asterisk users - Sep 2005 - pound/hash key not recognized

Hi

I have registered a number with an external sip proxy which provides a
real telephone number.

I configured * to forward this number to an internal extension, this works.

Now, I am trying to forward the external number for incoming calls to a
macro, which includes Authenticate(). The authentication prompt comes up,
but when using an external pstn phone over my telephone number, the # key
is not recognized.

    exten => 49xxxxxxxxx,1,Goto(from-sip,1009,1)

    exten => 1009,1,Answer
    exten => 1009,2,Wait(1)
    exten => 1009,3,Authenticate(1234|a)
    exten => 1009,4,MusicOnHold(default)

If I dial directly from an internal sip device to 1009 the hash key works.
If I dial from a real telephone over pstn, the hash key is not recognized.

Thanks for help.

Arie