Neighbour asking to share wifi temporarily

[papergazelle]

I’ve lived in the flat next to my neighbours for a year and a half, never really spoken except the occasional hello, though we will take in parcels for each other and leave them at each other’s doors.

Today I got a note asking if they could use my wifi for a week, as they’ve changed their broadband and are waiting on their new router to arrive. They also stated that they’re willing pay some of the bill and left their mobile number for me to send the password and internet name to if I agreed to it.

DH thinks they’re being cheeky to even ask and says that we should write a note back saying we’re on a limited plan so can’t share. I agree with him but I’m too soft for my own good so still feel bad for turning them down and really awkward about responding to them

WWYD? How would you go about responding to a request like this?

Why does 'my' IP address show as being in Leeds when I live in the east midlands?
Because it's not 'mine', it belongs to the internet provider and is logged as them, not me.

Each device has an IP assigned when it logs on, the neighbour's devices would have one. If the police to search via that they have to go to the ISP and get all the details.

I'd say yes, and I'd set up the "guest" network on our wifi so that they can't see anything in our house, only the Internet. Don't let untrusted people roam free on your house network, they could subvert your Internet connected toaster!

Definitely not, say you've forgotten your password if asked.

Are you even sure the note came from your actual neighbour? Could of been anyone.

In this case it's safer not to. Suggest the data bundles and tethering options, but only if you bump into them.

@VanGoghsDog it's a touch more complicated and considerably more traceable than that.

1. Stuff from your ISP's customers gets out onto the wider Internet at interchanges with other ISPs. The one you usually go out of is apparently in Leeds (or at least some geolocation database has it tagged as Leeds, whatever). So that's where you appear to be coming from to other Internet machines.

2. But your ISP assigns your router an IP address. Anything coming from your network goes out to the ISP on that IP (and then our through Leeds). The ISP logs that router IP (and it may change occasionally). So that's traceable.

3. Then your router assigns IP addresses inside your network, to each of your machines - and in this case, the neighbours. That's local information only, and doesn't go out beyond your router.

There's no way for your ISP and therefore a criminal investigation to tell that stuff coming from your router is your neighbour or you. So you could potentially be fingered for anything your neighbour has done.

Except that almost no-one is into organised cybercrime, so the risk is crazy low. Which is why I'd still do it quite happily. In fact, if I was feeling nefarious I'd have them sign a little note saying "We were using Spoon's internet from date to date" and then go do whatever naughty things with a plausible scapegoat :)

In fact, if I was feeling nefarious I'd have them sign a little note saying "We were using Spoon's internet from date to date" and then go do whatever naughty things with a plausible scapegoat smile

Genius! This is the cyber equivalent of leaving your locker unlocked so you cannot be held accountable for any contraband found there!

Whatever happened to bring neighbourly

I would in a heartbeat. Hate meanspiritedness.

It has nothing to do with being mean spirited BertrandRussell

This highlights the dangers of sharing Wi-Fi passwords.

It would depend how friendly and if I trusted them but broadly speaking I would quite happily do this if I knew them well enough or if it was only for a few days.

I wouldn't unless they were a close friend, when we were waiting for a router we used a wireless dongle (?) for a few weeks and it was fine.

I would be neighbourly and agree to this and then change the password after the agreed date though I might tell them about hotspotting off their phone.

It’s not about cost, or about “sharing nicely”. You’re giving strangers access to your network.

If they said their microwave had broken and could they use yours for a week, would you loan them your doorkey? Bit mean spirited and unneighbourly not to ...

Completely depends on the neighbour ind if you might need a favour from them one day.

I definitely would for my neighbours either side - but obvs not permanently, I would change the pw after a week.

One of them looks in on my pet while i'm away, the other has let us borrow various power tools for DIY. We have also let one neighbour use our green bins when they were doing their garden up as we don't use ours, and we take in parcels for each other.

But no way for some random I never speak to and have no dealings with.

I actually offered to my neighbour

Hardly knew him him but he lent me blankets when I had a leak and got a lovely kind face!

No drama. He used for three days whilst waiting for an engineer

@LoniceraJaponica

It has nothing to do with being mean spirited BertrandRussell

Yes, there is an element of mean spiritedness about it. But most who are mean spirited will have logical justification for it. Doesn’t escape fact that it’s mean spirited!

Why all the ridiculous suggestions for mad stories?

If you don't want to just 'I'm sorry, I don't feel comfortable with that'. or, if true, 'I'm sorry, our speed/package wouldn't be able to support more devices'. (I have the lowest speed on mine and very rarely stream anything, no gaming etc and it's just me. so adding someone else on would quite possibly cause issues especially if they wanted to stream films or something)

I, personally, think the risk is so minimal as to be non existent. It would be a really daft cyber hacker who asked to hack you! And if they did, then it would be very easy to say 'clearly we didn't hack ourselves, so it must have been him as he had the password'.

But, as a PP said, you can set them up as a guest on the router, you can also set the times they can access etc.

If you don't want to though, don't. When I moved house I had two weeks with no BB but I managed to increase my phone package and use it as a hotspot, as I don't have any online TV or anything that was fine for me.

We were asked this once and we did it. We partitioned off part of or network and gave them a limited amount. They only wanted it for Internet Browsing rather than streaming. We got a bottle of tequila and red wine for our troubles - though it cost them more than what an internet bundle would have, and we use nowhere near our monthly allowance

It’s no more mean-spirited to not want to share WiFi with neighbours than to not want to share their washing machine if theirs breaks down - especially when there are other options available to them. In the case of the washing machine you go to the launderette until your new one is delivered, if you have no WiFi temporarily you create a hotspot on your phone and pay whatever extra it costs on your data plan. No need to inconvenience anyone else by maybe slowing down their connection speeds should the ‘borrowers’ be large content consumers, streaming and gaming, or just having them compromise their privacy and security.

Ah. I would offer my washing machine if I knew my neighbour’s was broken too! And I have let a neighbour have a shower at mine daily for a week when her pipes burst. Because why wouldn’t you?

I’m saying consideration goes both ways, ie before inconveniencing anyone else you explore all the alternatives. If they, the requesters, have an alternative, which they do - hotspot, beyond inconveniencing a neighbour they don’t know very well they should use the alternative. In the case of a shower there really wouldn’t be much of an alternative would there? Um, unless they have family or close friends nearby or a gym membership or access to showers at work, you know, all the things I’d consider before putting out a neighbour I don’t know very well even if said neighbour offered.

I must have a much higher “inconvenience” threshold than you. I don’t find the idea of giving someone a password particularly taxing. Or even letting somebody use my bathroom for a 15 minute period chosen to suit me........

And I must have a much higher ‘not inconveniencing other people when it’s unnecessary’ threshold than you. Funny how we’re all different, isn’t it?

I executed a search warrant for a house where the ip address had been traced after indecent images of children had been downloaded. Householders were innocent. It was the visitor who had been given the password who had accessed it.

That was a fun day for the householder.

No way would I give out my password.

Nope. Wouldn't do it. You can politely decline and say that you're not comfortable in letting anyone use your broadband and that the mobile phone shop has some 3G/4G dongles they could buy for their own use.

It’s no more mean-spirited to not want to share WiFi with neighbours than to not want to share their washing machine if theirs breaks down

See, I have done laundry for neighbour whose kitchen was being refitted, and had one neighbour and her two kids stay for two weeks when their heating was broken. They didn't steal anything while they stayed.