When calling automated system, doesn't recognize touch tone

mark40511 · Post by **mark40511** » Thu May 08, 2008 3:34 am

If I call, say my 24/7 bank and it asks to enter acct info. I have to do it several times for it to take. I'm using a corded phone and magicjack works great for me almost always. My only complaint is magicjack's mic needs to be louder, could this be the touch tone recognition problem?

HolmanGT · Post by **HolmanGT** » Thu May 08, 2008 3:50 am

mark40511 wrote:If I call, say my 24/7 bank and it asks to enter acct info. I have to do it several times for it to take. I'm using a corded phone and magicjack works great for me almost always. My only complaint is magicjack's mic needs to be louder, could this be the touch tone recognition problem?

The touch tones not working correctly with automated systems is a long standing problem. The only know work-around it to use the softphone on your computer to enter the command digits.

I am not quite sure what you mean by "My only complaint is magicjack's mic needs to be louder, could this be the touch tone recognition problem".

There is a recent problem with people complaining that the party on the receiving end can barely hear them. And then there is the problem with touch tones not being recognized by automated systems. Your question seems to fold the two into one, is that what you meant to do? If so I don't think they are related I do not have the weak audio at the receiving end but I do have the touch tone problem.

LikeMagic · Post by **LikeMagic** » Thu May 08, 2008 3:57 am

It seems people who bought the new version of MagicJack devices (sold after Mar 8?) complain the most about low microphone level, i.e. called party can't hear MJ caller well

HolmanGT · Post by **HolmanGT** » Thu May 08, 2008 4:19 am

LikeMagic wrote:It seems people who bought the new version of MagicJack devices (sold after Mar 8?) complain the most about low microphone level, i.e. called party can't hear MJ caller well

LikeMagic,
That would also correlate with the time frame I remember it first starting to rear its ugly head. have you notice any correlation between the new units and the Touch Tone problem. I don't know that I ever used my old one on an automated system so I can't really says, in fact I never used it much on my new unit except when I heard people complain about it so I gave it a try with my new unit not even thinking about it possibly working with the older units and never gave that a try.

If I feel rambunctious tomorrow I will give it a try, but my knee-jerk opinion is it will have the same touch tone problem also. I just hate people that make rash abstract assumptions.

A quick after thought LikeMagic, I am using my new unit and have been since I got it several weeks ago and all my volume setting are the same as I used on my old unit and I never have complaints about low volume. hmmm all that does is muddy the water around this problem even more.

LikeMagic · Post by **LikeMagic** » Thu May 08, 2008 11:12 am

Yes, my "old" version of MJ seems to work fine with IVR, just tried again this morning

HolmanGT · Post by **HolmanGT** » Thu May 08, 2008 12:12 pm

LikeMagic wrote:Yes, my "old" version of MJ seems to work fine with IVR, just tried again this morning

You guys alway put me on the spot with your acronyms, what is IVR?

LikeMagic · Post by **LikeMagic** » Thu May 08, 2008 12:45 pm

You're kiddin' again, right?

IVR = Interactive Voice Response

pare · Post by **pare** » Thu May 08, 2008 12:51 pm

Well, I have a "newer" MJ, and I have no problems accessing my bank information via the touch tone on my cordless phone. However, I have not called any other automated system other than my bank.

HolmanGT · Post by **HolmanGT** » Thu May 08, 2008 12:57 pm

LikeMagic wrote:You're kiddin' again, right?

IVR = Interactive Voice Response

I wish I was - but the good news is you can teach old dogs new tricks, it just takes more doggy treats to get the point across.

HendersonMike · Post by **HendersonMike** » Thu May 08, 2008 2:54 pm

Did someone mention

doggie treats??

HolmanGT · Post by **HolmanGT** » Thu May 08, 2008 7:46 pm

Pretty cute Mr. HendersonMike

traceyred · Post by **traceyred** » Fri May 09, 2008 6:25 pm

I just got my MJ yesterday and I have the exact opposite issue. Everyone I call can hear me just fine. But, I can't hear them. I've tried adjusting the sound through the control panel. I've tried Bonzo's suggestion to answer the call through the "accept" feature and then wait a couple of seconds before picking up the phone. But, so far, nothing's working.

I chatted with MJ support yesterday and they had me run a speed test. My bandwidth tested at 9376 download and 547 uplodad. They were concerned there was such an imbalance and thought it could be my router (Linksys). It does seem weird to be so imbalanced, but I read that the minimum requirements for upload were only 80, so I should be good.

Everything else works fine. Blue light is on. Rings fine. Call fine. I just wish I could figure out the sound issue. I'll have to borrow a phone from a friend and see if it's the phone.

Tracey

HolmanGT · Post by **HolmanGT** » Fri May 09, 2008 7:07 pm

traceyred,

It is hard to believe that the MJ Tech people were concerned about 9 mbps down and 550 kbps up. That is so typical that anyone that has had broad band for more than a week is well aware of (as they put it) imbalance. Tracey trust me on this one there is nothing wrong with any of your equipment or your BB connection.

We all have to live with that imbalance save a few very fortunate people that have a fiber connection to their Broad Band ISP and some of those lucky folks have 50 mbps up and 50 or 25 mbps down.

You are also correct about MJ only needing about 80 kbps so your 550 kbps is mor than adequate you could run a couple of MJ systems at the same time with you broad band and surf the WEB at the same time.

traceyred · Post by **traceyred** » Sat May 10, 2008 5:02 am

HolmanGT,

Thank you so much for the reply. I went to my sister's house tonight and tried connecting my MJ through my laptop and her wireless network. I took my phone over and used the same phone. (I had the previous problems with my desktop, and hadn't tried with my laptop yet). Anyway, it installed without any issues and I was making calls within 5 minutes. I made 5 calls -- all of which sounded crystal clear and perfect. So, now I'm stumped about what could be causing the sound problems on my end at home. I tried again here at home tonight and I could still not hear any sound on my end. But, now that I've made some great calls from my laptop, I am at least very hopeful and encouraged that my MJ really does work. I just need to do some more tweaking with my system at home.

Thanks again!

Tracey

Stewart · Post by **Stewart** » Sat May 10, 2008 8:25 am

If MJ on the laptop works at your sister's but not at home, the problem is probably with your router. Confirm this by connecting the laptop directly to the cable modem. You'll have to power cycle the cable modem and reboot the laptop for this test, and again when you reconnect the router. Confirm that the laptop has working Internet access before plugging in MJ.

If the problem is with the router, try disabling any SIP, ALG, or SPI options. Try upgrading to latest firmware. If no luck, please post router model, and hardware and firmware versions.

monkeyboy · Post by **monkeyboy** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:03 pm

HolmanGT wrote:
mark40511 wrote:If I call, say my 24/7 bank and it asks to enter acct info. I have to do it several times for it to take. I'm using a corded phone and magicjack works great for me almost always. My only complaint is magicjack's mic needs to be louder, could this be the touch tone recognition problem?
The touch tones not working correctly with automated systems is a long standing problem. The only know work-around it to use the softphone on your computer to enter the command digits.

This is just one of the main reasons that MJ could never serve as our main landline replacement. I can't even use touchtones reliably to get to my various voicemail boxes.

BTW for those who know about the Xlink box coupling via BT to a cell phone as a replacement for landlines, the Xlink knew about this analogous touchtone problem in their Xlink, so they specifically engineered the Xlink to take care of it: Whenever they detect a touchtone code, they suppress the actual (distorted) Touchtone sound and regenerate true/accurate Touchtone sounds on the line. The MJ should do the same to get reliable touchtones...

gooney · Post by **gooney** » Mon May 12, 2008 4:51 pm

I have no problems on this end... I think the problem is with the internet connection... jitter, drop packets, speed etc; could cause the problems i think...The automatic system needs to hear the right tone at the right time for it to go through... just adding my 2 cents.

Thunder · Post by **Thunder** » Wed May 14, 2008 6:19 pm

I had the same problem with IVR. I opened Ports on my Linksys WRT54G router 5061 UDP 80 TCP and 443 TCP and now it works. Not sure if only one these helped But the MJ home page said it used these three ports. So I used all three.

zerotsm · Post by **zerotsm** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:17 pm

The MagicJack system DOES regenerate the touch tones. This might be OK for most applications, but it can be a real pain for certain remote control applications. If you hold down the key, the tone at the receive end does not keep going! The MagicJack system automatically generates a fixed length tone no matter how long you hold down the button.

I've tested MagicJack on several control systems. For the most part, it will work if the system will work from a cell phone. However one system that I access does not work at all from MagicJack, but to be fair, when calling the same system from an AT&T GSM cell phone, you have to enter the password with very short bursts to get it to work. The same system works fine from a land line phone, but I don't want to do that, since the system is a toll call from my land line.

Stewart · Post by **Stewart** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 4:21 am

The DTMF issue was corrected in the recent upgrade, but that was backed out because of other problems.

In the meantime, use the softphone keypad, or type the numbers on your computer keyboard (when the softphone has focus), and the remote system should "hear" the tones correctly.

solar_satellite · Post by **solar_satellite** » Fri May 08, 2009 12:19 am

As of today, 5/27/2009, I can't use my Magicjack (purchased two months ago) to access my cellphone's voicemail system, neither using an attached phone, nor with the softphone. I am using a wireless router, but it has worked fine up till now, especially after telling it that my laptop's MAC address was a voice application in its QoS settings. Does anyone have an update on Magicjack's DTMF problems?

HolmanGT · Post by **HolmanGT** » Fri May 08, 2009 12:43 am

solar_satellite wrote:As of today, 5/27/2009, I can't use my Magicjack (purchased two months ago) to access my cellphone's voicemail system, neither using an attached phone, nor with the softphone. I am using a wireless router, but it has worked fine up till now, especially after telling it that my laptop's MAC address was a voice application in its QoS settings. Does anyone have an update on Magicjack's DTMF problems?

solar_satellite,

This is a very old thread. You might be better off starting a new thread and describing your problem with as much detail as possible.

Regards,

sabresfan · Post by **sabresfan** » Sun May 10, 2009 8:28 am

Have you tried using a different proxy server. I block my primary server because it always sounds horrible and was not able to use automated touchtone systems. Since I've done this I can get my bank info and pay bills on numerous touchtone systems without a problem.

gregr209 · Post by **gregr209** » Sun May 10, 2009 3:46 pm

This is exactly the problem I have been having when dialing into my work voice mail system and when I try calling into work conference calls where a conference room # is needed. The voice mail system works sometimes but it is only 4 digits needed. The conference calls never work (6 or more digits needed).

To be fair to magicjack, Skype has had the exact same problem as well for years!

I still love my MagicJack

Greg

rohanverma · Post by **rohanverma** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 12:28 pm

This fixed it for me. See thread below...there was an upgrade

Janna: Hello, how may I help you?
Rohan Verma: Hi, I've tried 3 different automated touch tone systems and none of them are recognizing the tones when i push buttons on my phone to enter menu choice, password, etc.
Janna: Please wait while I check that for you
Janna: Thank you for waiting.
Rohan Verma: np
Janna: May I know if your device is plugged in right now?
Rohan Verma: yes
Janna: Do you have a dial pad now?
Rohan Verma: I have my phone...
Janna: Okay.
Janna: May I know what kind of phone you are using?
Rohan Verma: Panasonic KX-TGA101CS (Cordless 6.0 DECT)
Janna: Okay.
Janna: Please click the link to download and run the magicJack upgrade (applicable for both XP & Vista):
Janna: http://upgrades.magicjack.com/upgrade/upgrade.exe
Janna: Please click on the link above and RUN the upgrade.
Janna: Is it done now?
Rohan Verma: ok doing now
Rohan Verma: testing
Janna: Okay.
Janna: Okay and please inform me the result afterwards.
Rohan Verma: Yup we're all good
Rohan Verma: Thanks!
Janna: You are welcome.
Janna: Is there anything else I may help you with today?

egn6 · Post by **egn6** » Fri Sep 06, 2013 12:48 pm

I had the same problem. When the call said for English, press 1, I did and nothing happened. You get the idea!

I went into the menu on my cordless phone and one of the settings was for line. The choices were A and B. It was set to B. I reset it to A and now I can call in prescriptions, order from any touch tone menu and cease the expletives.

I do not understand what A and B are for but the phone worked fine set on B with Verizon and Comcast.

I have since sent the magic joke back for credit and purchased an Ooma Telo which did exactly the same thing. It was then that I discovered the "line A&B" setting on my phone.

The strange thing is my corded phone in the kitchen which is connected to a twisted pair had the same problem until I reset LINE to A on the cordless phone. The kitchen phone runs off the connection to the cordless phone.

BTW, the cordless phone is a Panasonic cordless with four satellites.

I hope this helps someone.

Ernie

greenman · Post by **greenman** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 6:19 pm

This is a pretty old thread. I've got a panasonic cordless DECT 6.0 phone, so I thought I'd root around in the menu to find what you're talking about, and darned if I didn't see it.

The odd thing is, I have mine set to B, and I have no trouble accessing any touchtone auto-response interface, as much as we all detest them.

From what I've read since seeing this post, in some instances, if touchtone selection isn't working, changing line mode to the alternate mode could help. If it's currently set to A, try B, and vice versa.

According to Panasonic:
The line mode for all lines is preset to “B” and generally should not be changed. If the line indicator on the base unit does not light properly, or the line status icons are not displayed on the cordless handset properly, the line mode selection is incorrect. Set line mode to “A”. Each line has its own setting.

This is not the Panasonic phone I have, but mine was also preset to B. I've never had any trouble with touch tones.

htmlbase · Post by **htmlbase** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 4:41 pm

Today I noticed that some, but not all touch tones were being recognized, volume was low, I could hear echo on line and incoming calls were going straight to voicemail.

A stint on LiveChat suggested I disconnect and reconnect every part of my cordless phone system. I opted to just use a simple phone and things were fine.

I really needed to use my 2 line, multiple handset cordless, though, and when I connected it, I had trouble again. I'd been using the same cordless system well over a year, so I was confused.

What I found was that the cable-modem phone line that I use for "Line 1" on my 2 line cordless phone was interfering with the operation of the MagicJack phone on "Line 2" of the cordless phone. I had always used a 4 wire phone cord, but recently upgraded my cable-modem, and the new one apparently has some activity on the 2nd Line that interferes with use of Line 2 from a different source.

I solved this by using a 2-conductor phone cord from the cable-modem on line 1, so that it does not touch line 2. The separate line I use from MagicJack to the Line 2 connector is the only electronic device on Line 2, and things work fine again!

ekurelowech · Post by **ekurelowech** » Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:56 pm

I have a Panasonic cordless phone, M/N KX-TGLA40
I had a Panasonic cordless phone of a different model, and bought this one because of the same issue.
After years of this issue your post fixed me. This is the menu options to get to the setting to change
Menu/Settings/Set telephone line/set line mode/ Changed from B to A.

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magicJack and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Tricks

When calling automated system, doesn't recognize touch tone

When calling automated system, doesn't recognize touch tone

Re: When calling automated system, doesn't recognize touch t

Re: When calling automated system, doesn't recognize touch t

Sporadic Problems with DTMF -- Can't use my Cellphone's IVR

Re: Sporadic Problems with DTMF -- Can't use my Cellphone's

DTMF Tones not working - solution.

Same problem, different cause

EGN6 you are a genius, worked great(Line Mode is the answer)