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.

Dd is a secondary school teacher. They are doing very few online lessons as a lot of kids don't have a laptop, a lot don't have wifi and many have one laptop per household and parents need it for work.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-55552962

The BBC are putting some of their online lessons onto TV for precisely this reason,

"The move comes amid concerns that low-income families may struggle to afford data packages for their children to take part in online learning"

I work at a school in a fairly affluent area, we still have families without WI FI.

Yes, I know a family that only have access via a 3g connected very old phone.

I don't know anyone without WiFi and I appreciate how fortunate we are that it's something I take for granted.

We only got WiFi 8 years ago so we're quite late to it.......it's handy and everything but I see it as a poisoned chalice in a lot of ways.

I know a couple of people who don't have WiFi because of financial reasons, they live quite close to a free hotspot so their kids sat their last time. And one family who don't have it through choice, their teenagers are the happiest kids I know. They're already homeschooled so haven't been affected by this. They have a good support network through the homeschool network already. The mum does have a phone with data which can be used as a hub but the internet has always been seen as something for work purposes. Their kids aren't interested, even when they have free reign theyd rather be doing something.

Where my school is, inner London borough, many families don't have WiFi. They use mobile data if they have any. This is why giving laptops to children is pointless if they can't connect on it. We were given 15 laptops but most of the parents we offered them to said they had no internet.

I know one family. They have a laptop but no WiFi, I think they use mobile data til it runs out.

My husband works in ‘educational logistics’ (I’ve made up that term. But it describes what he does). Their surveys estimate only around 25% of children in London have the facilities to effectively access online education. This is based on the fact that not only do they need WiFi, they also need enough devices for pretty much everyone in the family AND enough rooms in their flat so that if lessons are online they can all watch them and participate without disturbing other people. That rules out most children.

I know someone who can't afford broadband.

I know some families with no WiFi, more with limited data plans, more still who have not enough of either and not enough devices to be useful.

Our school has some limited resources to enable access but we offer some live lessons but as a top up as many students can’t access live lessons reliably.

I know quite a few - my town has some very deprived areas. It isn't that unusual at all. We're lucky to have good fibre and be able to pay for it.

Yes, my nieces mother doesnt have wifi. She cannot afford it.

As far as I know I don't know anyone without wifi but I've not asked so some might be using data.

If a family can only use mobile data and is in need the mobile company 3 will provide free data for them to enable children to home school.

I have been delivering computers and wifi routers (which we pay for) to students and families at my school since March (secondary teacher). It's an area of high deprivation - we have allocated around 300 computers and nearly 100 routers.

The worst one was a family in temporary accommodation, all in a 1 bed flat, on the top floor of a block. 2 teenagers. The flats looked out onto Eton playing fields. I sat in my car after delivering those ones and cried.

I’m not sure but do you not need a credit check for at home wifi? We don’t have a problem but those who can’t get utilities on monthly / quarterly probably also struggle to get credit fir a wifi contract

Just to add - we dismantled our IT rooms to deliver computers.

@GnomeOrMistAndIceGuy

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.

That sounds like a neighbourhood not far from me. At least those children are included in mainstream school (when they are open), often an improvement from their situation in their parents' home countries. I hoped the Roma children would benefit from a different lifestyle here in the UK, but integration just doesn't seem to be happening in the community, so I'm not surprised there is little attention to education outside of school. Are the Roma children included in the vulnerable group at school?

Not families, but I know a couple of colleagues who don't.

A family who used to live next door to us I assume didn't because every few weeks their 11 year old would come and ask to use ours.

My mum also didn't for a while because she didn't need it. She lives alone and had enough data on her phone package for the small amount of internet banking / checking bills she did. She didn't own a computer at the time so would only use internet on her phone anyway, so it didn't make sense to her.

No I don't know any.

I don't have WiFi. Got rid of it to save money

Perhaps when people criticise people on benefits for having sky/ virgin etc they should realise that having WiFi without tv services is quite expensive.

No I don't.
Know there is real poverty in this country though and some families can't even afford food never mind broadband.

I don't have wifi, everything's plugged in with a cable.