Do you know of any families that do not have wifi?

[MattWanksock]

A colleague said today that the school her DC go to rang to ask if they had wifi at home and were able to homeschool for the foreseeable. I do not believe it to be a disadvantaged area but I have no idea as I don't work where I live.

At first I was surprised and a little upset for the children of the school that this question needs to be asked. Having spoken to DP he says I mustn't understand how privileged we are to not have been asked that question. I should also feel bad about such an assumption. It was also mentioned at the 5pm briefing that it would cost £100 in data on pay as you go to get complete a day of zoom and educational websites.

The school our DC attend just assumed we would have a device to do 1000 zoom calls a day which I do think was a bit off.

So... do you know any household with children 0-18 that does not have wifi? AIBU to think you would be hard pressed to find a house that didn't have wifi due to the way the world is now.

I know houses where some days they don't have electricity, never mind WiFi.

As PP said above, I know houses that go without gas and electricity somedays.

Lots of children at DC's school don't. Their parents rely on mobile phones and either the data on their contract or are limited by PAYG.

DC's school got the children to fill out a questionnaire to find out how many children didn't have access to a suitable device and/or have broadband at home. I forget how many didn't but it was a not unsubstantial number.

I agree with your DH - it shows your privilege that you don't realise how fortunate you are.

I don't know of any households that also have children yet don't have Wi-Fi. My parents have Wi-Fi and they are 72 and 80. The only people I know of who don't have Wi-Fi are a 93 year old woman and her 71 year old daughter who live together. Then again, they have never owned a computer or cell phone. They have also never had a credit card or used a cordless phone. Their house is like a bloody time capsule.

Where I work the dc don't have toothbrushes never mind Wi-fi.

No I don't know a single person that doesn't have wifi. I'm from a not well off area, know lots of people on benefits, all have wifi, computers, smartphones etc. Surely those kids have a place at school though?

No. But my DC's school is part of an academy and they were asking about access to computers and broadband. It's sensible to ask, rather than assume although I doubt there are many kids at my dc's school coping without.

I know of households that don't have money to pay for food or women's basic sanitary care, let alone WiFi.

I am a retired social worker. Many of the families I worked with didn't have wifi or any sort of tablet/laptop. Many struggled to afford basic food and utilities. I guess many of these families would be in the vulnerable group and allowed to attend school for this very reason. I am sure there are plenty more unknown to SS who have no access to wifi or devices.

Yes I do. A quick google can tell you that 7% of U.K. households have no internet. Of the 93% that do, 24% only access it via a mobile phone. So that’s a few million children at least.

AIBU to think you would be hard pressed to find a house that didn't have wifi due to the way the world is now
The vast majority of my pupils do not have WiFi. Our community is extremely deprived, largely comprising of Roma Gypsies from Czech, Slovakia and Romania. They are extremely transient. Fewer than 10 children in our school of over 500 will attempt any home learning, despite us offering it in a range of formats. It takes all of our efforts too check on a weekly basis that they are safe and well, let alone accessing their work. It's hard.
Many pockets of society won't have WiFi but they're often overlooked on MN.

Something like 1 in 10 families don't have necessary technology and

Yes. In the school I teach in (very small village primary, affluent area) there are 2 families who do not have WiFi at home. We are inviting them into school as vulnerable students since they will not be able to access remote learning from home.

(We also have many families sharing one device and without printers, as well as other parents questioning why we aren't delivering a full day of video lessons because they are in the fortunate position of having one device per child...)

Yes several. As PP said they rely on mobile phone for internet normally via payg.

You would be hard pressed to find no internet in some areas, sure. But that doesn’t account for all and will vary wildly in postcodes right next to one another.

No. I don't know anyone who doesn't. Ds1 and Ds2 say they don't either. Some of their friends have free school meals, but even they have many things that many mn posters don't have.

Yes I do, plenty. You're in a position of enormous privilege if you don't know anyone in this position.

@WestSideBoom
I know someone with 7 kids on benefits. They dont have toothbrushes but have wifi and full sky package. Not saying that's everyone's situation just reminded me of them.

I work in a comprehensive in a deprived area in the south-east. When we sent a questionnaire to parents in the first lock down, around 20% of our kids didn't have internet access at home.

My mother does not have wifi, she is 61 retired and on a low income. She relies on a small amount of data from her mobile phone contract and has struggled with everything moving online. She also doesn't have a credit card, or a card that allow you to tap and pay and prfers to pay cash.

Oh yes, lots. My mum is a governor at a school in a moderately deprived area. A good percentage of the families don't have wifi, or wifi-capable devices. It isn't uncommon to see kids sent in wearing wellington boots, cut off at the ankle to create makeshift shoes. And kids not having electricity or heating some days at home.

get-help-with-tech.education.gov.uk/about-increasing-mobile-data

Some data providers will help with increasing allowance if families don't have broadband and can't afford extra data costs

There is a significant rural v urban divide for wi-fi. We only got decent broadband last year. Loads of rural areas have very poor broadband provision which cannot cope with speeds needed to be online with zoom etc. Loads of mobile phone 'not spots' rurally too.

Yes. A family two doors down has no phones, WiFi or television. There are 5 secondary school age children living in the house.

This Is the deliberate choice of the parents.

WTF.

Yes; we live fairly rurally now though, so some of the families I know can't actually get any internet at all and rely on mobile tethering, some could have access but for various reasons don't.

Another social worker here, yes sadly I knew of many, many families who struggled to afford basic food & electricity for warmth etc, let alone had WiFi. I do understand what you mean about the privilege of living among people who don’t have these struggles but I also know of people who appear to be doing pretty ok on the outside when things aren’t quite as they appear behind the scenes. The assumption this government has made regarding homeschooling has always convened me. We’re comfortably ‘middle class’ dare I say but we didn’t have tablets before an emergency purchase in the original lockdown. Many who struggle to put food on that table might have 1 device to share among many children if they are lucky. It’s not uncommon at all sadly.