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

[chrishammond]

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

[Leanne_T]

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.

[Tony_Jef]

Morning @Leanne_T 

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

Tony

[Leanne_T]

That would be great, thanks so much @Tony_Jef 

Leanne 🙂

[Tony_Jef]

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.

[Leanne_T]

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.

[Tony_Jef]

Hi @Leanne_T 

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

Tony

[Leanne_T]

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.

[Tony_Jef]

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

[Rach_H]

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

[Tony_Jef]

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.