Two kinds of Toronto intercom, and why only one can ring your phone
Toronto buildings run two kinds of entry system. A hardwired intercom connects the lobby to a handset inside your apartment over building wiring and never dials a phone number. A dial-out panel places an ordinary phone call to one number stored against your unit. Only the second kind can ever ring a mobile, and it is the kind BuzzMeBro works with.
This is the first question to answer and almost nobody asks it. Half the frustration around Toronto buzzers is people trying to solve a hardwired building with a phone number.
The thirty second test
Walk to your apartment door and look at the wall beside it.
- A handset on a cradle, or a flat speaker plate with a button: hardwired.
- Nothing at all, and the lobby buzz arrives on your phone: a dial-out panel.
- Nothing at all, and the lobby buzz arrives nowhere: a dial-out panel with a wrong or unreachable number stored.
The third case is the one worth chasing, because it looks like the first and behaves like a fault. How to tell those apart.
What a hardwired system is
Dedicated wiring runs from the lobby station to a station in each apartment. Pressing a unit rings the box on that wall. The door release is a button on the box.
There is no phone number anywhere in that chain, which is why no phone number can join it. Older Scarborough and North York rental stock is full of these, and so are plenty of downtown walk-ups.
What a dial-out panel is
A telephone entry panel is a dialler with a directory. Each unit gets a row holding a name, a code and one phone number. Pressing the code makes the panel place a real phone call.
Mircom, Enterphone and DoorKing panels in Toronto all work this way, which is why the buzz arrives on your phone as an ordinary call. The chain in detail.
| Hardwired intercom | Dial-out panel | |
|---|---|---|
| Box in your apartment | Yes | No |
| Rings a phone number | No | Yes |
| Can reach your mobile | No | Yes |
| Can ring several phones | No | Yes, with the right number stored |
| Needs a phone line in your unit | No | No, the panel uses the building line |
The version in the middle
Some older Toronto buildings ran the entry system down the same copper that carried each apartment phone line. Those need an active line in the unit, and they are the origin of the belief that a buzzer requires a landline.
They are also the systems most exposed to copper being switched off. What that means for your building.
If yours is a dial-out panel, which most Toronto buildings now have, the useful move is choosing what number goes in that one field. BuzzMeBro puts a number there that is local to the building and rings up to 4 phones for $11.99 a month. Get your number.
Questions people ask
How do I know which system my building has without asking?
Look at the wall beside your apartment door. A handset or speaker plate means hardwired. Nothing there, and a buzz that reaches a phone, means a dial-out panel.
Can a hardwired intercom be forwarded to my phone?
Not by you. There is no phone call to forward, only building wiring between two boxes. Some buildings add a dialler alongside the old system, but that is a building decision and a building expense.
My building has both. What does that mean?
Usually that a dialler was added later and the old handsets were left on the walls. Test it: if pressing your unit code rings a phone, the dialler is live and that is the system that matters to you.
Does a dial-out panel need a phone line in my apartment?
No. The panel dials on the building line, not on yours. Your apartment needs no phone service at all for a dial-out system to reach a mobile.
Which system does BuzzMeBro work with?
Dial-out panels, which is what most Toronto buildings have. BuzzMeBro gives the panel a number that is local to your building and rings every phone in the apartment when that number is called.