Impending changes to landline telephones

The UK's analogue landlines are being upgraded to digital. The changeover starts soon and will be completed by December 2025. Will you be impacted?

Analogue phone

The BT digital switchover starts in the Summer of 2023 and will roll out on a region by region basis. Other companies relying on the BT analogue network, such as other internet providers, will also start rolling out digital systems.

When will I be switched over?

The phone company will get in touch with you when they want you to make the change. However, they aren't currently switching certain groups, including:

• people aged 70 and over

• people with additional needs

• people who only have a landline (and not broadband)

• people with telecare alarms

• people with no mobile signal at home.

What happens?

For most people the change will be straightforward. If you have broadband already you may just need to plug your phone into the internet router or you will be sent an adapter that will connect your phone to the router. If your phone is very old, you may need to change it. In most cases you will be able to keep your current phone number.

Will anything else be affected?

The switchover may affect telecare devices, personal alarms and security alarms if connected to your phone line. When contacted about the switchover let them know about these devices. Also speak to the supplier of equipment to see what they recommend.

Power cuts!

Unlike analogue phones, a digital phone will not work in a power cut. If this happens phone companies are advising people to use mobile phones as a backup. If you don't have a mobile phone or live somewhere with a poor signal, then your provider must offer a "resilience solution" to make calls during a power cut.

Further Info

Further information can be found on the Local Government Website & BT:

Digital switchover hub | Local Government Association

Your Switch Over Day: everything you need to know about your move from copper to fibre broadband | BT Help

First rule of internet safety....

Yep, make sure the the ISP (Internet Service Provider) web filtering service is enabled.

A Ofcom report from last year found that 61% of parents are aware of the existing network-level internet filtering (Parental Control) tools provided by big UK broadband ISPs, yet only 27% have actually chosen to use them!!

So basically only a quarter of UK parents use content filters from Broadband ISPs. For those who want to know more here is a quick refresher on web filtering.

What are Web Filters?

A web filter is network level filter managed by the ISP to block access to harmful internet content. As blocking occurs at the network level it does not require any additional software or hardware. So any device connected to your home network will be filtered by the connection to the ISP. So no need to worry about configuring settings or creating different accounts etc.

What gets blocked?

Typically, the following categories get blocked

• Drugs

• Alcohol

• Tobacco

• Pornography and nudity

• Terrorism

• Suicide and self-harm

• Hate speech

• Violence and gore

• Gambling

• Social networking

• File sharing

• Anonymising services

• Dating

• Hacking

• Bullying

How to control your ISP web filter

Normally this is controlled via your ISP account controls (see links below). In addition to a straightforward off/on switch, ISPs offer different controls you can customise such as Timer, Homework mode, Category Controls and Manual website blocking.

The Big Four ISPs

At this time not all ISPs offer filtering as its not legal requirement yet. Below are the links to big four internet providers which cover the majority of the population. When you log in you should see a section for parental controls, child safe filter etc. Here you can customise the filter.

• BT

• Virgin Media

• Sky Broadband

• TalkTalk

Not bulletproof

According to Ofcom 6% of children have circumvented parental controls and 5% used a proxy server to avoid them. Bless them! At this point it maybe worth considering further parental controls to keep them safe online. Options include internet routers with built in parental controls such as the excellent Netgear smart parental controls or apps such as Bark and Google Family links.

If you need further advice or help setting up parental controls you can message me using the contact form on the home page. Stay safe!

Has your personal data been breached on the internet?

Working in I.T for the last 20 odd years I thought I had been pretty careful with my personal data. Unfortunately, it turned out that my email address and telephone number had been been exposed!

Free Online Check

You can use the link below to quickly assess if your data has been put at risk due to an online account been compromised or "pwned" in a data breach.

Have I Been Pwned: Check if your email has been compromised in a data breach

Passwords

If your data has been compromised it maybe time to look at beefing up security with a password manager.

What is a Password Manager?

A password manager is a computer program that allows users to store and manage their passwords for local applications and online services like a web applications, online shops or social media. A password manager assists in generating passwords,storing such passwords locally, online and/or in cloud repository in an encrypted database. Besides passwords those applications can offer storage for other sensitive data like credit card data.

Password managers typically require a user to generate and remember one "master" password to unlock and access information stored in their databases.

Do you ..

If any of the following apply it might be time for a password manger :

• Simple passwords – short in length, that use words found in dictionaries, or do not mix in different character types (numbers, punctuation, upper/lower case), or are otherwise easily guessable.

• Passwords others can find – on sticky notes on monitors, in a notepad by the computer, in a document on the computer, whiteboard reminders, smart device storage in clear text, etc.

• The same password – using the same password for multiple sites, never changing account passwords, etc.

• Shared passwords – users telling others passwords, sending unencrypted emails with password information, contractors using same password for all their accounts, etc.

Get in touch

If you would like further help or info please reach out to me using the contact form on the home page.