I can't access my BT account sincew they introduced 'Authentic Verification'.

[PaulBrownsey]

I used to be able to log in to my BT account via e-mail address and password.

Now when I do that, a further page comes up asking me to give a phone number, landline or mobile, so they can send a verifying text.

I have been told by a BT guide that in fact a landline won't do for this because messages to the landline take up to 24 hours, whereas you have to insert the code to log in within minutes.

I don't have a mobile.

I have been told by a BT guide that they will remove me from the need for 'authentic verification' and I should be able to log in in the old way via e-mail address and password only.  Indeed, one guide said they were pressing the button that would effect this.  I still couldn't log in by e-mail address and password alone.  I was then told on April 20 that a team were working on this problem and in due course hoped to be able to fix it so that I could log in with password and e-mail address alone.    

I still can't do that.  I haven't been able to look at my latest bill and can't blacklist nuisance numbers via Call Protect.

Does anbyone have any advice to offer?

[Kimberlin]

@PaulBrownsey  Unfortunately, you’ll most likely have to do what everyone else with the same problem is having to do, be patient and wait whilst BT implement a fix.

I’ve even read in a thread on this forum that BT Guides have allegedly told customers without a mobile phone, to go and buy one so they can receive OTP (One Time Pin) messages.

There’s pretty much a wholesale expectation from some businesses that all customers should have a mobile phone or smartphone. It’s the way the world has gone.

[danielle1]

I've posted this on other threads:

I  do not have (nor want!) a mobile.  The landline code works for me.  I enter username and password, the phone rings, I answer and the code is read out.

I've found that if you pick up the phone without saying anything, it just goes silent, but if you say something (like hello), the message begins -  a longish message that ends with telling you to choose "1" to hear the code.  After a few times of this, I no longer listen to the long message.  As soon as the message begins I press 1 and get the code.

It does seem that the people answering the calls do NOT know what is going on or what to tell people, hence all the  conflicting advice.  That isn't their fault if they weren't told, but I'd rather hear "We don't know, we weren't told" from them than conflicting stories.

[gg30340]

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@PaulBrownseywrote:

I have been told by a BT guide that they will remove me from the need for 'authentic verification' and I should be able to log in in the old way via e-mail address and password only.  Indeed, one guide said they were pressing the button that would effect this.  I still couldn't log in by e-mail address and password alone. 

I suspect that you were given incorrect information, As far as I am aware the BT Customer Service staff do not have the ability to turn off Two Factor Verification for you.

I was then told on April 20 that a team were working on this problem and in due course hoped to be able to fix it so that I could log in with password and e-mail address alone.    Two Factor Authentication can not be turned off at this time however the problem that some users are having is being is being worked on by BT but there is no time scale available as to when this will be completed.  

I still can't do that.  I haven't been able to look at my latest bill and can't blacklist nuisance numbers via Call Protect.

Does anbyone have any advice to offer?

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[Kimberlin]

I often think that when folks come to post on the forum, that they forget that this place isn’t a direct link in any way to BT and that they aren’t talking to anyone who works for BT.

It’s clear for some, this place is merely somewhere to vent and rant instead of actually doing what they should be doing and taking their issue to BT. This place can only attempt to assist by giving customer to customer advice, it isn’t a BT service point.

My point is, if you’ve got a problem that clearly is a service issue with BT, then rant at BT, not at those offering friendly advice, because that’s what is being given, friendly advice, not apologies for an enormous company that should probably be doing much better for its customers.

[chrisjp]

True enough, but one might hope that the Moderators, who are BT employees and who supposedly read these posts, would be able to raise internally the issues that are making BT's customers so unhappy.
The hope (maybe a vain one!) would be that moderators raising issues internally would be more effective than customers doing so, who do seem, quite often, to be fobbed off by BT's telephone agents.

[DISRUPTED]

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@chrisjp

A well deserved thumbs up for that post!

[Kimberlin]

@chrisjp  I digress now, but as far as the forum goes insofar as good knowledgeable help that is offered by effectively geeks, when BT created this forum, they dug themselves a hole they literally cannot get out of barring closing it all together.

About 5 years ago, a popular UK digital bank also had a forum but it rapidly turned into the biggest moan fest imaginable, slating the bank for not doing this and not doing that. In the end, I believe they canned the whole forum completely because it got too hot to handle.

The Moderators are essentially here to keep people in check and stop others from abusing each other. Bless ‘em, they’re also moderating the EE forum and that appears to be as much as a whinge fest there as it is here. I can literally guarantee, nothing is going to change on either forum.

The Moderators might feed stuff back up the food chain, but it seems it’s very hit and miss. What folks should remember though, is to stop whining all over everyone else including the Moderators and instead moan at the Company because this place isn’t the place to do it.

And as another forum member pointed out, being with a particular ISP in 2026, is very much for most customers, a choice. If one doesn’t like how it’s run, or you think your email service for example is garbage, ship out or pipe down.

[DISRUPTED]

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@Kimberlinwrote:

...being with a particular ISP in 2026, is very much for most customers, a choice.

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Other than for the many that have been using BT since the dawn of email in UK with connections far and wide dating back over the years it's not quite the easy choice you imply, you discount the potential effects of Murphy's law in this rather broken world. Hence why many would rather, and do, sit it out, being milked, just for a simple life.

Better the devil you know... That's the reality.

[Kimberlin]

@DISRUPTED  And yet some of us don’t just sit there and get milked, we swap ISP every couple of years with zero problems.

As for email, well I had a Hotmail account for years that was absolutely awful. Eventually, I sat down, found a superior email provider that doesn’t get spammed every day, and I haven’t looked back. It’s all about getting off ones derrière and doing something about it. I have zero problem with my ISP, brilliant service but I’ll be dumping them in 11 months time because they won’t give me the same discount as a new customer will get. Loyalty is for those with deep pockets or a pension wrapped up in the Company.