Using a Pause in Contact's Number

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Using a Pause in Contact's Number

We have two iPhones in our house - one new 3G and an original with the latest 2.0 firmware upgrade. Neither phone will dial a number for a contact in which we've saved a "pause," or comma. I know how to create the pause, and it accepts it, but when I tap the number to have it dial, it doesn't work. It flashes blue so I know it recognizes the tap, but then that's it. It doesn't even attempt to dial. Can anyone else reproduce this? Thoughts? Thanks.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Jul 12, 2008 6:46 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 12, 2008 7:03 PM in response to CMZ

My original iPhone with 2.0 software is actually doing this correctly for the first time (before, it either wouldn't wait, or would mess up the timing of the #'s after the pause).

So, to confirm, the phone number in question has a comma in it, which is the symbol for the pause, yes? When you tap the number in the contact display dialog to dial it, what can you hear in terms of key tones?

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Answer 2

CMZ Author

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Jul 12, 2008 7:28 PM in response to Community User

Thanks for the response.

Right, the number looks like this: (nnn) nnn-nnnn ,n. I don't hear anything when I tap the number. It's as if I never tapped it.

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Answer 3

Jul 12, 2008 7:45 PM in response to CMZ

I assume other numbers are working, yes?

You might try turning the phone off ("off" off, not standby). If that doesn't work, you might try rebooting it (holding the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons at the same time until it resets). The last thing would be to try resetting the phone (Settings, General, Rest, Reset All Settings).

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Answer 4

CMZ Author

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Jul 13, 2008 6:22 PM in response to Community User

I've now discovered I've falsely accused the pause, that was never the problem. It's actually the asterisk (*). I wanted to set up my work voicemail number to dial the entire sequence: the system number, my mailbox number, and my password. My mailbox number must be keyed with an * prefix. So it's (nnn) nnn-nnnn, *nnnn, then my password. Today I tested just sending a digit after the pause, and it worked. So (nnn) nnn-nnnn, n dialed just fine. It's when I include the * that it will not dial.

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Answer 5

CMZ Author

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Jul 13, 2008 7:39 PM in response to CMZ

WE GOT IT! 🙂

A couple of things...

First, for some odd reason, when I typed in the number manually using the keypad, then "Call," it dialed and went through as expected (press and hold the * key to queue a "pause"). Previously I had been typing the number in one of the number fields in the "New Contact" area, which wouldn't even dial. After calling it once after queuing it manually with the keypad, I was then able to use the +person icon and save it that way. It will dial properly now.

Secondly, I had also been testing using the speaker so I could hear what was happening as it was sending the keystrokes. Turns out the mic was picking it up, so I was sending feedback tones as well which was confusing the voicemail system.

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Answer 6

CMZ Author

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Jul 14, 2008 6:08 AM in response to CMZ

ARGH! When I sync with my MacBook, it goes back to the original behavior. Something in the sync-ing process is altering the way the iPhone sees those characters.

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Answer 7

Jul 15, 2008 3:30 PM in response to CMZ

Has anybody had any luck with creating a tel: dial string with a pause, and which then works when passing it to openURL?

Example:


NSURL *phoneNumberURL = [NSURL URLWithString:@"tel:8005551212,,,,1234"];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:phoneNumberURL];

Thanks,
Nick

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Answer 8

LR.LR.LR

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Jul 18, 2008 10:18 PM in response to NickDalton

Same question here. If this is not possible, can someone please say so?

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Answer 9

PlanetSK

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Jul 19, 2008 3:23 PM in response to LR.LR.LR

I had the same problem but I found the workaround. Create a contact with pause and # etc and add it to favorites. I cannot dial it from contacts list but favorites let me dial it out. I hope apple fixes this in near future and let us know if this works for you.

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Answer 10

LR.LR.LR

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Jul 21, 2008 12:33 PM in response to PlanetSK

How can you add a contact to favorites list using the iPhone SDK?

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Answer 11

cavenewt

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Jul 21, 2008 4:58 PM in response to CMZ

OK, here's the deal with me. I have an 8gb older iPhone with 2.0 firmware.

On a contact, when I add a phone number that contains a comma for a pause (whether the comma was originally added via the Mac, or directly on the phone using the Pause button), the number will not dial from the Contact card, but will dial if I add that contact to Favorites and then dial from the Favorites screen. Probably the same behavior happens with other characters (* and #).

However, then I rebooted the phone (holding down Home and Power) and now it works from the contact card too.

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Answer 12

Aug 18, 2008 6:42 AM in response to cavenewt

Has anyone found a way to include special characters in phone numbers?

My code looks like URLWithString:@"tel://*623311#" but anytime the app reaches the point where it should start dialing it just does nothing.

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