Apartment buzzer app for Montreal
Yes, Enterkey works in Montreal. Whether the panel greets visitors in French, in English or in both makes no difference at all, because Enterkey never reads the screen; it answers the call the panel places. Numbers here come from 514, 438 and 263, and the app requests one near your existing line, so your entry keeps a familiar local number rather than a strange one.
- Area codes in this region
- 514, 438, 263
- Delivery services
- Uber Eats, DoorDash, SkipTheDishes, Instacart
Montreal facts we checked
- 464,420 of Montreal's 816,340 occupied private dwellings, 56.9 percent, are apartments in buildings under five storeys, the plex stock the city is built from. Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Profile, Ville de Montreal, 2021
- Only 130,615 dwellings, 16.0 percent, sit in buildings of five or more storeys. Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Profile, Ville de Montreal, 2021
- 519,020 private households rent rather than own, a 63.6 percent renter share. Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Profile, Ville de Montreal, 2021
- The 438 overlay took effect on 4 November 2006 and brought ten digit dialling to the region. Source: CBC News, Montreal area codes 514 and 438 are overworked, 2021
- 263 was reserved for future relief in Telecom Decision CRTC 2017-38 and placed in service on 22 October 2022. Source: CRTC Telecom Decision 2017-38, 2017, for the reservation; in-service date cross-checked against Wikipedia's area codes 514, 438 and 263 article, 2026
- Mircom, headquartered in Vaughan, Ontario, lists a Montreal branch among its Canadian offices. Source: Mircom Group of Companies, Contact Us page, accessed 2026
Does the language on a Montreal entry panel matter?
No. Enterkey never reads the panel, hears its prompts or navigates its menu. The panel places a telephone call to the number stored against your unit, and Enterkey answers that call. A French only display, an English one and a bilingual one all produce exactly the same outgoing call.
The same holds for the name shown on the directory. What reaches Enterkey is the call itself, not the label a visitor scrolled past to make it. A PIN is digits, spoken or typed, so nothing there depends on language either.
Language does come up in one place: asking for the change. The person who edits your entry is the owner or the building's manager, and the request is short in either language, which is simply to point the entry for this unit at this number.
How do Montreal plexes change the setup?
Most apartments in this city are not in towers. 464,420 dwellings, well over half the stock, sit in buildings under five storeys, against 130,615 in buildings of five or more. The duplex and the triplex are the default form of housing here.
With most apartments here in low rise stock, the panel you meet is more often a compact call box with a few buttons beside the door than a scrolling directory, though that is what the housing mix suggests rather than something the census measures. Either way each button still stores a number to dial, so the change Enterkey needs is identical to the one a hundred unit tower needs. The call box explainer covers these compact panels.
Some plexes have no telephone entry whatsoever, only a wired bell to a chime inside the flat. Those cannot forward anywhere at all, and the apartment buzzer guide explains how to tell the two apart in about a minute.
Which local number will a Montreal account get?
514 is one of the original 1947 codes. 438 was overlaid in November 2006, which is when ten digit dialling arrived across the region, and 263 was placed in service in October 2022 after being reserved years earlier.
Enterkey requests a line near your existing one, so an account here is matched to a local number. Close to two thirds of households in the city rent, and a familiar looking number is the least surprising thing to hand a manager for a directory entry.
Enterkey covers one building per account and works throughout Canada and the United States wherever a panel dials out. Mircom, the Vaughan headquartered manufacturer, keeps a Montreal branch among its offices, and the Mircom page covers telling whether its telephone entry hardware in your lobby dials out.
Frequently asked questions
The prompts on my panel are all in French. Does Enterkey need to understand them?
No. Those prompts are for the visitor standing at the door. Enterkey only ever receives the resulting telephone call, and a call sounds the same in every language.
PIN entry is digits, whether a guest types them or says them aloud, so that does not depend on the panel's language either.
I live in a triplex. Is there even anything to change?
If the button beside your door places a telephone call, then yes: that button holds a number, and the number can become your Enterkey one.
If it only rings a chime wired inside the flat, there is no call leaving the building and nothing to redirect.
Can I insist on a 514 number rather than 438 or 263?
Enterkey asks for a line close to the one you already use and takes what is free across 514, 438 and 263. The region has needed both of the newer codes: 438 was overlaid in November 2006 and 263 went into service in October 2022.
The panel dials whichever number sits on your entry, so in practice the code makes no difference to anything you experience.
Do I ask the landlord or the building's manager to change it?
Whoever administers the entry system. In a large building that is usually the property manager; in a small plex it is often the owner directly.
Ask them to update the directory entry for your unit to your Enterkey number. It is a settings change on the panel rather than a repair or an installation.
Enterkey gives you a local Montreal number your buzzer dials, then answers it for you. New members get the first month free.