Cleaner wants internet access - WWYD

[BlankProfile]

We have had our cleaner for several years. She's honest, reliable and does a reasonable job.
Our internet password is on the back of the box and at some point she has seen this and used it to sign into our network. I found out today because we have recently changed our password and she asked me for the new one, obviously forgetting she had never asked me for the password in the first place.
It's annoyed me, but we have unlimited data and in the time she's been using it, it's never caused a problem.
Should I give her the new password?

You should also insist your cleaner brings her own tea/coffee, cup/mug, water/milk, toilet paper, soap and oxygen cylinder.

And tell her/him that they mustn't look out of your windows and admire any nice views and may have.

I would, of course, provide two plain biscuits per visit to show that I'm not a mean person.

I'm mid50s & can't fathom why this is a problem. Suspect is a comfort with technology thing -- wouldn't worry me at all. Sheesh, the woman roams around OP's home touching all their stuff and cleaning up their muck but somehow the WiFi is preciously private? I can't get that perspective.

@BlankProfile

I don't think she is doing anything dodgy at all. She's a good, honest, reliable person. I trust her with keys to the house, she knows the alarm code, has access to all our stuff. Which is why taking the password without asking seems like an odd thing to do. But maybe I am behind the times - she's probably 20 years younger than me and may have a different view on this.

I think here is your answer tbh internet password and the young 'uns, it's 'normal' to them to have passwords where ever they go.

I didn't realise they were any data plans left on the market that are not unlimited.

I think the new normal is to have wifi passwords written and placed in a conspicuous plan for guests to help themselves as internet access is pretty much a necessity and it avoids having to ask and you look for it etc.

Like others say she is probably streaming music as she works and checking emails before the next job etc.

It wouldn't occur to me to be annoyed about this in the slightest.

Attitudes on MN seem really weird to me.
No, your cleaner does not need your internet password. You are paying her to clean, not play on the internet.

I didn't realise they were any data plans left on the market that are not unlimited.

My parents have limited Wi-Fi in their home! I didn't even know it still existed. I stayed with them one night just after Christmas. Watched netflix in bed before I went to sleep. Got an angry phone call from my step dad a week later about running up big bills from downloading stuff.

I'd watched about 3 hours of stuff... felt really bad when I found out they were paying for it all.

It isn’t an age thing my cleaner is in her 60s and listens to podcasts and audio books when she works. We live rurally and mobile signal is awful so she uses our WiFi just like our friends would. Not really an issue nowadays.

My phone is on true PAYG, not a data plan. That means I spend about £3/month on my phone account. Can't get a phone data plan for that cheap. I'd want to use WiFi if I were cleaner.

I wonder if issue for OP's cleaner is being contactable by family members. Try as I do to train them, people communicate in methods that are convenient to them not me. WhatsApp, Facebook, email, maybe texts. As it happens, I do ignore all my private messages when I'm at work but I think this is increasingly uncommon. Most people expect to be instantly contactable while at work and are confused if the person they want to talk to is not instantly contactable in daytime hours.

I'm in my late twenties and wouldn't just login to the WiFi of someone I'd just met but would definitely nab the passcode off the box of someone I'd known for years. Sometimes I would ask, sometimes I wouldn't, but essentially I wouldn't think anything of it either way.

I’d say no, but I don’t see why she’d need it and think taking it is rude of her.

FGS Of course just give it to her. If you don't trust her enough with the internet code then she probably shouldn't be in your house.

I would, she might be like me without a connection at home - I hotspot off my phone but need to connect to WiFi to back up fortnightly otherwise it keeps reminding me. My normal place, local cafe is shut!

If she’s been there years I’m betting she’s asked at some point otherwise she wouldn’t be asking so openly now.

I’d give it to anyone I trusted and had known for a while, as others have said it’s probably for music or podcasts as she works and it saves her data to use WiFi when she can while in clients homes.

Cleaning is much more fun with music. And it would use a lot of her data if not on WiFi. I would let her have it.

I think she was rude OP to just take and use it without asking. For a long time my only broadband at home was employer provided and for business use. Had she done that here I would have been inadvertently breaching my own company policy.

In theory I have no problem if she’d asked, maybe she’s hard up and isn’t on a contract or has the internet at home but she just took it which is kind of cheeky at best and theft at worst.

It’s just disrespectful.

i agree, she was cheeky to take it in the first place,
however perhaps that is the arrangement she has with other clients.

This is a huge security issue and the fact that people are handing out wifi passwords like sweets is worrying.

This isn't about her trustworthiness, she could have malware on her phone that she has no idea about that then has access to your network. If she is using the wifi at your house, she is probably using it at lots of others.

No company would let you rock up and connect your computer to their network without some sort of protection so why would you allow people your wifi password?

Dh is in IT with a heavy interest in security, as in it is part of his day to day job to protect data and he listens to security podcasts about breaches. It is the reason you should always have a guest wifi password if you are going to let them onto your network.

In fact if you google should I give guests my wifi password it is a resounding no!

If you trust her to clean your home, why wouldn’t you trust her with the WiFi password?

And I thought everyone had unlimited wifi these days? I’ve not had a limit on my internet in a million years!

@Aquamarine1029

No fucking way. Anyone who says 'yes' is a fool. She is there to clean. End of. There is no reason whatsoever she needs your internet access. Not a single reason. If she needs data for her phone, that's her responsibility.

This.

All day long.

She might be reliable etc, but any dodgy stuff she watches out of Ops sight means that the OP is liable for it on that network.

Shes there to work, not fanny about on her fone. Personally, I'd sack her. Plenty more where she came from.

It’ll just be for music, don’t be so ridiculous

I think it's incredible you trust someone enough to be in your house but not with your WiFi! Yes she probably should have asked but maybe you were out or working or she just forgot. Who knows, it really is a small issue. You have unlimited data so to get annoyed out of principle that she didn't know what your package is really is a bit childish. If you were on limited I can see why you'd be a bit annoyed.

Our cleaner streams music while she works and I wouldn't care if she had Netflix on in the background provided her work is done by the time she leaves - I pay her a set price so it's up to her how quickly she does it.

Like yours she is honest, reliable, friendly and works her arse off cleaning our house to a fabulous standard weekly so frankly she could French kiss my husband if it kept her happy

You trust her with the contents of your house and your alarm codes, but not with your WiFi password?

OP, i wouldn't like it at all if someone sneakily checked my WiFi password without permission. Based on that alone I wouldn't give her a new password. There is a reason why it has a password

Huh? Serious parallel universe time. Who has limited data on their home wifi? Unless you are in Oz or something?
Literally everyone I know has the pasword on the fridge. She is probably listening to the radio or spotify on her phone.