Phone

When you order a phone service from us, we ask for your name, address, contact number, including mobile, and email address. We also ask for details on how you want to pay. That's so we can provide you with the service, charge you for it and let you know if we make changes to it. We also use your personal information to check your identity if you get in touch with us.

When you first order a phone service from us, or buy certain new services, we run a credit check on you. To do that we give some of your personal information to credit reference agencies.
Read more about our credit checking processes.

When you sign up, we'll ask if you want your details in the Phone Book and other directories – like those online. If you agree, we'll publish your details and share your information with other communications providers who provide directory services. Ex-directory numbers are not included.

Unless you tell us not to, we will, from time to time, contact you to tell you about products or services we think you might be interested in. We might do this through the post, online, using push notifications via apps, via a text message, or on the phone. When we send you text messages, we also receive information from your mobile phone carrier such as your device ID (also known as IMEI).

When you use your phone we keep a record – including the number you call, the time and the length of the call so we charge you the right amount on your bill. Unless you tell us not to we may also use this information to tell you about products and services we think may be of interest to you.
Read more about your choices on marketing.

If you take the Call Protect product from us, we will collect and retain details of all the telephone numbers which have called you. The last 20 numbers which have called you will also be displayed on your Call Protect Portal. We will use Your Blacklist and the BT Blacklist to stop you receiving unwanted or nuisance calls. We may add telephone numbers from Your Blacklist to the BT Blacklist. We will automatically redirect numbers on either Blacklist to your voicemail inbox. You should regularly check your voicemail inbox to ensure that the right calls are being redirected.

If we think there's been crime, fraud, misuse of, or damage to, our network, we'll use this information for our internal investigations and any subsequent prosecution(s).

BT Sport & TV

When you order TV products or services from us, we ask for your name, address, your preferred contact number, including your mobile and email address. We also ask for details on how you want to pay, such as your direct debit or credit card details, and information about your devices and viewing cards so we can provide you with the service.

Other information we may collect about your use of our TV services include details of the devices you use, the channels, programmes and adverts you watch on them, the services you access, how long you watch and what actions you take when doing so, such as how you view, record or fast forward programmes. We keep a record of the content that you buy and download.

We also record the IP addresses and MAC addresses of devices you view from and your user IDs and device passwords and pin codes for parental controls.

We need this information to be able to provide you with services which you have asked for on the devices you want to view our programmes and content on. This data also helps us to improve our services and the programmes we buy and make for your viewing pleasure.

We use your data to provide you with personalised services such as viewing recommendations. You can manage your choices regarding what you see when viewing content on our Apps by visiting the App store you have downloaded from.

If you opt out of personal recommendations on Apps, you may still get general content recommendations and adverts.

Where you take our TV services through our partners we share your information to help provide you with the service – and sometimes for marketing, but only if you've told us that's okay.
Read more about your choices on marketing.

Broadband

When you order broadband from us, or sign up to use BT Wi-fi, we ask for your name, address, contact number, including mobile, and email address. We also ask for details on how you want to pay. We might also need your direct debit or credit card details to charge you for the service. When we send you text messages, we also receive information from your mobile phone carrier such as your device ID (also known as IMEI).

We'll use your contact details to tell you about changes to our service; for example if we upgrade your line, or when there's a new technology (like fibre optic) in your neighbourhood.

Unless you tell us not to, we may use this data, from time to time, to contact you to tell you about products or services we think you might be interested in. We might do this through the post, online, using push notifications via apps, or on the phone.
Read more about your choices on marketing.

Where you use our wi-fi partners' services, we share your information to help provide you with the service – and sometimes for marketing (but only if you've told us that's okay.)

We keep information about how you're using your broadband to help us understand and manage traffic flows on our network, improve our services and tell you about products you might be interested in. That includes IP addresses and other traffic data including websites you've visited. We may also use this information to provide you with certain services you ask us for – like parental controls on web access.

We are sometimes contacted by third parties who monitor illegal online file sharing on behalf of copyright holders. If we receive a claim that there has been illegal sharing on your broadband service, we may use your IP address to notify you. But unless we are required to by law, we will not disclose your personal information to the copyright holder or any party acting on their behalf.

The law says we have to keep certain information about how you use our internet services for 12 months. This information may be used by law enforcement agencies to prevent and detect crime and to protect national security. (But we only disclose information to them when we have been lawfully requested to do so.) If we think there's been crime, fraud, misuse of, or damage to, our network, we'll use this information for our internal investigations and any subsequent prosecution(s). We will also provide it in reply to other lawful requests for information such as about illegal online file sharing.

When you first log on to use your internet access service from BT you will be shown a screen asking if you want to activate parental controls or not. We keep a record of whether or not you have activated parental controls and will continue to offer them to you each time you log in if you ignore the request. The only data we will capture is whether or not you have activated parental controls and the level of filtering you have selected. We give numbers of activations to the Government and keep an aggregated and anonymous report of the sites which are blocked. We also record high level user behaviour, such as the number of times there has been an error in how the controls have worked, but we will not record the sites blocked against you.
We give numbers of activations to the Government and keep an aggregated and anonymous report of the sites which are blocked. We also record high level user behaviour, such as the number of times there has been an error using the controls, but we will not record the sites blocked against you.
For more information please refer to our Broadband terms and conditions which cover parental controls.

We may also take steps in our network to protect you from threats from malicious domains which may attempt to infect your machine with malware associated with criminal threats. For more information please refer to our Broadband terms and conditions.

Mobile and Apps

When you order a mobile phone service from us, we ask for your name, title, address, date of birth and gender. We also ask for contact details including a phone number, email address and your current mobile number if you want to keep it. If you've already got a phone service with us, we ask for your BT ID number or account number too.

As well as that we ask for details on how you want to pay, like your bank details or credit card number. (So we can charge you for the service.)

If you're new to BT when you first order a mobile service from us, we run a credit check on you. To do that we give some of your personal information to credit reference agencies. Read more about our credit checking processes.

We also use your personal information to check your identity if you get in touch with us.

Unless you tell us not to, we'll also use this information to tell you about products and services we think you might be interested in. We might do that by post, online, using push notifications via apps, or on the phone. Read more about your choices on marketing.

If you come to us through a third party site, like uSwitch, we might need to match your order to the information they give us if we need to pay them.

When you use your mobile, we record certain things about that use. They include the amount you spend, the numbers you call or text (but not the content of the text), the numbers that call or text you, and the location of the cell that you make a call from (but that's kept anonymous). We also record the time and the length of all incoming and outgoing services like calls, texts and picture messages (MMS) while you're in the UK and abroad.

When you download a BT app from BT.com, we will record information about your device, such as its manufacturer. Where relevant, we will detail the additional data that we will receive through that BT app before you download it.
We also look at which BT apps you use, your IP address and the websites you visit, so that we can tailor your online experience. Read more about browsing history here.

We record how much data you use, any extra spending outside of your plan and what you spend in your apps. That's so we can charge you the right amount on your bill, tell you if you're getting close to your usage limit, fix faults, and send you other messages about your service.

We keep information about the mobile phone or tablet you use with the BT Mobile service, including the device ID (or IMEI), the features on it (like whether it uses 3G or 4G), the type and model, and the operating system. This helps us understand how you're using BT Mobile and improve the overall service we give you.

Unless you tell us not to, we'll use your personal information to tell you about products and services we think you might be interested in. We might do that by post, online, using push notifications via apps, text message, or on the phone.
Read more about your choices on marketing.

We don't share your personal information, except with the third parties we work with to deliver your mobile (and related) services. We might occasionally share information more widely to profile basic demographic data but it'll be anonymous and brought together with other customers' data.

We sometimes gather and pass on information about customers' interests, preferences and lifestyle, which we can work out from their interactions with us or get from third parties. But we always keep this data totally anonymous.

If we think there's been crime, fraud, misuse of, or damage to, our network, we'll use this information for our internal investigations and any prosecution(s) that might follow. We might also need to use it for managing traffic on the network, for emergency services or tracing malicious or nuisance calls.

The law says we have to keep certain information about how you use our services for 12 months, even if you stop using BT Mobile. Law enforcement agencies could use this information to detect crime and protect national security. We only ever disclose information to them when we receive a lawful request to do so.

Children and Mobiles

BT recognises that many of today's children have grown up with the internet and are very familiar with how it works – often more so than their parents. This represents a challenge for parents, as it allows them to access inappropriate websites without suitable supervision, particularly if they have their own device, such as a Mobile. BT is therefore committed to helping parents protect children from such content through its Parental Controls feature. Further information can be on our website in the 'Stay safe with BT Parental Controls' section.

BT.com

"My BT" lets you manage your account with us, including getting your bills online. When you create a "My BT" account on bt.com, we ask you for information so we can check your identity when you sign in and also if you need help to re-set your password. We may also use some of your account information to tell you about products or services we think you might be interested in – unless you tell us not to.
Read more about your choices on marketing.

We collect information about how you use our website to keep improving the way it works. We count how many people visit our websites, where they come from, when they visit, how long they stay and what pages they look at. We may associate your device with your account if you log into BT.com. We sometimes use data like this to give us insights into products and services our customers might like and how our advertising performs. We also look at the browser, OS and devices you use to make sure you get a good online experience however you access our websites.

Depending on how you set up your marketing preferences, we may share information about how you've used our website with our advertisers and other companies who offer their services on our pages. We may also use this information to personalise the editorial content and any bt.com service messages based on what you tell us to make sure the online adverts you get are relevant to you.

BT.com cookies collect information about your usage of BT.com including some anonymised account information which you have already given us, such as your age range. We may use cookies to show you relevant adverts based upon this information. This is called Interest-Based Advertising, and you can find out more on our Advertising Information and Help page You can change your cookie preferences or read more about our cookie policy – anytime.

Depending on how you have set your cookies preferences we may also allow Interest Based Advertising partners or content providers to collect information about your browsing behaviour in real time and combine it with information about your browsing behaviour on other sites you may visit to show you adverts and content which are relevant to your interests. We may also share information about your browsing behaviour with other service providers to better understand your usage of BT.com services and provide links to related social media content and advertising which may be of interest to you. You can find out more about our service providers, including our Interest Based Advertising and content partners, or opt-out entirely, here.

BT is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk. BT is also a participant in other similar affiliate programmes which means we may be paid commission on sales of those products or services we write about.

BT.com service providers

BT may share information about your browsing behaviour with the following companies, in order to provide services which are designed to enhance your experience of BT.com and show you content, social media and advertising which we think may be of interest to you.

If you wish to opt out of all of these services, you can change your cookie preferences for BT.com. Alternatively, to opt out of individual services, you can follow the link to the specific company's privacy policy.