DV phone security - flats and HMO dwellings

[Art_Nouveau]

Unlike my previous analog cordless phone which communicated by radio with its base, I understand that my Digital Voice phone communicates wirelessly with my Smart Hub 2. What occurs to me as a security issue is this, rather like bluetooth pairing. To initiate the process of registering my DV phone I have to press the WPS button for two seconds. During the subsequent period a neighbour (within earshot I suppose) may potentially register his own phone and free-ride on my hub and my telephone account. The Hub Manager I think allows me to delete an alien device from my hub's list, but I would first have to suspect that there was a free-rider present. Is this a serious issue with DV?

[Keith_Beddoe]

@Art_Nouveau 

Its not Wifi, its DECT, just like any cordless phone system and just as secure. The WPS button is dual purpose.

The same thing could happen on a DECT system if a user had the same type of phone. DECT has been around for a very long time now.

[Art_Nouveau]

Thank you Keith for the emphasis, but underlying wireless technology is not my concern. It is the seemingly vulnerable period during registration of the DV phone.

[licquorice]

Which is exactly the same as registering any cordless phone, which have been around for donkeys years, to its dect base station.

How great do you think the chances are of somebody close to trying to register a Dect phone at precisely the same few seconds as you?

[Art_Nouveau]

I looked up the manual for my old cordless phone, a BT Graphite 2500, which states: "The main handset is pre-registered to the base as Handset 1" and "Any additional handsets supplied as part of a multipack are pre-registered to the base." This sounds reasonably secure to me.  I should not worry too much about someone intercepting my calls, I have few secrets, but if they hijacked my account and started making international calls I might be justifiably furious! Will BT let me out of paying their bill? I think they ought to tighten up the registration process for DV.

[Art_Nouveau]

Hello licquorice.  I agree that it is unlikely but, as we know, unlikely does not mean impossible. Long odds do turn up.  In some people's homes neighbours may have audibility (partners calling to one another as they set up) in addition to radio proximity.

[imjolly]

any phones registered to the SH2 base will show when you go to hub manager the select your phone number

[Art_Nouveau]

Hello imjolly. There is nothing on my Hub Manager at the moment as I am expecting the DV service to start tomorrow. If BT would introduce a sensible precaution, such as requiring the authorised user to demonstrate that he has control of both devices when pairing (or registering in this case), I think the risk of piracy, deliberate or accidental, would be minimised.

[licquorice]

Do you seriously think BT are going to go to the expense of changing firmware to prevent something that is an infinitesimal risk that somebody out of sight is going to pair a Dect phone at the exact same instant that you do? 

[imjolly]

so at the moment you do not have digital voice and until active you cannot register your phones to the SH2  when you do register you will see them appear by selecting your phone number in hub manager then the connected phones will appear under handsets

I suppose with your suspicious mind you could wait until middle of night before registering phone!