BT Broadband Parental Controls

BT broadband customers can use BT Parental Controls to activate one of three pre-set filter options, light, moderate, or strict, or customise content categories to suit their family.

BT Parental Controls offer router-level protection from harmful content, so all devices connecting to the Internet via the wireless network will be protected.

However, while it's possible to filter specific websites, there is no way to target specific apps on mobile devices.

Credit: Alliance Images/Shutterstock.com

What are BT Parental Controls?

BT Parental Controls were first launched in December 2013 as a 'whole home' solution to online safety.

That means they offer router or network-level protection across every device that connects to the Internet via the home wireless network.

Uniquely to BT, BT Parental Controls can also be used to protect users from harmful content when going online via an EE WiFi Hotspot with a BT ID.

BT say their parental control software allows customers to:

• Protect all devices on a home network including computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones and other handheld devices
• Choose from three predefined filter levels or further personalise them
• Choose to always allow or always block certain sites
• Set up homework time to restrict online access when kids need to concentrate
• Set up times for filters to be active or inactive, for example, after children have gone to bed

There is a warning that using other network-level software, such as Open DNS, Metacert, or Norton Connectsafe, will prevent BT Parental Controls from working, although other Internet based filters, such as on web browsers, should work.

BT Parental Controls also won't work on iPhone and iPad devices with iOS 15 or later when browsing on Safari when iCloud Private Relay is enabled. So, this will need to be disabled first.

How to set up BT Parental Controls

BT Parental Controls will be on by default for new BT broadband customers, who'll also be prompted to set up parental controls by choosing the filters suitable for their household.

On by default, and having to opt-out, are part of the 2013 agreement made between major broadband providers and the Government to improve the safety of children online.

For existing customers, BT Parental Controls can be adjusted by:

1. Log into My BT account with your BT ID
2. Go to "Manage your extras"
3. Click on "Manage BT Parental Controls"

Here, customers can change the predefined filter level from the default 'Light' option, to either 'Moderate', or 'Strict', as well as add specific websites to be blocked or allowed.

Changes made to BT Parental Controls may take up to two hours to go live on your home network.

How BT Parental Controls work

BT Parental Controls offer three overall categories to filter content, Light, Moderate, and Strict, as well as more specific categories of content within these, such as Pornography or Drugs.

Customers can either choose from the main filter options, or customise each content category to best suit their family. For example, you could choose the 'Light' filter, but then additionally block the Weapons and violence category.

In total there are 14 content categories that can be customised:

From the table above, we can see there are distinct levels of filtering that could work depending upon the age of children in the home, with Strict protecting all ages, while Moderate is more appropriate for teenagers.

In addition to these filters, which will block websites deemed to contain content from the blocked categories, customers can also add specific websites to the filter, and choose to either block or allow them, overriding the content filter.

For example, if the social networking category was blocked, a customer could add Facebook.com to the allow list of websites, which would override the main filter and allow it to be accessed.

When browsing the web if a particular website is blocked due to the BT Parental Control settings, a screen is displayed with options for the customer to log in and add the website to the allow list. It's also possible to turn off BT Parental Controls for an hour, so a website can be accessed without permanently allowing it.

Setting up time limits

BT Parental Controls are on by default 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, using the filter times setting allows parents to set times when the controls are switched off, for example, this could be in the evening after children have gone to bed, or even during the working week for work at home households when kids are at school.

It's also possible to use a setting called 'homework time', when BT Parental Controls additionally blocks access to social networking, gaming and cheating websites, to help children focus on homework.

Blocking and unblocking specific websites

In addition to setting specific content categories to be blocked, BT Parental Controls also allows families to block or allow specific websites.

This feature will override the broader content blocking settings, so for example, if social networking as a category is blocked, you could add Facebook.com to the allow list, which would override it and allow the site to be viewed.

It's also possible to add a specific website to be blocked that isn't otherwise covered by the content categories. So, if you come across a website that doesn't seem appropriate for your child to view, you could simply add it to the block list.

However, one major drawback to BT Parental Controls, is that while the protection is at the network level, so all connecting devices are covered, the software isn't able to block apps on smartphones or tablet devices.

As an example, we could block gaming websites, but game apps on a mobile or tablet wouldn't be affected.

Of course, it's possible to block apps on these devices by using the built-in parental controls on iPhones, iPads, and Android via the Google Play Store.

Notifications

Notifications are sent to the named account holder via email if any changes are made to the BT Parental Control settings.

This is useful to help protect against children learning the password and changing the settings, although good communication within the family is also important to ensure the effectiveness of parental control software.

It's not possible to turn off notifications when changes are made.

Turning off BT Parental Controls

BT Parental Controls can be turned off in the My BT portal, either temporarily or permanently.

This can be a good idea if the kids are away and parents want to browse freely without fiddling with time filters.

They might also want to turn them off permanently if they're not working effectively for the household.

BT caution that suspending controls is preferable as it means parents will maintain all their settings. These will be lost if a customer chooses to remove them entirely.

Suspending controls should take ten minutes while complete deactivation will take up to two hours.

Should my family use BT Parental Controls?

Parental control software has its critics as well as its advocates.

Some people argue they are a blunt instrument, while others say they are not used effectively by parents to manage their children's online lives.

Back in 2014, Ofcom research found that only 22% of parents with children aged between 5 and 15 were using the parental control software offered by their ISP.

Fast forward to Ofcom's 2022 research on children's online literacy and we find that figure has only increased to 27%, although 61% were aware of such tools.

So, although there is no ISP-level data to say how many households use BT Parental Controls, parents seem to prefer other technical controls, with seven in ten using some form of control to manage their child's internet access.

However, there were also a couple of interesting responses to filters in the 2022 research:

• 18% of parents said filters block too much or get in the way
• 11% said they don't block enough
• 17% said they were too complicated to use
• 7% of parents said their child could find a way around them while one in 20 children said they had circumvented parental controls including 6% who had got around them to visit certain sites/apps

These figures suggest that ISPs can't really win when it comes to parental controls, with some believing they go too far and others thinking they don't go far enough.

In addition, the number of children finding ways to circumvent controls mean that the software isn't working as effectively as it could.

BT Parental Controls and similar software is just one way of protecting kids online and we've also seen the implementation of The Children's Code to embed safety in the design of services and products for children.

Yet whether the Government can keep kids safe online (and whether they should) remains a contentious issue for many parents.

Learn more about keeping kids safe on social media.

Summary: Parental controls are worth trying out

BT Parental Controls have been around for almost a decade, with customers having to actively choose whether to enable them when signing up for their broadband and setting up their Smart Hub.

The Light, Moderate and Strict filter levels give a good range of pre-set options for families who want to set something up quickly, although it's likely some type of customisation will be useful for most households.

Parental control software from BT and other ISPs doesn't replace conversations about safe online practices between parents and children, and it's important to remember that BT Parental Controls only works on the devices attached to a home wi-fi network or when users sign on to public wi-fi with a BT ID.

In practice, this means BT Parental Controls are going to be used in conjunction with other technical controls, especially when we remember that named apps cannot be blocked or unblocked outright.

Ultimately, BT Parental Controls are something all parents should consider when setting up their BT broadband account.

Trying them out, even if the pre-set filters don't work for a particular household, can be useful, and they may serve as conversation starters between families when a child tries to access a website and sees that it is blocked from their view.