topic Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US in Roaming

DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

chrishammond — Sun, 23 Jul 2023 16:23:44 GMT

Hey everyone,

I have a very strange, but entirely repeatable, problem when roaming with my EE plan in the US. I use a Google Pixel 7 Pro, but I remember experiencing this with a Pixel 6 Pro too back when I had that device.

Whenever I am Stateside, any calls that require touch tone / DTMF dialling to navigate an IVR (e.g., "for another twenty options you didn't ask for, press 1") do not work. I am currently roaming on AT&T, and it does not seem to make a difference whether I am on 4G or 5G. Sometimes my phone will drift over to T-Mobile (US), but this is usually only for a short while so I haven't had the chance to test this network yet.

Not only have I observed this, but I can actually reliably reproduce it using Twilio. I have a trial account with them, so any time I get a call I'll receive the warning message that I'm on a trial account, followed by a prompt to "press any key to run [my] code". No matter how many times I press any key (or which key I press), Twilio will time out and terminate the call. Calling my Skype number, on the other hand, will work just fine and I'll be able to run my code by pressing a key that way.

I have also observed this with Google's hardware support team. When you request a callback, you have to press a key to speak to a human; otherwise, you just get cut off. Again, no matter how many times I tried to do this, it wouldn't work and I had to use an alternative phone that is not roaming in the US.

It should go without saying, but I have no issues at all with DTMF / touch tone dialling when I am in the UK and no longer roaming, so there is definitely an issue here.

Any ideas on how to fix this? I saw in another post that some phones have the option for a longer tone, but I do not see that option on my Pixel. Also, I found a thread on Apple's forums in which an iOS user had the same problem, so this seems to be a network issue rather than a handset one.

Thanks in advance!

Chris

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Leanne_T — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 05:59:01 GMT

Hi there @chrishammond

Thanks for coming here.

Do you happen to know anyone else who is on EE and roaming, who is experiencing the same issue?

If not, I would suggest getting in touch with our tech gurus, they will be able to get this looked into for you.

You can find ways to contact us on our get in touch page here.

Thanks.

Leanne.

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

chrishammond — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 19:36:17 GMT

I'm still experiencing this issue unfortunately! I can't even call 150 because I can't "press one".

Any chance anybody has a fix for this?

Thanks in advance!

Chris

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Michael_D — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 07:38:40 GMT

Hi @chrishammond.

Have you tried to manually connect to one of the other networks, such as T-Mobile, to see if that lets you call?

If you find that you are still seeing the same thing, you can get in touch with our tech guides by calling 08000798586 through Skype.

Michael

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

chrishammond — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 16:59:18 GMT

Unfortunately I sometimes can't make calls at all on T-Mobile, depending on where I am, though my phone prefers it. If I have good AT&T signal I can get 5G and VoLTE, but I still can't use DTMF. Verizon is the least reliable for roaming.

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Tony_Jef — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 11:29:51 GMT

I have a similar problem but not when roaming. I need to use the "*" key to retrieve messages from my landline answering machine, but when I call the landline using my EE SIM the "*" key doesn't interrupt the answering machine's outgoing message and I can't retrieve messages. If I use my Giffgaff SIM in the same (dual SIM) phone, no problem at all. I've tried with WiFi calling enabled and disabled, the same problem persists. Curiously, when I call a service that requires "press 1 for..." etc. the EE SIM works ok.

Any clues out there?

TIA, Tony

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Leanne_T — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 15:09:26 GMT

Hi there @Tony_Jef

Thanks for coming to the community.

I would suggest getting in touch with our tech guides and they will get this investigated for you and let you know what is needed to get this resolved.

Leanne 🙂

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Tony_Jef — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 15:16:51 GMT

Hi @Leanne_T - thanks for your response. I had a look at the page you suggested and not clear to me what you mean by getting in touch with tech guides - do you mean calling 150? No reference to tech guides that I could find...

Tony

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Alex_H — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 17:20:41 GMT

Hi @Tony_Jef,

Yes if you call us on 150 or one of the other contact numbers listed on that link, one of the options when you call will be for technical support. If you select that option that should get you in touch with our technical team to run some diagnostics for the issue.

Alex

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Tony_Jef — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 18:36:46 GMT

Hi @Alex_H

Many thanks - have just spent a long time on the phone with your tech guys, and they are a little mystified, but are suggesting things to try.

Tony.

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Leanne_T — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 06:50:14 GMT

Morning @Tony_Jef

Thanks for coming back and letting us know.

Hopefully they can help you get this sorted with the steps they have suggested you try 🙂

Leanne.

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Tony_Jef — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 06:52:47 GMT

Morning @Leanne_T

I will report back once I've had a chance to try out the potential fixes.

Tony

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Leanne_T — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 07:17:04 GMT

That would be great, thanks so much @Tony_Jef

Leanne 🙂

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Tony_Jef — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 15:54:47 GMT

Back from a few weeks away. EE support suggested 2 things to try:

1) Plugging my phone/base station directly into the EE router; this made no difference.

2) They sent me a filter - turns out it is just a standard ADSL filter, so no idea why they thought it would help. Anyway, inserted that between the phone/base station and the phone adapter as suggested - again, made no difference.

So I am still in the situation of things working just fine when I use my Giffgaff (O2) SIM, but if I use my EE SIM, I can't transmit the DTMF codes to the phone/base station to control the answering machine functions remotely. I've tried sending the DTMF codes while the answering machine is recording a message; with the Giffgaff SIM you can hear the tones on the recorded message, but not when using the EE SIM.

A mystery.

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Leanne_T — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 16:55:20 GMT

Hi @Tony_Jef

Thanks for coming back to us.

Since you got back, have you been back in touch with our tech guides to let them know the two suggestions did not work for you? If you have not been back in touch yet please call us on 150 and the guide can continue the troubleshooting and let you know what is needed next.

Leanne.

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Tony_Jef — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 17:00:46 GMT

Hi @Leanne_T

I haven't had a chance to do that yet, but it is on my list!

Tony

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Leanne_T — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 17:10:39 GMT

Hi @Tony_Jef

No problem, thank you for giving us an update on the steps you have tried.

Let me know how you get on after getting back in touch 🙂

Leanne.

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Tony_Jef — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 13:40:01 GMT

Hi @Leanne_T

It has been a deeply frustrating morning, nearly 3 hours on the phone, and I have been passed from pillar to post several times between members of the Mobile and Home Tech departments, none of which have been able to help, and in some cases, had great difficulty even understanding the nature of the problem (confusing the 1571 service with an answering machine connected to a digital voice adapter, etc. etc.). Finally, when one of the handset team said he would speak to a team leader, I suggested I speak with the TL directly; turns out the TL works in the same building as a couple of others at the same level that understand the broadband side, and he has undertaken to have a pow wow with them to see if he can get to the bottom of the problem. So no result as yet, but this time there is maybe a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. I will keep you posted.

Tony

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Rach_H — Sun, 24 Aug 2025 07:23:03 GMT

Hi @Tony_Jef,

Welcome to the Community!

I'm sorry to hear about your experience when you've called, as this is far from ideal, but it's great to hear that this is something that is now being looked into, and I'm hopeful this will be resolved soon.

Rach

Re: DTMF / touch tones do not work when roaming in the US

Tony_Jef — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 14:33:26 GMT

Hi @Rach_H , @Leanne_T

Since my message on the 23rd above, I haven't heard anything back from EE; I emailed the TL from the handset group yesterday to say that I hadn't had any contact from the Broadband TL that was supposed to be in touch, and still nothing. So, I'm afraid I have to admit defeat at this point, and have chosen to ditch the BT DECT phone/answering machine setup I was using, use 1571 instead, and shell out for new EE Home Phone Plus handsets.

All in all, a very disappointing result for me; more expense for no particularly good reason as the old DECT kit worked fine apart from the inability to retrieve messages remotely. And some lessons here for EE in terms of how not to treat their customers.