DTMF (Dual Tone Multi-frequency), better known as touch-tone, is used for
telecommunication signaling over analog telephone lines in the voice-frequency band.
DTMF is the signal sent from the IP phone to the network, which is generated when
pressing the IP phone’s keypad during a call. Each key pressed on the IP phone
generates one sinusoidal tone of two frequencies. One is generated from a high
frequency group and the other from a low frequency group.
The DTMF keypad is laid out in a 4× 4 matrix, with each row representing a low
frequency, and each column representing a high frequency. Pressing a digit key (such
as '1') will generate a sinusoidal tone for each of two frequencies (697 and 1209 hertz
(Hz)).
DTMF Keypad Frequencies:
Three methods of transmitting DTMF digits on SIP calls:
RFC 2833 --DTMF digits are transmitted by RTP Events compliant to RFC 2833.
INBAND -- DTMF digits are transmitted in the voice band.
SIP INFO -- DTMF digits are transmitted by the SIP INFO messages.
The method of transmitting DTMF digits is configurable on a per-line basis.
RFC 2833
DTMF digits are transmitted using the RTP Event packets that are sent along with the
voice path. These packets use RFC 2833 format and must have a payload type that
matches what the other end is listening to. The payload type for the RTP Event packets is