A system and method for generating Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) tones in the media gateway of a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network. The method includes receiving a DTMF signal in a media gateway controller, where the DTMF signal can be a stop tone request, or a start tone request, sending the DTMF signal from the media gateway controller to the media gateway, monitoring the status of a set of timers, where the set of timers includes a minimum tone duration timer, an inter tone timer, and a maximum tone duration timer, and responding to the received DTMF signal, said status of said timers, or a queued request. The system includes a media gateway, a plurality of timers within the media gateway, a media gateway controller, a finite state machine within the media gateway, where the finite state machine includes the following states: No Tone, Play Tone, Queue Stop Request, Inter Tone Timing, Queue Start Request, and Ready to Stop Tone.