Product comparison

DTMF Suppression vs Channel Separation

Both keep card data out of your business and drop you from SAQ D to SAQ A. The difference is what your agent does during card capture. Here's how to pick.

The short version

  • Pick DTMF Suppression if your agents need to stay engaged through the payment step. The agent stays on the line and can talk the customer through the capture.
  • Pick Channel Separation if your compliance team wants a hard physical separation for audit, or if you'd rather agents had no involvement in the capture step.
  • Either way, card data never reaches your network, your agents, or your call recording. Both drop you to SAQ A.

Side by side

DTMF SuppressionChannel Separation
Audio architectureSingle channel, tones suppressed in real timeTwo channels, agent's audio off-line during capture
Agent during captureStays on the line, can talk customer throughHears hold music, watches a progress indicator
Card data destinationStraight from customer's handset to PaytiaStraight from customer's handset to Paytia
What's in the recordingFlat replacement tones, no card dataHold music on agent leg, no card data
Best forConversational sales, retention, complex callsHigh-compliance environments, hands-off capture
PCI scope outcomeSAQ D → SAQ A (329 → 22 controls)SAQ D → SAQ A (329 → 22 controls)
Telephony requiredAny modern CCaaS, PBX, or SIPAny modern CCaaS, PBX, or SIP
Time to liveDays to a weekDays to a week
Training requiredNone — one keypress to startNone — one keypress to start
Also calledDTMF Masking

How to decide

Choose DTMF Suppression if…

  • Your agents handle complex calls and need to stay engaged through the payment
  • You upsell or cross-sell during payment and don't want a break in the conversation
  • Your customers tend to need help reading their card or correcting digits
  • You want the simplest implementation against existing telephony
Read about DTMF Suppression →

Choose Channel Separation if…

  • Your compliance team wants a hard physical separation, not just a logical one
  • You want agents to have no possible involvement in the capture step at all
  • The payment is routine and doesn't need agent input — voice prompts can run the flow
  • You operate in a sector (e.g. financial services) where audit teams want maximum separation evidence
Read about Channel Separation →

Want the long version? How to think about the choice digs into the compliance, customer-trust, and cost trade-offs in detail.

What's the same on both

Card data never enters your network, your agents, or your call recording. Both products run on the same PCI DSS Level 1 Paytia platform and connect to the same payment gateways — Stripe, Barclaycard, Worldpay, Adyen, Tyl by NatWest, Ryft, and others.

Both move you from SAQ D (329 controls) to SAQ A (22 controls). Both work with any modern telephony — Genesys, Five9, Amazon Connect, NICE CXone, 8x8, RingCentral, Talkdesk, traditional PBX, and plain SIP trunks. Both go live in days, not weeks.

Switching from one to the other later is a configuration change, not a re-implementation. So if you start with DTMF Suppression and your compliance team later asks for Channel Separation, you're not rebuilding anything.

Frequently asked questions

Are these two products or one?

Two products. They share the same outcome — card data never enters your business — but the underlying audio architecture is different. DTMF Suppression keeps a single audio channel and strips the keypad tones in real time. Channel Separation splits the call into two channels and takes the agent off-line during capture. Both are sold and supported separately, but most customers only need one.

Which is more secure?

Both deliver the same compliance outcome — SAQ A, no card data on your network, no card data in recordings. Channel Separation gives compliance teams a stronger story for audit because the agent's audio path is physically off-line during capture, but the actual scope reduction is identical.

Can we switch between them later?

Yes. Both run on the same Paytia platform with the same gateway integration. Switching is a configuration change, not a re-implementation.

Which works better with our existing telephony?

Both work with any modern telephony — Genesys, Five9, Amazon Connect, NICE, 8x8, Talkdesk, RingCentral, 3CX, traditional PBX, and plain SIP. We'll assess your setup before recommending one over the other.

Which costs more?

Pricing is the same per transaction. Setup effort is similar — most customers are live within a week on either product. Talk to us about a quote for your call volumes.

Not sure which one fits?

Tell us about your telephony and how your agents work today. We'll recommend one and show you a demo on a call flow that looks like yours.

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