Posted in community forums, AI directed me here? -- https://community.retellai.com/t/press-digit-always-returns-success-false-dtmf-never-works/631 Summary The press_digit tool is configured and being called, but every single call returns success: false. DTMF tones are never actually sent. This affects ALL carriers, not just one. Evidence Reviewed last 20 calls across multiple carriers. Every press_digit call fails: call_8e9633aa7b2eda4d15f1be486f8 (UNUM) - press_digit at 52.1s, success: false call_46c5f2c63d4a24601fc901247ae (Delta Dental) - press_digit at 23.9s, success: false call_041f4df9ab26187362b05f0d7ed (Delta Dental) - 20+ press_digit calls, ALL success: false Why Some Calls Still Succeed Carriers like Delta Dental accept voice input (“Provider”, “Yes”, “All benefits”), so the AI navigates via speech. Carriers like UNUM require actual button presses (“please press one”) and fail completely since DTMF never sends. Our Configuration Agent ID: agent_f8a7bc4f9b59a506bc5b9aa7df LLM ID: llm_87d92f945f2014ad446b32281418 Model: claude-4.5-haiku press_digit is in general_tools with type: “press_digit” \ Tool Definition {“name”:“press_digit”,“type”:“press_digit”,“description”:"Press a digit on the phone keypad for IVR navigation",“parameters”:{“type”:“object”,“properties”:{“digit”:{“type”:“string”,“enum”:[“0”,“1”,“2”,“3”,“4”,“5”,“6”,“7”,“8”,“9”,“*”,“#”]}},“required”:[“digit”]}} Questions 1. What does success: false mean? Is DTMF not being sent at all? 2. Is there additional configuration needed beyond adding press_digit to general_tools? 3. Is this a known issue with certain phone number types or telephony providers? 4. Can you check our account/agent configuration to see what’s wrong? Impact This blocks all calls to carriers requiring DTMF input (UNUM, likely others). We need DTMF working for production.

hello

hi shah

are you using custom telephony provider?

No, we're using Retell AI's built-in telephony for voice calls

ok I will share it with the team

ok, thanks, hopefully we can resolve quickly as i'm completely blocked til then

Hi, team has checked the call and the agent is pressing the button. However the problem is due to agent is pressing number to early. you can increase the pause time in puase detection delay by adding 500-2000 extra above the current time.

i tried that several dozen times, unsucessful

Could you provide  call ids after that? recent