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 do not know any personally, but think of your audience here - you're speaking to a subset of parents who have a stable enough internet connection (of whatever type) and device/s of course, to use discussion forums as an entertainment source.

People tend to know people of a similar social status and/or income level to themselves, broadly. So I think it's quite normal for the majority of MNers to have wifi at home, and to expect that their friends and family also have wifi at home. But it's naive and yes, I think quite privileged to not understand that this isn't the status quo for the UK as a whole. On average, it's probably true, but you go into those pockets of poverty or homelessness or transiency or addiction or chaos, or whatever other reason there is and you'll absolutely find a huge number of homes with children who can't reliably access the internet. A minority, yes, but a sizeable one.

However I think a lot of people fail to understand this kind of thing, and this is why lockdowns are seen as no big deal, just an inconvenience, rather than something drastic.

I work in a welfare position in the North East. Unfortunately we are trying to support many who do not have the means to study remotely whether this is laptop or Internet access.

I guess we tend to be friends with people in the same socio-economic group as ourselves, so it's no surprise you might not know someone in poverty if you are well off.

I've worked in schools all my adult life and know families who don't have WiFi, for sure. At one of my previous schools, in one of the most deprived areas in the uk, there's not a chance as a school we'd assume kids had access to internet/phone/pc. At least half the kids in my class wouldn't have access to IT at home.

I think this is why it's so important to have people from diverse backgrounds working in policy and decision making jobs in government. We can avoid these blind spots where there is this incessant need to put everything online and do away with conventional means of contact, like paper forms, help through the a phone line and the push for online learning (though necessary). Because honestly people are living in their own privileged bubbles and think their norm is the norm.

For a quarter of people with access to the Internet to only have it through expensive data packages- some of these things are just not feasible for them and they get left behind.

The tone of this thread is annoying me a bit. There seems to be a feeling that a family is either deprived or not being a decent parent if there isn’t a lap top for each child in the house. Nobody knew a pandemic was coming and I don’t think it’s deprived or unfair for there to be only one computer or lap top per household.

@Diverseopinions

Those little mobile WiFi devices would be good for schools to lend to homes, if it was do-able. I wonder if telecom providers might agree to make some available for free. I'd like to see the government explain why it isn't possible to make WiFi free. There must be a way of making its provision inexpensive for government to ok this.

The world we are living in now and the push for government to cut cost by putting everything online, WiFi should be free. You can only apply for benefits online. That is the most illogical decision I have ever seen. Let's expect the poorest and most vulnerable in society to have access to a decent device and constant, reliable access to the internet.

@Rahrahgurl it's not just applying for benefits. Those in the work search group of UC are expected to look for work 35 hours a week. Majority of this would need to be online for most

I know of a girl writing a level history essays on her phone because they had one laptop between her and her 2 brothers. Another in y11 who had to use her phone data to access home learning. Both from loving and supportive families. A device, WiFi and space to work is a luxury many kids just don’t have. Many adults now wfh don’t have these things.

Yes. I used to babysit for a couple with one child - they chose to have no internet or television. The house was chock full of books. Both parents highly educated and work as University lecturers.

I was reading a post from a friend of a friend on Facebook which said that due to poor broadband coverage and download speeds below 3mbps (rural) their dc can't be online at the same time

So sometimes it's about location as well as / instead of poverty

My sons school have never done any online teaching but do have links on their website for work, they do not mark any work from packs sent out either. I was not happy about this but was told not everyone has access to the internet so they are not marking work sent out. His school is a disgrace and I do not care what excuses his teachers come up with, it's not acceptable that they get paid for doing nothing.

Only ones who live so rural they cant get wifi. I think I must be sheltered because I was (quietly) surprised when a friend mentioned in conversation that their household doesnt have a laptop/PC or printer. She was asking me to print an email for her. Growing up we had an office/study at home, then at uni and afterwards when I rented my first house I didnt have one but I still had a laptop and a printer in the house. After that when I bought my first house we had a study/office (gave up the "spare bedroom" for it though). I wouldnt say we are particularly well off but wifi is a priority for us (especially since having DC). We dont have Sky/TV bundle though which I think most people have.

They are talking about this on the news now.

My neighbors don't have WiFi, I only know because they told me they just use their phone data for everything.

Fewer than 10 children in our school of over 500 will attempt any home learning, despite us offering it in a range of formats.
This comment from @GnomeOrMistAndIceGuy is so sad.
Yet the parents here have been calling for schools to close for weeks.

This question was about WiFi but could have been about lunch or physical safety. It's enough to make me cry now.

Plenty of homes don't have food, never mind broadband. I can't believe you need to ask this question.

Plenty of families don't have proper homes. Shelter said that a child lost their home every 8 minutes in 2019, I'm sure it's been even more since Covid. 4.2 million children live in poverty. Access to the internet is the tip of the iceberg.

I don’t, but then people tend to mix in social bubbles who are similar to them.

I have heard of this before- it’s quite common I’m deprived families. There may be smart phones but using 4G or 5G, not home wifi.

Many very poor families have neither.

*in

In case it's helpful, there are several mobile companies offering free data for kids who really need it.

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

I know two families. One because of the cost and the other is a choice(they also don’t have a tv).

Op, our entire village didn't have broadband until last summer. 250 houses and we couldn't get more than 1mb which was completely useless. It has been resolved and now we get 35mb

But I can't imagine we were the only ones. I bet there are plenty of places BT is still ignoring.

My old next door neighbor didn't have WiFi as her husband wouldn't allow holes to be drilled in the house for cables ?? She had 4 dc so I gave them my wifi code
they was super cheeky and asked the people who bought my old house if they could have their WiFi to
Luckily enough they said yes so they have WiFi. Otherwise they wouldn't have it

X

Yep. I know for a fact that one of my daughter’s school friends doesn’t have WiFi/internet at home (south London, v mixed area with a lot of wealth and a lot of deprivation).

Yes - my home. Very rural, and limited broadband (can't use netflix or watch utube or live stream things). it is very expensive and slow and not able to do everything we want or need it to. It is real for some people.