Channel Separation Two channels during card capture. The agent's off-line.
What the agent does
Nothing. Wait for the green light.
How a call actually flows
Normal call
Agent
On the call
Connected
Customer
On the call
Both parties talking, business as usual
Card capture
Agent
Hold music
Audio split
Customer
Keys card on phone
Card data never reaches the agent or your systems
Reconnected
Agent
Back on the call
Connected
Customer
Payment confirmed
Conversation picks up where it left off
DTMF Masking or Channel Separation?
Two ways to do the same job. Both keep card data out of your business and drop you to SAQ A. The difference is what the agent does during card capture. See the full side-by-side.
DTMF Masking
Single channel. Agent stays on the line. Tones are suppressed in the live audio so the agent doesn't hear the digits.
Pick this if your agents handle complex calls and need to stay engaged through the payment step. Conversational throughout.
Read about DTMF Masking →Channel Separation
You're hereTwo channels. Agent's audio goes off-line during capture. Voice prompts run the flow on the customer leg.
Pick this if your compliance team wants a hard physical separation for audit, or if you'd rather agents had no involvement in the capture step at all.
What you get
No agent script
Voice prompts run the capture from start to finish. The agent presses one key and waits for the green light. Nothing to remember, nothing to fluff.
Recording stays clean
Hold music plays on the agent leg, voice prompts play on the customer leg, the recording keeps running. No silent gaps, no card data, nothing to redact later.
Same flow every call
Because Paytia runs the capture, not the agent, every call goes the same way. New starters take payments on day one.
Works from anywhere
Office, home, hybrid — doesn't matter. There's no secure-room requirement and no per-seat hardware to ship.
PCI DSS scope, before and after
PCI DSS Level 1
Paytia carries the highest level of PCI certification, so your scope drops the moment you connect.
| Area | Without Paytia | With Paytia |
|---|---|---|
| Self-assessment | SAQ D (329 controls) | SAQ A (22 controls) |
| Network in scope | Most of your stack | None |
| Call recordings | Pause-and-resume or redact | No restrictions |
| Staff training | Mandatory and recurring | None required |
Who uses it
If you take card payments on a phone call, this fits. A few of the patterns we see most.
Contact centres
Agents take card payments mid-call without touching card data. No secure-room build-out, no scope creep onto the rest of the floor.
- •Same flow for office and remote staff
- •No agent training
- •Zero scope on the contact-centre estate
Healthcare
Take patient co-pays, balances, and payment plans on the call. Card data never enters the clinical system.
- •Co-pays on the booking call
- •Payment plans set up live
- •No card data in patient records
Charities
Capture donations and recurring gifts on fundraising calls. No pledged-but-unpaid follow-up cycle.
- •Live one-off donations
- •Recurring gift setup
- •PCI handled, not yours
Service providers
Take deposits and final payments at the point of booking or service completion, instead of invoicing and chasing.
- •Pay-on-booking
- •Final payment on completion
- •Less invoice chasing
Frequently asked questions
What is Channel Separation?+
When it's time to take payment, we physically separate the audio between agent and customer. The customer enters card details on their own keypad while voice prompts guide them. The agent hears hold music and a progress indicator on screen. When the payment authorises, the audio reconnects.
How is Channel Separation different from DTMF Masking?+
Both keep card data out of your business. The difference is in how. With DTMF Masking the agent stays on the line throughout — tones are suppressed in the live audio so the agent doesn't hear digits. With Channel Separation the agent's audio path goes off-line completely during capture, and voice prompts run the flow. Pick Channel Separation if your compliance team wants a hard physical separation for audit, or if you don't want agents involved in the capture step at all.
Can the agent help if the customer gets stuck?+
Voice prompts handle the common cases — wrong number of digits, expired card, declined. If the customer needs human help, the agent can rejoin and either retry the capture or send a payment link instead. Most calls don't need it.
How does it reduce PCI DSS scope?+
Card data never touches your network, your agents, or your recording. Most businesses move from SAQ D (329 controls) to SAQ A (22 controls). The recording system stops being in scope because there's no card data in it to begin with.
Is staff training required?+
No. Agents press one key to start the capture and watch a progress indicator. There's no script and no procedure to remember. Roll-out is days.
Can Channel Separation be used for MOTO payments?+
Yes. It's built for card-not-present transactions over the phone — agent-assisted sales, mail-order, telephone-order, anywhere a customer reads card details over a call today.
“I wanted something that was as simple to set up and use as a virtual terminal or a point-of-sale card reader — but also had the flexibility to adapt as our usage and functional needs grow. I'm delighted to say that Paytia has achieved precisely that.”
Alison Wade
Head of Income and Performance, Pinnacle Group
Read the case study →Used by British American Tobacco · Howard Kennedy · CITB · Clinical Partners · Trinity Hall College
Since 2016
Building secure payments
PCI DSS Level 1
Highest certification
99.99%
Platform uptime
£400M+
Transactions processed
Want to see it on your telephony?
We'll set up a demo against the same phone system and gateway you already run. Most businesses are taking live payments within a week.
Trusted by law firms, insurers, healthcare providers and regulated businesses worldwide. Learn more about Paytia
Related solutions
Other ways to take payments in this channel.
DTMF Masking
Also called DTMF suppression. The customer types their card on their phone keypad. We mask the tones in the live audio so the agent doesn't hear them and the recording stays clean.
Learn moreMOTO Payments
Take Mail Order / Telephone Order payments without the card number reaching your agents, your recording, or your systems.
Learn moreAgent-Assisted Payments
Your agent stays on the live call while the customer keys their card. We mask the tones so no card data reaches the recording or the agent's audio.
Learn more