Any way to insert a pause in a number?

I've got a number ported over from my old phone which includes a 'p' for pause and a '#'. The iPhone won't dial the number. Is there any solution to this? Does the iPhone have its own characters for these things? Thanks.

Posted on Jul 31, 2008 3:06 AM

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Posted on Jul 31, 2008 12:35 PM

YES! But you have to edit the phone number for the contact from your iPhone, not on your PC.

On your iPhone, go to your contacts, then touch the contact you want to make changes to. Then press the 'edit' button in the upper right corner. Then touch the arrow on the right of number you want to edit. Enter the number, and use the '+*#' button on the lower-left to get to the special keys - on that alternate keyboard you will find the proper buttons to insert pauses and # or * into your dialing strings.

I have a conference bridge that requires # and pauses to start up. I set up a dialing string and all I have to do is choose the contact and wait while my iPhone does all the entries for me! Enjoy.
4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 31, 2008 12:35 PM in response to SimonT

YES! But you have to edit the phone number for the contact from your iPhone, not on your PC.

On your iPhone, go to your contacts, then touch the contact you want to make changes to. Then press the 'edit' button in the upper right corner. Then touch the arrow on the right of number you want to edit. Enter the number, and use the '+*#' button on the lower-left to get to the special keys - on that alternate keyboard you will find the proper buttons to insert pauses and # or * into your dialing strings.

I have a conference bridge that requires # and pauses to start up. I set up a dialing string and all I have to do is choose the contact and wait while my iPhone does all the entries for me! Enjoy.

Aug 2, 2008 6:19 AM in response to SimonT

Yes, I saw the same. My phone has been slow and finicky in some ways since the upgrade. I hope the next software update fixes it. What I had to do was play around with it. Hit the home button, go in through phone, then contacts, as against using the contacts button from the home screen. I have two numbers set up this way so I can place International calls using a phone card. I just tried it again and confirmed the bug. Dialing after going in from the Contacts link on the home screen does not work.

PS: Unfortunately, for me there was nothing pleasant about "listening" to iPhone do the dialing. After the first pause, every single number dialed is audible, and there's no way that I know of to turn it off!! But this is still much better than having to write down numbers when I paid a bunch of $$$ for this phone and service! My initial preference was for speed dialing during a call, so you could enter phone numbers, credit card numbers (not too smart to save this on your phone, I guess, but still!), conference numbers and passwords, etc. Go, Apple folks, you can do it!!! 🙂

Aug 1, 2008 12:33 AM in response to Robert Scott4

Thanks Robert. Hadn't spotted those.

However, it's still not working for me. The number I've entered is in this format :

123456789,1234#123123#

This is for a voicemail system, so that's the number followed by a pause, followed by a username, followed by a passcode. My Contacts are synced with my employer's Exchange server. When I tap on the number to place the call nothing happens. The box flashes blue as I tap, but that's it.

Is anyone else seeing the same? I'm wondering if it's somehow related to being an Exchange contact, or whether the format I've used isn't valid on the iPhone.

Aug 1, 2008 9:57 PM in response to SimonT

Did you try inserting multiple pauses? I have 3 in mine after the initial dial, just to give the phone a chance to actually connect. Makes for a short delay on the phone, but it really doesn't bother me all that much. On another contact (for voicemail, actually) our Nortel system takes FOREVER to pick up and go to a prompt, I have 5 pauses in there between the number and the string for my mailbox and password.

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Any way to insert a pause in a number?

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