Phone numbers with "pause character" not working same as first-gen iPhone

Question

Is this a bug?
When I configure a phone number in my contact list to use the "pause" character (which shows up as a comma character in the display) a number of strange things happen.
For instance, if I configure the following: (###) ###-#### ,,**2216464#
where (###) ###-#### is my office phone number
,, is a pause to allow for the automated attendent to pick-up
** is recognized by my phone system as a transfer to my voice mailbox
2216464 is my voice mailbox
# is a termination character recognized by my phone system.
Using my first-generation iPhone, this worked fine.
Using my new iPhone 3G, this no longer works.
Some observations:
When directly using the touchpad on the iPhone, it appears to send DTMF tones as quickly and for as long as you hold your finger on the keypad. But, if you configure a phone number in the contact list and that phone number has a pause in it, each number configured after the pause will actuate for several seconds. The tone for each number (in this case, the 2216464) last SO long that my phone system gives up on the call and, basically, terminates the call. In addition, the inter-digit time is SO small as to be non-existant. In other words, in my sample phone number, the leading two digit of my mailbox number sound like they are expressed by the iPhone as a single, extra-long tone. There should be a longer pause between the first two digits. If I attempt to break them apart by inserting a pause (displayed as a comma), the pause is SO long that, again, my phone system gives up.
So, in summary:
Why did this change between the first generation and second generation iPhones?
Also, why is the pause "character" SO LONG? Instead of making a pause character, say, four seconds, why not make it one second and let the user put in four pauses if they want a four-second pause?
Why does the character length appear to extend after use of a pause character?
Why is the inter-digit pause practically non-existant?
Thanks.
Ken

Answer 1

I'm having the same issue. I just got the phone last week and was trying to call a number with an extension. After realizing that Address book does not have an extension field I reformatted the phone number using the "pause" (comma). With this in place it will not dial the number. Remove the pause however, and it will dial the root phone number.
Please tell me this is just a bug and will be fixed soon. It's bad enough that I've had to spend the last week reworking my contacts in Address Book after having to jump ship from my Palm software. As a business user it is a regular piece of daily business to encounter the automated receptionist asking for someone's extension. Since the iPhone doesn't show the number you just dialed (the extension is in there after the "x" but it doesn't recognize it) you end up having to memorize the extension prior to making each call.