Can my parent’s apartment buzzer ring my phone too?

The buzzer rings your mother’s phone. She is in the bath, or asleep, or the phone is in another room, and the personal support worker is standing in the lobby. The pharmacy driver leaves. You hear about it that evening.

This is one of the most common reasons a grown child wants to be on a parent’s buzzer, and the building usually says it cannot be done. The building is right about the panel and wrong about the problem.

Why the building says no

A lobby panel keeps one phone number per apartment. When a visitor picks your parent’s unit, it dials that number and nothing else. There is no second field to type yours into. Why your buzzer only rings one number explains the hardware.

Some buildings will add your name to the directory display. That changes what a visitor reads, not what gets dialled.

How to get both phones ringing

The second phone goes behind the number, not in the panel. BuzzMeBro gives the apartment its own local number. The building stores it once, and every phone on the list rings at the same time when someone buzzes. Whoever answers first presses the door digit, usually 9, and the door opens.

1. Get a number for the apartment Sign up with the apartment’s postal code. BuzzMeBro checks a local number is available for that building before any card is asked for.
2. Add your parent’s phone and yours Up to 4 phones in total. A sibling or a regular caregiver can go on the list too, if your parent agrees.
3. Send the building one request Property management stores the new number for the unit. The message to send.
4. Test it together Buzz the unit from the lobby. Both phones should ring at once, and either of you should be able to open the door.

A buzz arrives as an ordinary phone call. Your parent does not install anything or learn an app. If they can answer a call and press a number, they can answer the door, exactly as before.

Keeping your parent in charge of their own door

Being on the buzzer means you can open the building door from wherever you are. That is the point, and it is also a reason to set it up with your parent rather than for them.

• Agree on who answers first. Most families settle on the parent answering, with you picking up only if it keeps ringing.
• Everyone sees changes. Each person on the list gets a text when someone is added or removed, so nobody is added quietly.
• Quiet hours are per person. You can keep your phone quiet overnight while your parent’s still rings, or the other way round.
• Guests without you answering. A regular visitor can be sent a guest pass, so the caregiver lets themselves in at the agreed time.

The free ways, and where they fall short

One honest concession first. If your parent is almost always home and quick to the phone, leave their number on the panel and pay nobody. The rest of this is for when that is no longer true.

Putting your number on the panel instead means every buzz rings you, at work, across town. Your parent stops answering their own door, which most parents do not want. Call forwarding moves the buzz to one phone at a time, so it is never both of you. Why forwarding is not sharing.

BuzzMeBro is $9.99 a month for the apartment, with the first month free, and rings your parent and you together. Start free.