• Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website or application. Your web browser (such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox) then sends these cookies back to the website on each subsequent visit so that they can remember things like preferences.

    Cookies are very useful and do lots of different jobs. For example, they enable you to move between our web pages efficiently, they remember your preferences when you visit us again and generally improve your experience when browsing with us.

    Cookies last for different lengths of time depending on the job they do. There are session cookies and persistent cookies:

    • Session cookies only last for your online session and disappear from your device when you close your browser
    • Persistent cookies stay on your device after the browser has been closed and last for the period of time specified in the cookie
  • We will only read or write cookies for the preference level you set when you first visit our website.

    Please note that cookies set before you changed your settings will still be on your computer. You can remove them using your browser settings.

    Our free online tool can help you manage the cookies we use on btplc.com. To use it, your web browser needs to support JavaScript – if it doesn't you can still find out about the cookies we use on this page, but you'll need to manage them through your web browser settings.

    We also use a cookie to remember your cookie preferences. This means:

    • If you delete all your cookies you will have to update your preferences with us again – we’ll ask you when you next visit our website
    • If you use a different device, computer profile or browser you will have to tell us your preferences again

The cookies we use

The cookies used on our website fall into one of four categories: strictly necessary, performance, functional and targeting.

  • Strictly necessary cookies let you move around the website and use essential features like secure areas.

    We use these strictly necessary cookies to:

    • Rember information you've entered on forms when you visit different pages in a single web browser session
    • Identify you as being logged in to our website
    • Make sure you connect to the right service on our website when we make any changes to the way the website works   

    Cookies we have defined as strictly necessary will NOT be used to:

    • Gather information that could be used to advertise products or services to you
    • Remember your preferences beyond your current visit

    Our strictly necessary cookies

    Vendor Cookie Domain Cookie Name Purpose Duration
    TrustArc bt.com

    TAconsentID

    notice_preferences

    cmapi_cookie_privacy

    cmapi_gtm_bl

    These cookies names are associated with TrustArc. The data is used to collect and record consent decisions.

    notice_behavior is a session cookie. All other cookies are persistent cookies that persist in the browser for up to 13 months

    13 months
    notice_gdpr_prefs 2 years
    LivePerson home.gotham.bt.com,
    bt.com, shop.bt.com
    LPVID These cookie names are associated with LivePerson. They enable the option of Live Chat so you can receive appropriate support from a BT agent. 1 year
    BT Group bt.com, home.bt.com

    bt_cookie_policy

    vtmvisD

    plcecsite

    This cookie tracks the value from allow cookie popup for true/false based user selection

    This cookies are associated with user actions and login authentications

    session
    Smarterclick bt.com smc_not Smarterclick cookie for tracking user behaviour and presenting targeted ads. 3 years
  • Performance cookies collect information about how you use our website. For example, which pages you visit and if you experience any errors. These cookies are essential to us being able to operate and maintain our website.

    These cookies don't collect any information that could identify you – all the information collected is anonymous.

    Accepting these cookies is a condition of using the website, so if you prevent them we cannot guarantee how our site will perform for you.

    In some cases, some performance cookies are managed for us by third parties, but we don't allow the third party to use the cookies for any purpose other than those listed below.

    We use performance cookies to:

    • Provide statistics on how our website is used
    • Help us improve the website by measuring any errors that occur
    • Test different designs of our website

    Cookies we have defined as performance will NOT be used to: 

    • Gather information that could be used to advertise products or services to you on other websites
    • Remember your preferences or username beyond your current visit
    • Target adverts to you on any other website

    Our performance cookies

    Vendor Cookie Domain Cookie Name Purpose Duration
    Adobe Target bt.com mbox This cookie name is associated with Adobe (Target) and records a unique browser identifier (Session ID). The data allows BT to run tests to optimise customer experience or a business/technical outcome. We may also use this data to personalise your onsite experience through showing different content or experiences which we believe will be of interest to you. 30 mins
    Decibel decibelinsight.net, bt.com da_lid These cookie names are associated with Decibel and allow BT to monitor and review your journeys on BT websites, to provide BT with insights on how to improve your on-site experience. 30 mins
    Medallia bt.com

    Tld-kampyleUserSessionsCount

    Tld-kampyleUserSession

    Tld-kampyleSessionPageCounter

    Tld-kampyleUserPercentile

    kampyle_userid

    These cookie names are associated with Medallia and provides 'Voice of the customer' and analytics information to BT via feedback and pop up surveys. BT uses this information to improve your experience. 1 year
    Siteimprove Analytics  bt.com nmstat This cookie is used to help record the visitor’s use of the website. 2 years
    Google Analytics bt.com _ga_19536D3EL2 To identify the unique users 2 years
  • Functional cookies are used to provide services or to remember settings to improve your visit.

    You decide whether or not these cookies are used, but preventing them may mean we can't offer you some services, and will reduce the support we can offer you. We use functional cookies to:   

    • Remember if we've already asked you if you want to fill in a survey
    • Show you when you're logged in to the website
    • Share information with partners to provide a service on our website. The information shared is only to be used to provide the service, product or function and not for any other purpose
    • Remember results of tests performed to make the website more relevant to you

    Cookies we have defined as functional will not be used to:

    • Target you with adverts on other websites

     

    Vendor Cookie Domain Cookie Name Purpose Duration

    N/A

    N/A

    N/A

    N/A

    N/A

  • Targeting cookies are linked to services provided by our trusted partners, as listed below. You decide whether or not these cookies are used.

    We use targeting cookies to:

    • Link to social networks who may use information about your visit to target advertising to you on other websites
    • Provide advertising agencies with information on your visit so that we can present adverts that you may be interested in

    Our targeting cookies

    Vendor Cookie Domain Cookie Name Purpose Duration
    Adobe Analytics bt.com s_cc This cookie name is associated with Adobe and is set "True" if cookies are enabled. Session
    s_fid
    This cookie is used to identify a unique visitor if the standard s_vi cookie is unavailable due to third-party cookie restrictions. Not used for implementations that use first-party cookies
    2 years
    Google Analytics bt.com _ga_* These cookie names are associated with Google (Analytics). The data collected is used to provide reports on the performance of the BT websites and how visitors interact with them – which helps us provide you with more relevant content and a better experience. 2 years
    _gid 0
    _gac_UA_* 3 months
    _gab This cookie is used to throttle request rate. These are third party cookies that are placed on your device to allow us to use the Google Analytics service. 1 min
    Intent.ly bt.com smc_tpv Counts the total number of pages the user has visited 13 months
    smc_tag Contains the Tag Name and Index should the information ever need to be available to a clients internal scripts without the tag running 365 days
    smc_uid An identifier for the user - Smarter Click uses this to make sure Basket backup sessions can be ended correctly even if the domain or protocol is different. 10 years
    smc_sesn This records the number of new sessions the users has made to the website 10 years
    Analytics bt.com ajs_user_id These cookies are used to record the amount of people that visit our site, and track whether you’ve visited before. 2 years
    ajs_anonymous_id
    s_vi This cookie is used to identify a unique visitor
    Universal Analytics bt.com _gab_gid The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing 2 years
    Adobe Marketing Cloud bt.com AMCV_ABEE7708562AAA0A7F000101%40AdobeOrg This is a pattern type cookie name associated with Adobe Marketing Cloud. It stores a unique visitor identifier, and uses an organisation identifier to allow a company to track users across their domains and services. The main purpose of this cookie is: Targeting/Advertising Session
    facebook bt.com _fbp This cookie identifies browsers for the purposes of providing advertising and site analytics services and has a lifespan 3 months
    Marketo  bt.com _mkto_trk This cookie may contain information (such as a unique user ID) that is used to track your usage of our site. The cookies placed by Marketo are readable only by Marketo. 2 years

Managing cookies

There are ways you can control and manage cookies on your device. Please remember that any settings you change will not just affect the cookies we use. These changes will apply to all websites you visit (unless you choose to block cookies from particular sites).

  • Most browsers will allow you to choose the level of privacy settings you want. You can block all cookies, or accept all cookies or pick a setting somewhere in between. This range lets you control your cookie settings, so you can:

    • See what cookies you've got and delete them on an individual basis
    • Block third party cookies
    • Block cookies from particular sites
    • Block all cookies from being set
    • Delete all cookies when you close your browser

    Deleting cookies means that any preference settings you have made on a website will be lost. If you’ve set your preferences to opt out of cookies, this setting will be lost too, as that information is stored in a cookie. Blocking all cookies means functionality on our websites will be lost, as described above. We don’t recommend turning all cookies off when using our websites.

    If you want to reduce your cookie settings at any time – for example, if you accept all cookies, but later decide you don’t want a certain type of cookie – you’ll need to use your browser settings to remove any third party cookies dropped on your previous visit.

    Find out how to manage your cookies using the most popular browsers below.