Freeware
Platform : Windows 95/98 TAPI - not NT4.0, and Win2000 doesn't support
System Services yet.
At the moment this is just a popup with call logging. However,
Arash is committed to it always being free and he's working on things like
email/pager/LAN notification. He's also got some good general info on Caller
ID on his site.
Voice Announce
Vendor : Pete Ness
Website : http://www.nessoft.com/callerid.htm
Download : http://www.nessoft.com/downloads/
(16 bit) and
(32 bit)
Price : not sure
Platform : Windows 3.1; Windows 95 TAPI version in beta
Screenshot : http://www.nessoft.com/cap1.gif
Looks a nice little program written by a Delphi hobbyist. Fairly basic
popup, like a dedicated box, and the following features : "Incoming calls
are announced using .WAV files or Creative Labs Text Assist (depending
on if you have a .wav file recorded). It prints list of callers, shows
history for any caller, stores custom notes for a caller or use the modem
to dial the phone. Will even hang up on unwanted callers". Now uses
the Speech
API and allows addins.
CIDMan
Vendor : Kevin Autrey
Website : http://tkeva.tzo.com/cidman/
Download : http://tkeva.tzo.com/cidman/download.htm
Price : was US$25
Platform : Windows 3.1, 95, NT
Screenshots : http://tkeva.tzo.com/cidman/screen.htm
Caller ID program that has obviously seen a lot of development - for
instance it can interact with almost any other program by means of simple
text "sniffer" files. Sadly this is another program that is US orientated,
and tries to integrate US area codes. Pretty website.
SnakeID
Vendor : Dan Kotarski
Website : http://www.zorac.com/snakeid
or soon www.SnakeIDPro.com
Price : 10 days trial, US$20
Platform : Windows 95/NT 4.0 (JET MDBs)
Screenshots : http://www.zorac.com/SnakeID/ss.htm
Looks like a basic Caller ID program that's grown to accommodate things
like Call Blocking. A little garish in appearance, but looks like it has
lots of options for getting that recalcitrant modem to work. Probably pretty
good value if you want a mature product that does more than just the basics,
without going the whole hog of something like SuperVoice.
The latest version look like it's added lots of new features, including
things like email/network notification, features for the disabled and an
'alarm clock' mode - I'll investigate more fully soon.
PhoneFilter
Vendor : Iain Wallace
Website : http://www.PhoneFilter.freeserve.co.uk/
Download : http://www.PhoneFilter.freeserve.co.uk/downloads.htm
Price : Free
Platform : Windows 95/98/NT
I haven't had a chance to play with this, but at first glance it looks
like the ACR program I almost wrote myself.
As well as the usual Caller ID popup, it can do different actions for different
types of callers in time dependent fashion, and known callers can override
it. However the ZDNet reviewer complained of bugs - looked like a
possible problem with Windows component versions.
WillowPHONE
Vendor : Willow Pond Corporation
Website : http://www.willowpond.com/nav/products/willowphone/
Download : http://www.willowpond.com/nav/products/willowphone/downloads.shtml
Price : Freeware
Platform : Windows 95/8
Like Talkworks, a module from a paid-for product, given away for free.
In this case, it is part of Willow Pond's multimedia package WillowMEDIA.
Looks good, but a mock phone on my desktop is not for me - just a matter
of taste, I guess.
Simple Caller ID
Vendor : Austin Skyles
Website: www.users.qwest.net/~srspencer1/simple.html
Download : http://www.fiberpipe.net/~skylesa/scid.zip
Price : Freeware
Platform : Windows 95/8 TAPI
Very simple, little popup program, but looks nice.
ID Commander
Vendor : Exxcalibur Software (Chris Shumate)
Website : http://www.exxcalibur.com/idcom.htm
Download : http://www.exxcalibur.com/IDCom.zip
Price : Freeware
Platform : Windows 95/8
Features call logging and an address book and can announce the caller
using a WAV file or SAPI text-to-speech. Looks quite good, especially now it's free.
CallID
Vendor : Don Johnson
Website : http://surf.to/binary
Download : Seems to have disappeared from http://www2.priefert.com/shareware/callerid/callid.zip
Price : Freeware
Platform : Win 95/8???
Free popup program with logging.
PC Caller ID 32
Vendor : Brian Buchan
Website : http://www.pragma-solutions.com/callerid/
Download v1.3 : http://www.pragma-solutions.com/callerid/cid3213.zip
Price : 30 days shareware, US$15
Platform : 95, 98, ME, NT or 2000
Screenshot : http://www.pragma-solutions.com/callerid/main.gif
Does
the job, and specifically knows about UK numbers. Apparently the latest versions
are a big improvement over the last version I saw - must demo it again.
Little Brother Caller ID
Vendor : Brett Winston
Website : none at present. Wil
Dixon's site claims to have v1.6 - I've not checked this.
Price : 30 days shareware, US$20
Platform : Windows 3.1
This is actually one of the best 16 bit programs I've seen - it's a pity
that the last update was in 1994. It has an address book, call logging
call blocking, a dialler, pager notification, and can associate a caller
with pictures or WAVs. Brett's been in touch and I can pass on any messages
for people who have questions about Little Brother - he may even produce
a new version if there is enough demand!
Caller ID - sdharris
Vendor: Steve Harris
Website: http://www.sdharris.force9.co.uk/software/callerid/download.html
Platform : Windows 95/NT
Looks good, but not played with it yet - doesn't use TAPI so ?can be
used on NT etc.
CCID
Vendor : Intertex Data AB
Website : http://www.intertex.se/products/page.asp?iPageID=38
Download : http://www.intertex.se/download.asp?iFileID=300
Price : Freeware
Platform : Windows 95/98/NT
Basic little popup program from the Swedish modem maker. It has call
logging and an address book.
My vCaller ID
Vendor : ??
Website : http://www.canadawired.com/~jnham/myvcidv1.htm
Download : See website
Price : Free whilst in beta
Platform : Windows 95/98
This looks like it has lots of advanced features - email and pager
notification, caller photos, SAPI caller name announcement, and even tried
to use the MS Speech Recognition engine. Looks promising, especially
for Canadians (qv the Stentor problem) I
don't know that it is TAPI compliant, however.
WinCID
Vendor : Gradient Computing
Website : No longer at http://storm.ph.utexas.edu/~read/wincid.html
- any ideas?
Download v1.4 : http://www.giffer.com/public/win/pwcomm/Files/WINCID14.ZIP (there was certainly a v1.5 though, and a v2.0 was promised)
Price : US$8
Platform : Windows 3.1? and 95
Looks OK, version 2.0 is due soon.
¿ Quién Es ?
Vendor :
Website : was http://www.quien-es.com/prod.htm
Price : Freeware and shareware version?
Platform : Windows 95/8 ??
This is a funny one - the website still exists but is being used for other
things, it's now on an ASP server but none of the usual defaults work. It
used to be the only Spanish program I knew of, and looked OK, although the
website wasn't very helpful.
Smartkriezer
Vendor : P.J.M. van Dinther
Website : no longer at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/3683/smartkiezerdesc.htm
- I think Paul can now be found at www.diprode.com
Download :
Price : US$10, 30 day shareware
Platform : Windows 95/NT non TAPI?
About all I could figure out is that it has Dutch and English versions,
and in addition to voice modems, works with some ISDN boards that send
Caller ID to the analogue ports as well such as Zyxels and the ISDN Smartvox.
Sister program to the CAPI program SmartID.
SvenNum
Vendor : Andreas Nordvall
Website : http://www.svenum.com
Download : (from website)
Price : Shareware, 100 skr
Platform : Windows 95/98/NT
This used to be the only Swedish Caller ID program I knew of, but it
has recently been joined by NumPres
for Linux ;-)
Call Logger
Vendor : Yes-Tele.com
Website : http://www.yes-tele.com/log.html
Download : http://www.yes-tele.com/download.html
Price : Freeware
Platform : Windows 3.1 and 95
A simple call logger and contact manager at the right price, but Yes-tele.com
claim it only works with their proprietary hardware - I've not checked
this. They are also giving away a DOS contact
manager and a DOS order
entry program.
Caller ID Pro
Vendor : Excalibur Technologies, Inc.
Website : http://www.callid.com/callerid.htm
Price : US$39
Platform : Windows 3.x
Somewhat old-fashioned in appearance and not overly well specified,
but will integrate into PIMs such as Time & Chaos.
Look Who Is Calling
Vendor : MAW Consulting
Website : http://www.mawnet.com/products1.html#WhoCalls
Download : http://www.mawnet.com/wc_eval.html
Price : US$15
Platform : Windows 95/98/NT 4.0
MAW offer this as a taster for their more expensive Message
Server Communication Suite. It has an address book with photos,
but something like CallTrace offers more features for free.
Caller Announce
Vendor : REEVEsoft, Inc.
Website : http://www.reevesoft.com/callerannounce_details.shtml
Download : http://www.reevesoft.com/download/Caller_Announce_20.exe
Price : US$30
Platform : Windows 95/98/2000
Screenshot : http://www.reevesoft.com/images/CallerAnnounce_SS.jpg
Call logger that uses MS's text-to-speech engine to announce calls.
That's about it - it looks expensive compared to many of the programs here.
REEVEsoft's main business is IVR software - see Phrontline.
Callscape 100
Vendor : BT
Website: Formerly www.callscape.bt.com
User group : www.vipersoft.co.uk
Price: £150 (inc. VAT, including hardware)
The TAPI software that comes with the Callscape box is OK, nothing special. It used not to like Windows 98 nor NT, and I've heard reports of some funny bugs and stability problems, but a couple of patches appeared eventually. A set of OCX controls was eventually relased unofficially by Black Marble Ltd, and the CallscapeConnect package allows integration with Act!, Goldmine, Lotus Organiser, Maximiser, Outlook and Sage. But why not just the Caller ID capabilities of these packages directly (see PIM page)? Many Caller ID packages are now spawning PIM-like features, and you can use them with hardware that's a lot cheaper, especially if you have a suitable modem. Apparently, BT reached the same conclusion and dropped Callscape altogether.
Activate
Vendor : Telcomp, Inc.
Website : http://www.telcomp.com/
(advert)
Price : US$50 (DOS), US$70 (Windows)
Platform : MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, 95/8
Screenshots : http://www.telcomp.com/popupa.gif
(Windows 3.1)
Somewhat clunky in appearance, but the programs themselves look solid.
Telcomp seem more geared up to selling complete hardware/software packages
to small businesses, and their main product is a multi-line, LAN version
of Activate called Pickups.
SpeakID
Vendor : Paul Alcock
Web site : http://www.intra.demon.co.uk/readme.htm
Cost : Freeware, £15 donation encouraged
Well meaning effort that announces people's names and records calls.
However the interface is rather crude and it uses Access MDBs which means
that it is slow and resource-hungry; also I need to use Access for work
:-(, so I can't afford to have extra copies of the JET engine roaming my
machine.
Of more interest is Paul's Caller
ID Remote program, which allows a remote computer to recognise your
Caller ID and a PIN sent as DTMF codes, and can then start up programs
on the remote computer, or even turn the kettle on!!
Link Graveyard
The page for Call Tracker by BBC Software Corp came and went - anyone know anything about it?
Lateral Technologies seem to have gone, taking IP
Caller ID with them.
Teleknow has gone from http://www.myna.com/~maxin/
Burlingame Consulting & Software, Inc. and their Who's Calling?
software have disappeared from http://www.wp.com/BCSI/
Soho Tools (http://www.sohotools.com/) have apparently gone out of
business - I've had complaints about their software.
Monument - anyone know if they're still going? I've seen links but
none work.
