Cancelling your home phone without losing the buzzer
Cancel the home phone only after your building confirms how the lobby panel reaches your unit. If it dials out to a stored number, get a replacement number stored first, test it from the lobby, then cancel. If it rings through the suite phone wiring, ask whether a phone plugged into the jack still works without service. Doing it in that order avoids a day when nobody can buzz you in.
Live with others? BuzzMeBro puts more than one of you on the buzzer. First month free. Start free
Cancelling first and finding out afterwards works in some buildings and leaves you locked out in others. The difference is knowable in advance with one email.
First, find out which system you have
There are two phone-based designs. Mircom’s TX3 manual describes both. An autodialer panel has its own phone line and calls a number stored for each resident. A “no subscriber line” system instead rings the existing phone lines into the suites.
With an autodialer panel, your home phone has nothing to do with the buzzer unless its number is the one stored, and a new number fixes that. With a system that rings the suite wiring, the buzz arrives on the phone plugged into your wall jack. DoorKing says its 1816 system works even when the resident has no phone company service, so ask whether yours does the same. How to check yourself.
The order that avoids a gap (dial-out panels)
- Confirm the system type in writing One email to property management, using the wording above.
- Choose the number that replaces it It has to be a local call from the building. If more than one person lives there, choose one that can ring more than one of you.
- Have the building store the new number Your existing setup keeps working until they make the change, so there is no gap.
- Test from the lobby Enter your unit code, answer, open the door once. Only now is the buzzer off the old line.
- Cancel the line With the building’s confirmation saved where you can find it.
What to write when you ask them.
What goes wrong
| Mistake | What happens |
|---|---|
| Cancelling first, asking later | Nobody can buzz you in until a new number is stored |
| Storing a number that is long distance from the building | The panel cannot complete the call, and it looks like a fault |
| Storing one roommate mobile | Works only while that one person is free to answer |
| Not testing after the building confirms | A typo in the stored number shows up when a courier is waiting |
The second one is the quiet one. Why an out-of-province number fails.
What goes on the panel instead
The panel needs a number it can reach as a local call. Your mobile qualifies if it is local to the building and you live alone, and that costs nothing.
For everyone else, BuzzMeBro gives the apartment a number that is local to the building and rings up to 4 phones at once, for $9.99 a month. Cancelling the line then does not move the job of opening the door onto one person. Start free.
From our own door
- BuzzMeBro has run on our founder’s own Toronto apartment door since August 2026.
- Switching to our number means the building updates one stored number for your unit and nothing else. Pointing it back at the old number undoes it the same day.
- We only give an apartment a number that is local to the building’s calling area, because many panels only dial local numbers. We check this from the postal code before any card is taken.
Questions people ask
Will my buzzer stop the moment I cancel?
If the panel dials your home phone number, yes, until a new number is stored. If the panel dials a different number, cancelling changes nothing. If the system rings the suite wiring, ask the building whether a plugged-in phone works without service.
Can I keep the same number and drop the service?
Not as a working buzzer number. A number without service does not receive calls, so the panel dials into nothing. What you want is a different number stored against the unit before the old one goes away.
How long does the building take?
It varies by building and by who services the panel. Ask for confirmation by email, and plan the cancellation date around that reply rather than the other way round.
What if I cancelled already and the buzzer is dead?
Ask the building the system question straight away. If the panel dials out, you need a working number stored and you are back as soon as they enter it. If it rings the suite wiring, ask whether a phone plugged into the jack works without service.
Is there anything to install?
No. With BuzzMeBro the buzz arrives as an ordinary call on the phone you already carry, and the door opens by pressing a digit during that call. The apartment ends up with fewer things plugged in, not more.