Forum Discussion
Microsoft Teams won't send dial pad inputs when navigating a phone tree during a conference call
jcjchavez(and a message to my future self when I get annoyed by this again)
So I realised that there are two dial pads. The one in the main Teams window doesn't send tones.
But if you can navigate to the call itself there is another dial pad at the top. This does send tones.
🙂
JULY 2023 UPDATE FROM MY FUTURE SELF:
They Keypad option in Teams sends tones on the call. To add another participant, click on People and then dial another number.
cgigate1460 and @Adam1982690, when I'm on a call, the dial pad in Teams -> Calls makes DTMF tones. I can use this to navigate prompts, enter information (e.g., PIN, zip code, meeting security code), or trigger effects in a multiparty conference call.
If you are saying that also works for you, but that you have a separate problem where DTMF tones stop working in the specific case where you want to add an additional party to an existing call, then you are correct that I was missing the point. If your issue ONLY occurs when making a call while already on a call, I admit I've never had a need to test that specific use case. If that's the issue, sorry for the confusion on my part.
This is not the scenario of the issue.
if you are talking about a pure phone call, you can use dial pad to dialout, you have DTMF tone to navigate through the phone tree (IVR).
The not working scenario, when you have a ongoing meeting (conference) , you want to add a participant to the meeting. the the wanted participant behind a phone extension or needs get through IVR tree to reach him/her, the Teams cannot send out DTMF tone to navigate through IVR. that is an issue
- This is our issue as well. The workaround we started using was to add our own cellphone to the call, then use the keypad on the cellphone to navigate the auto-attendant. Once we get the person we need, drop the cellphone from the call.
Im thinking the same thing. I found a React App that is a DTMF tone generator with dial pad buttons. I can put this into my own MS Teams App, but the audio currently goes to the users default sound device. Does anyone know how to send audio from a Teams app out to all participants? Without using a virtual audio device in windows piped to the microphone?
- What if went back to the 80s and used DTMF tone generator?
maybe an app that plays tones in the "microphone" ?? I know its a little dumb, but if microsoft can't make a dial pad appear cant we have one.
perhaps even a app added in teams 😛 - SFB/Lync absolutely did suffer from this same issue (DTMF outbound in active conference call). Proof:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/avmcu-does-not-support-dtmf-in-lync-server-or-skype-for-business-server-f1702fe3-728f-158d-1ca5-f80ca04e15a4
SIP mention only marginally relevant here. SFB/Lync utilized the Centralized Conference Control Protocol (3CP) for management of conferences, and that protocol got translated to specific SIP standards for integration with telephony. Info:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/office_protocols/ms-confbas/6cb739fe-3a84-4266-8d52-0af777f6f1fa?redirectedfrom=MSDN
While Teams has shifted to a REST-based communication protocol that is closely aligned with Skype Consumer, the AVMCU functionality is still largely structured off the prior SFB AVMCU capabilities (hence the issue still being present). Either way, we still get SIP transport for telephony integration by way of Direct Routing, Calling Plans, and Audio Conf Dial-In/Out.
Now...all that being said, I am now noticing the URL about Call Merge has some limitations listed at the bottom which I did not notice prior. One notable limitation: meetings. That is an incredibly frustrating and unfortunate limitation. Hopefully they close the gap on that. Slype for Business or Lync server don't have the issue.
SfB and Lync can merge phone calls and meetings together. Thanks to the SIP protocol, it can use re-invite to merge two or more sessions!
The issue is only in the Teams meeting!
Unfortunately, teams moved from the robust SIP protocols to the Skype protocol, which has very weak telephony features that causes huge problems for the telephony.- This issue is a long-standing "feature" that harkens all the way back to Skype for Business and Lync Server.
If you are currently in a conference call and need to add a remote party into that call, (and you know the remote party can only be reached by DTMF tones, such as an extension that must be entered at a lead auto attendant) the Audio Conferencing service DOES NOT SUPPORT DTMF tones for any outbound call you initiate from it. The dial pad in the meeting window will allow you to smash DTMF numbers all day long, but the Audio Conferencing service does not pass on those tones to the remote party. Even if it did support DTMF tones, it would blast DTMF tones out to all participants on the conference call, which could result in issues for remote parties already connected.
The only workaround for this is to use "Merge Calls":
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/merge-calls-in-teams-15fd64cf-1500-4143-b199-1bbda98fd695
Merging requires you to initiate a brand-new PSTN call to your remote party, issue required DTMF tones as necessary until the call is connected to the user, and then merge the call with the ongoing conference call.
