Inbound Touch Tones Often Ignored

[HappyGoLucky]

I am using 3CX with regular analog telephone lines (PSTN trunks) on a Patton SmartNode SN4114 gateway.

Everything has been working fine for several months, or so I thought.

I have been told by a number of callers that when they press 1 for this or 2 for that or dial an extension number, nothing happens except they continue to hear the greeting.

I initially though that perhaps it was only callers with cellphones who are on bluetooth devices and had background noise. This is because one employee had trouble calling from his car to the office. And so, I tried it from an internal phone and the nearest payphone, and it worked fine.

Then I got emails informing me of the same symptoms. I decided to do some serious performance testing from home and found that 80% of the time it worked and 20% it did not.

Has anyone out there heard of the same issue and resolution?

Is there a way to make the gateway or 3cx configuration more sensitive to touchtones?

Perhaps all touch-tones are not created equal?

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[leejor]

Is there a way to make the gateway or 3cx configuration more sensitive to touchtones?

Perhaps all touch-tones are not created equal?

No, all DTMF tones are not created equal. they can vary by duration (length of the tone), with many electronic devices only sending a short tone no matter how long the button is held, and tone level.

While you can't do anything about the tone length, you might be able to increase the incoming level in the gateway settings. Make note of the original settings, and do any changes it small increments. Audio level changes can cause echo issues. The condition of your phone line, distance from the central office (on PSTN lines), and local, long distance or mobile calls can also affect the level.

 

[HappyGoLucky]

Thanks for your reply.

How do I access and change the gateway settings in order to increase the incoming DTMF tone level?

 

[leejor]

I have not used the Patton, So I can't help you with specifics. There will either be a Web interface, so you'd log in, using a browser, then to search through for the settings, or, you have to modify the configuration file created by 3CX, if that setting is in there. It may have to be added to the file. I'm not sure if audio levels is affected when the configuration file is uploaded.

I'm sure that there is someone on the forum that is familiar with that model, and can offer a nudge in the right direction.

You should also be sure that the physical settings, (impedance, etc) are correct for your area. Many gateways default to North American standards and require changes if used elsewhere. Some of these changes can also correct line "problems" depending on your location, even users in North America. You might want to consider contacting someone (support person) locally, with knowledge of your installation/area/phone company/gateway, if you are unable to correct the problem yourself.

 

[HappyGoLucky]

I was able to get into the UI and find the following parameters that can be set under:
Telephony / Tone Profiles / Tone Set default / DTMF

Tone Duration
80 milliseconds [>40]

Min. Tone Gap
80 milliseconds [>40]

Signal Level
0 dB [-31..0]

What should I be changing these values to in order to make it more sensitive to touchtones keypad presses? (BTW: We are in North America!)

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

 

[leejor]

Those may be the settings for outgoing tones. The gateway will re-generate DTMF when sent SIP messages from devices behind it (on the digital side). You would be looking for transmit and receive gain/attenuation settings relating to all analogue transmission.