I HAVE A DREAM NEW CallerID Superfecta 2.2.4: THE MODULE

[wardmundy]

Protecting good CallerID data is a great suggestion. But it was more of a problem two years ago. Now many of the Superfecta lookup sources use the same data that the "phone companies" are using. So the likelihood of your good data being stepped on by the lookups is more theoretical than real. Do a few test lookups using WhitePages, YellowPages, and Addresses and see if you don't agree.

 

[FitnessPlus]

It seems to me that this module is now doing two separate but semi-related functions: CallerID lookup and spam filtering. Here are my questions. Let's suppose I have a provider that NORMALLY sends me "good" caller ID data. So I don't need CallerID lookup most of the time (and in such cases, I don't want what I've already received from my provider changed), but I do want to do "spam" call filtering. Is that possible, and if so, how do I set it up to do that?

The ability to do something like this is slated for a future release, but I think I need some input from an asterisk guru to complete this portion. My day job is mainly as a PHP/MySQL developer, so that's where my expertise is. I learn Asterisk as necessary to complete tasks. This module is really a piggy-back of sorts on top of the existing "Caller ID Lookup Sources" module already built into FreePBX. The way this module operates is an all or nothing deal. I always over-writes the caller ID information, even if the result returned is blank. In order to be able to conditionally send CallerID information back to Asterisk, we would have to get away from the piggy-back approach and develop our own method of communicating directly with Asterisk to provide CallerID info. Any guru's want to help here?

I'm still mystified as to how or why you'd use a "CID Prefix URL."

The Prefix URL is meant as an outside source of CID Prefix information. Most people will probably not need it, but where I work, we had a need. And since I was writing most of the code I put it in there

Basically, lets say this system is set up for an e-commerce company (like the one I work for), and the customer is required to provide a phone number at the time of checkout. When a customer calls in to find out where their order is, and they use the same phone number as what is on their order, we can prepend, or prefix the customers order number to the caller ID information. I wrote a simple script that looks up against our database, the phone number and returns an order number...so when I define the prefix URL, it gives back an order number to prefix to the CID if it's available.

So in practice instead of seeing a CID of "Jane Doe",
Customer service agents here see a CID of "84HF34:Jane Doe". This means they can pull up order information in an internal system, before they even pick up the call.

 

[Lost Trunk]

Protecting good CallerID data is a great suggestion. But it was more of a problem two years ago. Now many of the Superfecta lookup sources use the same data that the "phone companies" are using. So the likelihood of your good data being stepped on by the lookups is more theoretical than real. Do a few test lookups using WhitePages, YellowPages, and Addresses and see if you don't agree.

Sorry, but I really don't want to do that because of the lookup time involved. Using just the three sources you mentioned on a test lookup, I got these results:

Searching Addresses ... not found
result took 1.8474 seconds.

Searching White Pages ... not found
result took 3.3306 seconds.

Searching Yellow Pages ... not found
result took 0.7843 seconds.

So if my provider is sending good data and all I want to do is check it using a spam filter, I (actually incoming callers) would still have to wait over five seconds for the results to be returned, if the number is not found in any of those databases, and meanwhile the good data that my provider had sent would be discarded. I might be willing to make an incoming caller wait up to five additional seconds if my provider is not sending good data, but no way do I want to do that if 98% of the time I'm getting good Caller ID data from my provider.

I hope you can see my reasoning here. I'm not disputing the usefulness of this module for those who don't get Caller ID name from their upstream provider, but in cases where you do, the cost (definitely in time, and possibly in accuracy) is too high.

 

[wardmundy]

Like I said: Protecting good CallerID data is a great suggestion.

If you've got a good CallerID source, not sure why you'd use anything other than the personal phone books: AsteriDex, Asterisk Phonebook, or SugarCRM.

If SPAM calls are the problem, that's being worked on several fronts. For the short term, there's the existing Blacklist in FreePBX which works very well. And Nerd Vittles had some other solutions as well.

 

[blakekrone]

Is anyone else having issues with this or is it just me? I've ran the module through the installer but am having a ton of issues.

First I had to install mod_auth_mysql which is no biggie, but now I am having issues with running the debug. The .htaccess in the superfecta/bin folder doesn't seem right or I'm missing more components yet. I get a internal server error and in the logs it shows:

[Mon May 11 14:30:54 2009] [alert] [client 192.168.10.1] /var/www/html/admin/modules/superfecta/bin/.htaccess: Invalid command 'mod_auth_none', perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration, referer: http://192.168.10.20/admin/config.php?type=setup&display=superfecta

I've checked and the .htaccess that was installed is what was in the package, but it is full of errors that I have had to fix and am stuck on this one.

 

[wardmundy]

Which distro? What version?

 

[blakekrone]

Which distro? What version?

PBXIAF 1.2.3


If I get rid of the .htaccess in the bin folder everything works just fine. So I wonder if on my peoples install the "AllowOverride" is not allowed for the admin/ folder so these .htaccess rules are being ignored.

In any case that .htaccess is not setup properly with correct directives and should probably be looked at.

 

[FitnessPlus]

If I get rid of the .htaccess in the bin folder everything works just fine. So I wonder if on my peoples install the "AllowOverride" is not allowed for the admin/ folder so these .htaccess rules are being ignored.

Your correction has been noted and will be fixed in the next maintenance release coming in a couple of days.

That .htaccess file isn't actually used any longer, it's a remnant of an attempt to get around http authentication for that folder alone. setting auth_type none should have done it, but in testing it wasn't working, so the idea was scrapped.

If you know how to make it work please let us know.

 

[blakekrone]

Have you modified your httpd.conf file from the original PBXIAF install? If not can you email me that to <forum username>@gmail.com and I can compare that with mine. I've made changes to make the Apache server closer to what I use.

 

[Calunker]

Great job

Tony and Jeremy and anybody else involved in this project great job. The debug feature is a fantastic addition.

 

[tshif]

Protecting good CallerID data is a great suggestion. But it was more of a problem two years ago. Now many of the Superfecta lookup sources use the same data that the "phone companies" are using. So the likelihood of your good data being stepped on by the lookups is more theoretical than real. Do a few test lookups using WhitePages, YellowPages, and Addresses and see if you don't agree.

Ward - your right - the quality of info IS much better than a couple years ago.

That being said - we do have an existing open ticket that speaks to this issue.
http://projects.colsolgrp.net/issues/show/28
Because of the nature of the upgrade being discussed - do not expect it to become reality on an immediate basis. Its a beefy issue, and we are still only in the discussion and exploration phase.

Everyone - We really appreciate this kind of thoughtful feedback and interactions. At least 80% of the upgrades delivered in v 2.0.0 were initiated by suggestions and requests from folks right here in the pBXIAF forums. You DO have an impact on the dev process - and it benefits all of us.

Keep those cards and letters coming!

 

[tshif]

Awesome update, keep up the good work!!!

Andy

Great job. Thanks a lot.

Wow it works great! Thanks, the update was easy to do! I love the sandbox you added to debug!

Tony and Jeremy and anybody else involved in this project great job. The debug feature is a fantastic addition.

Thank you to all our first day adopters!

Here are the statistics that our early-adopters have rung up on day 1 of release -

In the first 23 hours of release - the module has been downloaded 130 times

This message thread has been viewed 537 times in the same period.

We have received just 2 reports of bugs/undesirable behavior, which we are working to resolve.

We have added/refined 4 Feature requests:

Add Google Spam Scoring
http://projects.colsolgrp.net/issues/show/53

Include support for Non USA Numbers
http://projects.colsolgrp.net/issues/show/55

Add descriptive text to data sources
http://projects.colsolgrp.net/issues/show/57

Retain valid CID info if provided by TSP
http://projects.colsolgrp.net/issues/show/28

And most excitingly, we have already received a user contributed (MageMinds) data source for Canadian numbers.
http://projects.colsolgrp.net/issues/show/58

Until next time -
tshif

 

[tshif]

Potential New SOurces

The following new sources have been suggested to the module dev team.

• 800notes.com
• whocallsme.com
• callercomplaints.com

Please provide feedback as to your experience with these sources and sites. We don't want to sink the Superfecta Boat with Bloat and providers who don't offer good results - so if you have any experience or thoughts with any of these three, please chime in with them now.

Forum member MageMinds has created the first new community provided data-source script for Superfecta 2.0 (on day 1 of release no less) for canadapages.ca, which is going through QA now, and tentatively scheduled for release in Superfecta Maintenance Release 2.0.1 (Date TBD.)

If you would like to create a data-source script using the existing data sources as a "template", and the available developer support doc on this topic for inclusion in the upcoming maintenance release - please send me a PM and well tell you how to get started right away! (Dont let MageMinds have ALL the fun! )

-Tony

 

[TDF]

whocallsme.com gets my vote.

For some unknown reason it has everyone of my nuisance callers, only 1 number ever appeared on any other site.

With this as a source, It should be relativly easy for a lot more of use it as a example to make another for any other site without a api.

I wonder if it is worth asking them about the possibility of a api ?

 

[tshif]

whocallsme.com gets my vote.

For some unknown reason it has everyone of my nuisance callers, only 1 number ever appeared on any other site.

With this as a source, It should be relativly easy for a lot more of use it as a example to make another for any other site without a api.

I wonder if it is worth asking them about the possibility of a api ?

The problem with that source is that strictly speaking they aren't just for spam ID. Numbers could be listed there for informational purposes only - having nothing to do with SPAM. Im not sure we can/should assume everything in that source is SPAM.

Comments - please - all interested parties.

 

[jjsmd]

Sorry about being dense , but I'm new to this whole project.

I installed the module but whenever I type in a number and hit debug I never get anything, all sources say data not found??

 

[tshif]

Try other numbers! If the sources report not found, and are not timing out, chances are its working for you.

 

[wardmundy]

Sorry about being dense , but I'm new to this whole project.

I installed the module but whenever I type in a number and hit debug I never get anything, all sources say data not found??

Did you enable any of the lookup sources?

 

[tshif]

Contributed Code Passed QA! Way to Go MageMinds!

Wow it works great! Thanks, the update was easy to do! I love the sandbox you added to debug!

I just created my first new source for this new module... It works from canpages.ca and right now only works for residential numbers, I might change the script to get commercial listing out of it, but their HTML is really messed up. I actually simply extract the name from the <title></title> but the doesn't work for commercial. It's also way faster than WhitePages, I get sub 1 sec result most of the time, while White Pages results are more than 3 seconds.

Where should I submit it?

Heres an update: Your code passed QA!
In the next few hours, it will be reviewed for standards/practices by Jeremy - and you will be all set.
Your new data source (Canadapages.ca) will be in the Maintenance Release 2.0.1! Nice Work, THANK YOU and "Way to contribute!!"

Heres another update: Your code passed Standards and practices review - and is in the maintenance releaseto be released in the next couple of days.

- Tony

 

[tshif]

Get rid of the dashes if you are entering them. It should be Numbers only.

Debugging Enabled, will not stop after first result.
Found valid US npa: 212-927-7088

Searching Asterisk Phonebook ... not found
result took 0.0224 seconds.

Searching PhoneSpamFilter ... not found
result took 0.1235 seconds.

Searching Who Called ... not found
result took 0.2988 seconds.

Searching Yellow Pages ... not found
result took 0.6263 seconds.

Searching Addresses ... A Lichter
result took 0.4844 seconds.

Searching White Pages ... Alco Realty Partnership
result took 0.7421 seconds.

Searching Any Who ... A Lichter
result took 0.5815 seconds.

Searching Google ... A Lichter
result took 0.3217 seconds.

Searching Telco Data ... NWYRCYZN03, NY
result took 0.2088 seconds.

Returned Result would be: A Lichter
result took 1.5558 seconds.