Why does my Enterphone work for my partner but not for me?

Each unit entry dials one number, so the second phone in your home only rings if something forwards the call to it. If your partner's phone is the number on the directory, your phone was never in the loop. A service that rings several phones from one directory number fixes this without a second directory entry.

Will turning on Wi-Fi calling break my Enterphone?

It can. Some Wi-Fi calling and VoIP connections compress the keypress tone the panel listens for, so the call connects but the door stays locked. If the door only fails at home, try the same call on cellular data before reporting a fault to your building.

Who pays to repair an Enterphone panel?

The panel is common property, so repairs belong to the strata corporation, landlord, or building owner, usually through their service contract. A resident only pays for anything on their own side of the call, such as their phone plan or a forwarding service.

Blog / How to Fix an Enterphone That Is Not Ringing Your Phone

How to Fix an Enterphone That Is Not Ringing Your Phone

By Ty · 2026-10-21

A friend is standing at your lobby Enterphone, they selected your name, and your phone never rang. Or it rang, you answered, you pressed the key to open the door, and they are still outside texting you a photo of the locked entrance. The panel works for your neighbours, so the problem is somewhere between that panel and your phone.

Most Enterphone failures that affect one unit come down to a handful of causes that are easy to miss because the call itself looks normal.

How to fix it

Work through these in order. Each one is a known way an Enterphone call fails for a single resident while the panel keeps working for everyone else.

Your phone is filtering the call. The panel calls from a number you never saved, so features like Silence Unknown Callers on iPhone, Android call screening, and carrier spam filters can send it straight to voicemail. Save the number that shows up when the panel calls as a contact, and check your carrier’s call control settings.
The call rings out before you answer. Panels give up after a set number of rings, often shorter than your voicemail delay. If you regularly reach the phone just as it stops, the panel’s timeout is shorter than your reaction time, especially from another room.
The panel cannot dial your number cleanly. Many Canadian panels are set to dial local numbers only. A number from another area code can be treated as long distance and fail silently. The Vancouver local number guide covers this in detail.
The door key tone is not reaching the panel. If the call connects but the door stays locked, the panel is not hearing your keypress. Press and hold the release key for a full second rather than tapping it, and try again on cellular data instead of Wi-Fi calling, which can mangle the tone.
The whole panel is down. If no one in the building can get buzzed, the panel’s own phone line or power has failed, and only your strata or property manager can get it serviced.

Option	Pros	Cons
Save the panel’s number as a contact on your phone	Free, stops filters from silencing it	Only fixes calls to that one phone
Hold the door release key and use cellular data	Free, fixes most locked door complaints	You still have to answer every time
Ask your building manager to point the Enterphone at a different phone	Gets calls to whoever is usually home	Still one phone, and every change goes through the building
Google Voice number on the Enterphone directory	Free, can ring a few phones	Same filtering and tone issues, no automatic entry
Lowkey	Rings every phone you add, auto buzzes in expected guests, guest passcodes, entry log	Quick one-time setup with your building

If the panel is down for everyone, report it and wait for the service visit. If it is only you, the first two fixes cost nothing and solve most cases.

Where Lowkey helps

The fragile part of an Enterphone is that one person has to catch one call in time. Lowkey for Enterphone gives your unit a dedicated virtual number for the directory, so a buzz rings the app on every phone in your household at once, and Lowkey can open the door itself when you are expecting someone. Guests can punch a 4-digit passcode into the Enterphone keypad, access for cleaners and dog walkers can run on a schedule and expire on its own, and every entry is logged. It works with any buzzer that dials out to a phone number, which covers most Enterphone panels, and there is nothing to install.