The Enterphone request form: what to write in each box

You moved into a Vancouver strata building, and somewhere in the move-in paperwork is a line that says Enterphone. Or the buzzer still calls the last tenant and the manager has emailed you a form. Either way, the form decides whose phone rings when someone is in the lobby.

This post is about filling that form in well. If you already know what you want and just need it changed, changing the number on an Enterphone covers who holds the login and why a second number is only a rollover.

What does an Enterphone request form ask for?

BC property managers do not share one standard form, but the ones we read ask for the same few things. Here are four real examples.

• A Form K addendum. One Vancouver Island strata manager attaches a Tenant Contact and Enterphone Authorization Form to the Form K. It asks for your unit number, your preferred last name and initial to be viewed on the enterphone, a phone number for programming the enterphone, and an email.
• A resident information sheet. Another Vancouver Island manager has boxes for Name(s) for Enterphone and Number for Enterphone, with a tick box for Long Distance or Local.
• An owner sheet with one line. A Vancouver property manager asks only for an Entry Phone Name on its owner and resident sheet. The number comes from the phone fields above it.
• No form at all. One downtown Vancouver strata tells residents whose Enterphone is not working to email the building manager with the phone number they want to use.

So the pattern is a name box, a number box, and your unit. Some forms add a local or long distance question. None of the BC forms we read asks you to choose a directory code.

What should you put in each box?

The display name

Visitors find you by scrolling a list of names. Use what a courier will see on the parcel. Some people use only a last name and initial for privacy, which is what one of those forms suggests. If several of you live there, a short form like Chen and Patel works, as long as the building allows it. One form asks for Name(s), so some expect more than one.

The phone number

Write it with the area code, all ten digits. Greater Vancouver is one local calling area, and 604, 778, 236 and 672 numbers are all local there. A number from another province may be refused or may not ring at all. One Vancouver intercom installer notes that an autodialer typically calls local numbers, and long distance numbers only if permitted.

Not sure about yours? The free buzzer number check tells you from your postal code and the first six digits whether a number is local to your building.

The directory code

This is the code a visitor keys in to call your suite. It belongs to the suite, not to you. If nobody has told you yours, ask for it in the same message as the form. You will want it for delivery instructions.

Which number do you give when several people live in the suite?

This is the box that causes the trouble. The form has one number line because the panel stores one number per suite. Whoever owns that number becomes the person who lets everyone in. Why every panel works this way.

If you live alone, the answer is easy. Put your own mobile number on the form and you are done. That costs nothing and it is the right choice for you.

With roommates or a partner, there are three real choices.

1. A number that rings everyone. BuzzMeBro gives the suite its own local number. When a visitor buzzes, up to 4 phones ring at the same time and whoever answers first opens the door.
2. The person who is home most. Free, and it works until that person is at work, asleep or in the shower.
3. Whoever filled in the form. This is what usually happens by accident, and it is why one roommate ends up as the doorbell for everyone.

What if management says only one number is allowed?

They are telling you how the panel works, not being difficult. One suite entry holds one telephone number. Where a building offers a second number at all, it is a rollover that rings only after the first one rings out, typically 20 to 30 seconds later.

So do not fight the one number rule. Make the one number count. Put a number on the form that rings every phone in the suite, and the panel never needs to know there are three of you.

How long does an Enterphone change take?

None of the BC forms we read gives a time, and it depends on the panel and who programs it. Ask when you hand the form in. Then test it.

1. Find your suite on the panel Scroll to the name you wrote on the form. If the old name is still there, the change has not been made yet.
2. Key in your code and let it ring The phone you put on the form should ring. If you used a BuzzMeBro number, every phone on the account should ring.
3. Answer and press the door key The key is set per building. One downtown Vancouver building uses 6, many use 9. Ask rather than guess.
4. Reply to the manager either way A short note saying it works, or exactly where it failed, saves a second round of emails.

What if there is no form, just an email?

Plenty of buildings handle it by email, like that downtown strata. Send the same three things a form would ask for: your suite number, the name to display, and the one phone number in full. The free buzzer number change message writes the email for you, and it has an option for a portal or web form too.

For the wider picture of buzzers in the city, see buzzers in Vancouver and the Vancouver apartment buzzer guide.

How do you avoid filing this form again?

Every time the number on file stops being right, someone fills in another form. A roommate moves out, a partner moves in, someone changes carrier. Each one is another email to the manager and another wait.

BuzzMeBro breaks that loop. The suite gets its own local Vancouver number, a 236, 778 or 672, and you put it on the Enterphone form once. When people move in or out, you change who rings on the BuzzMeBro website, and the number on the panel stays the same. A buzz arrives as an ordinary phone call, so nothing needs installing. It is $9.99 a month per apartment, and customer data is never sold or used to train AI, as the privacy policy commits. A local number is checked at signup. Check availability for your building.