How to identify which intercom your building has
Identify your building intercom by reading three things at the lobby panel: the brand name on the faceplate, the display style, and any service sticker nearby. Makers such as Mircom, Enterphone and DoorKing print their name on the plate, and their manuals are online. Then answer the question that matters most: does the panel dial an outside phone number, or ring something wired into your suite?
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Buildings sometimes say "our system cannot do that". Sometimes that is true. Knowing the make and model is how you check, because the manual says what the panel can store and who can change it.
Most of this you can do standing in your own lobby in a few minutes.
Why does the make of your intercom matter?
- It decides whether a phone number can ring at all. Some panels dial the public phone network. Others ring a phone or a station in your suite over the building’s own wiring.
- It decides who changes your number, and how. A current Enterphone is edited in a web browser. A DoorKing 1835 is programmed with a master code at the keypad or from a PC. A Mircom TX3 takes a passcode at the keypad or its configuration software.
- It gives you the manual. Quoting the right page is how a vague "cannot be done" becomes a clear answer.
What can you tell from the faceplate?
Go to the main entrance and look at the metal plate around the keypad. The brand is usually printed near the speaker grille, along the bottom edge, or under the display.
| Name on the plate | What it usually is | What that means for your phone |
|---|---|---|
| MIRCOM | A Mircom TX3, with a large scrolling directory screen | Can dial an outside number (auto dialer mode) or ring your suite line (NSL mode). One phone number per resident record. What the TX3 holds |
| ENTERPHONE, sometimes with VISCOUNT or HIRSCH | An Enterphone panel, old or current | Either dials out, or rings your suite phone over building wiring with no number stored. How Enterphone stores it |
| DOORKING or DKS | A DoorKing 1810, 1835, 1837 or a related model, common on gates and townhouse complexes too | Dials an ordinary phone number. One number per directory code. What a DoorKing holds |
| Another maker’s name | Many makers build both phone-dialling panels and systems wired to a monitor in each suite | Look up the model on the maker’s site, or ask the building the dial-out question below |
| A large glass touchscreen with a camera and a resident search box | A smart video intercom | The buzz may go to a resident app rather than a phone number. Ask the building how residents are set up |
| Paper name strips behind a window, no display | An older panel of any brand | Could be either kind. Test it rather than guessing |
Where is the model number written?
The brand is on the outside. The model is usually on the inside, on a label on the back of the faceplate or on the controller board. That panel is locked, and it belongs to the building.
- Photograph the whole panel One wide shot and one close shot of any lettering. Include the display while it is idle.
- Check the trim and the edges Look along the bottom lip, the hinge side and any small plate beside the panel.
- Look for a service sticker Intercom contractors often leave a sticker with a phone number in the vestibule or beside the panel. That company knows what is installed.
- Ask the superintendent Whoever calls the contractor when the door breaks usually knows the brand by name.
- Email property management with two questions Ask for the make and model of the entry panel, and ask whether it dials an outside phone number. The second question decides everything.
How do you tell a dial-out panel from a hardwired one?
This is the question underneath the brand question, and you can often answer it from your own suite.
- A handset or video monitor on the wall by your door. Likely a hardwired system that rings that station over dedicated wiring.
- Nothing on the wall, and the buzz rings a phone plugged into your wall jack. Possibly a no phone bill system that uses the building’s phone wiring, such as an Enterphone EPX or a Mircom TX3 in NSL mode. No outside number is stored.
- Nothing on the wall, and the buzz reaches somebody’s mobile. A dial-out panel. It places an ordinary call to one number stored for your unit.
- Nothing on the wall, and the buzz reaches nobody. Probably a dial-out panel with a wrong or dead number in it.
Some hardwired systems can be fitted with an add-on that passes a call to a phone line or an app, at the building’s cost. Ask before you rule it out. The full comparison of the two types covers what each can and cannot do, and three ways to find what number is stored helps if you are still unsure.
Your panel dials out. What do you do next?
Once you know the panel places a real call, the only thing left is which number sits in that one field. The chain in full is short: the panel calls, you answer, you press a digit, and a tone travels back down the call to release the door. The digit is set per building: Mircom ships 9, current Enterphone ships 6.
If you live alone and the panel simply has the wrong number in it, ask the building to change the entry to your mobile. That costs nothing and it is the right answer for one person.
BuzzMeBro: paid, and more than one phone can ring at once
With roommates or a partner, the one stored number is the weak spot. BuzzMeBro gives your apartment its own local phone number, which goes into the panel like any other number. When a visitor buzzes your unit, every phone registered to the apartment that is set to ring is called at the same time, up to 4, and whoever answers first can open the door. It is $9.99 a month or $95.00 a year per apartment. A local number is checked at signup, and a building with none available goes on a waitlist.
Carrier call forwarding: free, but it moves the buzz instead of sharing it
Basic forwarding sends the buzzer call from one phone to one other phone. Your roommate gets the delivery or you do, never both. What forwarding does and does not do.
Google Voice: free, but test the door digit before you rely on it
A Google Voice number can ring several phones. The door digit is an audio tone that has to survive the extra step the call takes, so press it once from the lobby before you depend on it. More on Google Voice and buzzers.
Identifying the panel is the cheap part, and it is worth doing before you spend anything. Once you know it dials out, BuzzMeBro puts a number in that field that rings the roommates you choose, at once. Check whether your building has a number.
From our own door
- BuzzMeBro has run on our founder’s own Toronto apartment door since August 2026.
- Switching a panel to a BuzzMeBro number means the building updates the one stored number for your unit and nothing else. Pointing it back at the old number undoes it the same day.
- Phones on Do Not Disturb or silent miss buzzes. Saving the buzzer number as a contact and allowing it through Do Not Disturb (Emergency Bypass on iPhone) is what lets it ring.
Questions people ask
My lobby panel has no brand name on it. How do I identify it?
Photograph the panel and show it to your superintendent, or email property management and ask for the make and model of the entry system. A blank plate may be a replacement faceplate over older electronics.
Does knowing the intercom model change what I can ask my building for?
It helps. Mircom, DoorKing and Hirsch publish their manuals online, so you can point to the field your unit uses and who can edit it. That turns a general "the system cannot do that" into a specific question.
My building has a big touchscreen panel. Can I still put a phone number on it?
Often, but it depends on the system. Smart video panels usually send the buzz to a resident app, and some can also call a phone number. On current Enterphone systems, for example, the suite phone number is the fallback when the app call fails. Ask the building how yours is set up.
The panel calls my phone but the call goes to voicemail. Is that the intercom model?
Usually not. Call screening for unknown numbers, Do Not Disturb or a carrier spam filter on your phone can send a panel’s call to voicemail. That problem sits on the receiving phone, not on the panel.
Does BuzzMeBro need to know which intercom my building has?
No. BuzzMeBro gives your apartment a local phone number and the building stores it in the panel like any other number. What matters is that the panel dials an outside phone number. A system that only rings a station or a phone on your suite’s wiring cannot be given an outside number by anybody.
Sources
- Mircom, TX3 Telephone Access System Programming Manual (LT-979, Version 3.1)
- Hirsch, Enterphone Solution Guide
- DoorKing, Owner’s Manual 1833, 1834, 1835, 1837: PC Programmable Telephone Entry and Access Control Systems
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), Viscount Systems, Inc. Annual Report (Form 10-K) for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015