To NOT get WIFI??

[loveitorleaveit]

Me and my DP have a phone each with more than enough data to use when we are at home for internet etc. We have 3 TVs throughout the house with more than enough channels, a DVD player and a PS4 with mass amounts of dvds and games. We have never felt the need to pay an addition cost for sky/virgin/WiFi

My DP has an 11 year old son who comes to ours every other weekend and twice each week on week nights. Since he got his own phone and iPad for his birthday we allow him to connect to our data so he can use them to play on games and access the internet.

I am just about fed up of hearing his comments about us not having WiFi or sky ‘you’re like old people’ ‘it’s just stupid’ ‘I guess I’ll have to waste my mobile data AGAIN’ ‘oh great we have to watch NORMAL tv’ ‘god sake I can’t play online here on PS4’

Really!!?? I’ve told him to doesn’t know how lucky he is! He just roles his eyes at me. My DP doesn’t say anything to his comments, and tells me that’s kids nowadays!

Maybe it is but it still frustrates me!

AIBU???

Whoops. Looks like OP has buggered off, clearly they were expecting people to nod and agree and it's not happened.

What is your actual objection to it OP?

It being Wi-Fi of course!!

I've just checked how much wifi data I have used on my phone in the last month - 8.2gb. And that's just on my phone - so not including my laptop or anyone else's wifi usage in the house. Can't imagine how much that would cost through a phone deal.

I Home Ed, so would be lost without WiFi.

I use an android box for TV, rather than paying Sky, so would be lost without WiFi.

We have no arial to the kids bedrooms and DS likes and deserves a TV in his room, we use Now TV for that, so I would be lost without WiFi.

Each to their own................ I probably spend less than you do on it all.

YABU it's the 21st century

I just changed provider an hour ago. £13-15 a month deals for WiFi and £22 for sky . If it’s affordable why not? If it’s not then tell him that.

We have no arial to the kids bedrooms and DS likes and deserves a TV in his room, we use Now TV for that, so I would be lost without WiFi.

We have no aerial at all, so either we stream or use cable tv otherwise we wouldn't even have the basic channels.

I wonder if the op is coming back. Considering this is their first post, without any replies from them, it just seems like they're fishing for information/a crap journo story.

Can I ask why you don't have it? We only pay £21 a month for unlimited BB and the speed isn't too shabby either.

Mobile data is reslly expensive so maybe he doesn't want to use it all up on a weekend at yours.

He's 11. Not having Wi-Fi to him is like not having running water.

It's a digital age.

Do you mean you don't have a broadband connection or that you have broadband but not wifi set up in the house?

I would not live somewhere without broadband but have no problem slumming it merely on Freeview TV and a PVR knowing we can access demand viewing if we want to. The household gamers played online mostly and 4g would struggle to get the latency levels needed.

That said, people are different - if your data packages are sufficient, you have a good 4g connection and are cheaper than a broadband contract then the only reason to change would be for the DSD. So does he really need it or is this just preteen 'not fair' starting?

I use WiFi at home. It’s free and unlimited.
I don’t want to use my data unless I have to.
YABU

I'm with your stepson and I'm 40 years older than him

I guess OP has used up all her data allowance...

I can't imagine not having wifi at home.

What? No wifi?

We don't have contract phones. So no data.

I don't get no wifi

Plus work from home, so wifi is essential. I'm with your stepson on this too.

My 11 year old left home and moved to his Dad's when our internet broke. He didn't come back until we had a new router.

Blimey, that's a bit extreme

I think wi-fi is standard now. I don't blame him for moaning tbh

Wow would take a long time to read all those to reply to them all. We’ve never felt the need for it! Both work long hours, not big tv fans and don’t feel we have an arm or leg missing without it.

He HAS internet access through his phone data and also using ours through hotspot.

A lot have a lot less than him and I don’t feel it’s a necessity

Love how some think we are not looking after him because we don’t have WiFi

That’s funny!

And no I didn’t expect everyone to agree. I wanted opinions. Happy to read the opinions of those who are not rude or plain stupid

If you did a few calculations I think you'd realise how silly you're being.
Pretty much everything in our house is connected to WiFi, from the central heating to the light sockets but then we do love a gadget.

I'm intrigued how you back stuff up without an internet connection.

(Ok, I'm not intrigued. I probably know the answer. You probably don't back up your data. I doubt you back up to a hard disk and make copies to give to friends to store off site in case of fire. Because most people don't back their data up. Then when they lose their phones, or their laptop breaks, they moan on social media that they've lost the only photos they have of precious family members etc. We send hundreds of gigs of "stuff" to back up online each month, and that simply couldn't happen without an internet connection.)

I'm also assuming you don't have Netflix. Or Amazon Prime. In which case you are missing out. Big time!

I have internet access through my phone data - doesn't mean it's enough to manage without wifi. How much data does he have? Lots of kids that age will only have a few mb. Maybe you could offer to pay for some more data on his phone instead, if it's not something you want to have?

Ultimately it looks like you don't believe that WiFi is something he should feel entitled to, but amongst households not on the absolute poverty line, it will be extremely unusual. I know of more households heated solely by coal fire than I do houses with no wifi.

Mobile data doesn't last long unless he has a high amount too. It must be more economical to use wifi instead

But you can't connect other devices like Chromecasts, Firesticks, Echos, Chromecasts etc without Wi-Fi and I'd say a PS4 without Wi-Fi is virtually useless for an 11 year old.

Was thinking about this more and also thinking how much the "other people have less" argument frustrates me. We should be striving so that more people have more, not engaging in a race to the bottom.

We don't "need" a dishwasher or central heating or a car or a nice phone or a decent TV. But they are nice things to have and are useful and improve our lives. And if something is affordable, nice to have and can improve our lives, then why would we not take that opportunity? I don't know your budget is but a £10-15 bill is really neither here nor there in mine.