Do you let your DC’s friends have WiFi password?

[The2Ateam]

When your DC’s friends come over, do you let them connect to your home WiFi?

DC’s are 12.

And what’s the point - for those that say the adults get it too - of people coming to visit if they are going to be doing anything more than taking calls on their phones?!

Looking stuff up on google .. ooh I wonder when this happened, what is the history behind such and such is.. and so many other examples. My friends and I are a curious bunch so this can be common

Of course.
Why wouldn't you?

Isn't it the standard thing when someone comes to visit?

"Cup of tea?" "WiFi code?"

Yes, our WiFi password is freely available to anyone of any age in the house. No controls on the router. We don't police other people's phone use in any way.

It's kind of sad in a way though, that socialising for kids these days means playing on their phones in the same place.

I type the password in for older children (12+).
Younger kids do not get access to the wifi.
For those of you who have not changed your default passwords please make that extra effort to secure your wifi and at least change the admin password. It really isn’t that hard.

To cover some of the other points.. I'd expect other parents to have family controls on their children's devices as I do. If they choose not to that's on them.

If I wanted my child to have a phone but they were not allowed internet access I would not buy them a smartphone then allow them to take it out with them if I didn't trust them not to use it.

Of course. It's not like they're going to pinch the internet.

FIL turns his internet off at night 'to stop people parking outside and using it all up on me'.

@JingleCatJingle

For those of you who have not changed your default passwords please make that extra effort to secure your wifi and at least change the admin password. It really isn’t that hard.

Genuine question: why?

We live up a hill with absolutely no mobile reception whatsoever. Everyone gets the guest wifi password otherwise they are unreachable in any way while here.

Yes, of course!

But for context:

1. we have a guest network set up for this. With its own password that gets changed every few months.

2. we have a child network set up with a whitelist, again, with its own password. Stuff like the BBC , Wikipedia fine. Unrestricted access to YouTube, absolutely not.

3. we aren't bandwidth limited so there's no "allowance" to use up, which isn't the situation for every house I realise.

DH also set up logging so that if there was an issue we can see which devices accessed which content. It's wiped automatically every month. We've never needed to use it before but it was set up before he sorted the child network whitelist out (so is leftover really rather than a spying attempt).

I would never give out unrestricted net access to anything other than close friends and neighbours, and certainly not some other people's kids.. I don't want policing their internet access responsibility! Also DH is super paranoid about passwords, but since he has an IT background I really don't think it's appropriate to question because he's tried explaining some bad stuff that can happen so I trust his (usually very sensible) judgement.

Reasons for wanting the WiFi password:

-Most teens/preteens will have limited data on their contract, so use WiFi whenever possible to save this.
-Socializing can include things like posting pictures on Instagram/Snapchat together.
-They want to be able to message other people who aren't there via Whatsapp or Snapchat.
-They want to play a mobile game together.
-They may want to show each other videos on YouTube etc.

Bear in mind that 12yos today have grown up in a world of smartphones and being constantly connected. To them, it's not either or- being online is a constant part of their everyday life. They're not ignoring someone else because they've gone on their phone for a little bit.

I don't really understand what your objection is to letting them have your WiFi password? Surely it's better to have some control over what they can access?

FIL turns his internet off at night 'to stop people parking outside and using it all up on me'. But perhaps he only gets a certain alowance?

SansaSnark of course you are ignoring other people if you go on your phone, even for a little bit!

You need to change the default admin password on your router because these are often straightforward and documented.
Hackers can then take control of your network/router and it is no longer secure.
www.lifewire.com/changing-default-password-on-wifi-network-816567
You change your wifi network password to keep it secure and ensure that only the people you want to access it are accessing it. It’s basic housekeeping and keeps your home wifi secure.

of course you are ignoring other people if you go on your phone, even for a little bit!

Not if you are looking up something together

However I'd find it perfectly acceptable for a guest to say - 'excuse me a minute, I've been watching something on eBay for a week and it's about to end' or such like

Do they need to even ask? My phone will share a password with another device without needing to type it in. (iPhone - I’m not sure , to be fair, if this is possible with android devices)

@BecauseReasons DS starting playing PokémonGo but didn't have data on his phone. Even at 8 he worked out that trying the default password of a particular provider would sometimes get him onto a network. Until then he'd been limited to Pokestops within reach of free pub and shop WiFi networks.
Some networks have the same default password for all accounts. So anyone can get onto your WiFi.

Yes I give DSS's friends the WiFi password.
We have an alley down the side of our house, and apparently they have been known to hang around down there as it still connects to our WiFi.
I'm not too happy about that, but at the same time I cannot be arsed changing the password on all the devices we have connected, so..

I have my neighbours password from when I go round for a cuppa, when I sit in my garden (not often, it's Scotland) it picks up his signal but not mine so I use it. Now I feel like I'm committing some sort of sin and am going round to confess 😬😆

@Drizzzle - no, he's on an unlimited data package. We set it up for him. It's the thing that he thinks people drive around at night looking for internet to steal.

Yes I do because if we didn’t have wifi we wouldn’t have any internet access as know phone signal and no 4g or any g

@iklboo when the internet was first a thing and people didn't know about passwords this did happen - so his actions are correct- for 1997 lol

Any guest can use our WiFi. I think it's their parents' responsibility to put limits on their devices there are plenty of WiFi networks they'll be able to access out and about anyway.

@happycamper11 - he is a bit behind the times. He still goes on about 'video nasties'

In our old house we have it to the boy across the road and he used to sit on our wall using it. It was really funny but a bit cheeky of him. And yes we do let the DC friends connect to it why wouldn’t we?