Talk to Virgin Media about your internet habits and internet safety for your DCs - you could win an iPad Air! NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

Virgin Media have asked us to find out out about Mumsnetters' internet habits, as well as internet safety for your DCs.

Virgin Media say "At Virgin Media we know that the online world offers loads of opportunities for kids to have fun, explore and learn new things. But there might also be some things that you’d rather your child didn’t see or do. The web's packed with fun and informative stuff for your kids to explore but, just like in the real world, there are things we all need to watch out for. Experts say that much of what you know about parenting in the real world also applies online, and at the end of the day, you know your kids best! So, we'd love to hear about how you and your children use the internet"

Below are a few points to get you started, but feel free to add any other comments you have:

• How do you help your DC(s) be responsible and stay safe in the real world? Can this be applied online?
• How do you help your DC(s) make the most of the online world, and become a safe and responsible user(s) of the internet?
• Last time you were choosing your broadband and TV services, how did you make your decision? Was it based on things like recommendations from friends or family, or reviews? Did you buy online, over the phone or go into a store?
• How important is the speed of internet in your household? Do you know what your broadband speeds allows you? What do you know about fibre optic broadband?

Please note, Virgin Media may use your comments on social media and elsewhere, so please only comment if you're happy with this.

Everyone who adds a comment to this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win an iPad Air (Space Grey, 16GB and Wi-Fi enabled).

Thanks, and good luck!
MNHQ

PS - Check out Virgin Media's exclusive offers for Mumsnetters here.

If my 2 are on the laptop for their games website, I'm sat with them.
And if they're on the games on the iPad I turn the wi-fi off so no accidental downloads or unwanted internet browsing (they're age 4 and 2)

We give the children time to go on the Internet to research for homework and also for Facebook but we make sure we know who they are talking to and explain the dangers on talking to strangers

My DC' only play games as such on line at the moment, I do have parental control installed just as a precaution, but it is a worry for when they get older

• How do you help your DC(s) be responsible and stay safe in the real world? Can this be applied online?

only let them use internet in family spaces + use Virgin's websafe

• How do you help your DC(s) make the most of the online world, and become a safe and responsible user(s) of the internet?

encourage them to ask about dodgy content

• How important is the speed of internet in your household? Do you know what your broadband speeds allows you? What do you know about fibre optic broadband?

speed very important - have cable and OH regularly checks that we get close to advertised speed

Not allowed online at all until she gets older.

I spend time with my children, we 'play' on the hudl together.

It's pretty scary to think of dangers to a generation where the internet is so ubiquitous. The basic stranger danger ideas of not taking gifts or overly trusting strangers can be taken online as well as explaining not everyone is who the say they are.

regarding internet provider, I'd look at value, including using price comparison sites, and availability. speed in terms of numbers is not so much a draw as so many individual factors affect this once installed.

How do you help your DC(s) be responsible and stay safe in the real world? Can this be applied online?

* Tell them to not talk to strangers, and always look before crossing although they are only 8 and 6 so they dont go out alone without me anyway*

How do you help your DC(s) make the most of the online world, and become a safe and responsible user(s) of the internet?

I have restriction filters on my laptop but they only use it in the same room as me anyway

Last time you were choosing your broadband and TV services, how did you make your decision? Was it based on things like recommendations from friends or family, or reviews? Did you buy online, over the phone or go into a store?

**I am with Sky for my tv and I cant get Virgin so it was either BT or freeview and they dont offer the same amount of choice, we use BT for our internet and phone.

How important is the speed of internet in your household? Do you know what your broadband speeds allows you? What do you know about fibre optic broadband?

** My husband likes online gaming so there is no way we would be able to get away with standard broadband, he makes the choices with the broadband and we have firbe optic i think

- How do you help your DC(s) be responsible and stay safe in the real world? Can this be applied online? I have always encouraged DCs to be independent and act responsibly - I hope that now they are online they keep to the principles they were originally taught. So far so good (teens).
- How do you help your DC(s) make the most of the online world, and become a safe and responsible user(s) of the internet? DCs were originally only supposed to use certain websites for homework research but this has now lapsed. They weren't allowed to use FB etc until the minimum age. They have all had lessons at school about internet safety and I've attended talks aimed at parents on the subject.
- Last time you were choosing your broadband and TV services, how did you make your decision? Was it based on things like recommendations from friends or family, or reviews? Did you buy online, over the phone or go into a store? Our old broadband provider stopped offering a domestic service, Virgin had already installed fibre optic broadband in our area (listed houses, no satellite dishes) so we went with Virgin. I organised it over the phone.
- How important is the speed of internet in your household? Do you know what your broadband speeds allows you? What do you know about fibre optic broadband? Very very important - DH used to work from home and needed fast broadband. We have fibre optic broadband and are happy with it.

I think pretty much constant supervision and alot of discussion and the supervision only decreases as you get more confident that your child knows what they should and shouldn't do (and you can trust them!!!)

I sit with her as she is too young to be let loose on her own!

BB speed is important and I have Virgin Media 120meg. I've been using it for so long I think that I would have a major breakdown if I ever had to go back to slow speeds.

How do you help your DC(s) be responsible and stay safe in the real world? Can this be applied online?

We talk about things I suppose, they get a lot of freedom in the real world but they know that while you can talk to people (because that's how you make friends!) you should never go anywhere with anyone without checking with me or dh even if it someone you know. So the same applies online. They know you can talk to people online (though at the moment are too young to use forums etc) but I do chat to them about not using real name and giving away details such as address etc. They ahve seen me on MN and laughed at my user name and we've talked about being able to pretend you are anyone you want to be when it is words on a screen.

• How do you help your DC(s) make the most of the online world, and become a safe and responsible user(s) of the internet?

I don't really. And I do want to change that and sort out the laptop to make sure my uni work is well protected from accidental deletion and that the parental controls are up to date on the internet. We use it to look stuff up, they know how google works. I think that is important. I have been known to get my phone out at teh dinner table to look something up as aprt of a discussion. I think it is nice to show how internet use can be part of improving a discussion rather than everyone sitting staring at their own device.

• Last time you were choosing your broadband and TV services, how did you make your decision? Was it based on things like recommendations from friends or family, or reviews? Did you buy online, over the phone or go into a store?

Based purely on the fact that dh works for an internet and TV provider and gets it for free. Several door to door salespeople have tried to make me switch,e ven when I point out that it doesn't matter what deal they are going to give me it still won't be better than free.

• How important is the speed of internet in your household? Do you know what your broadband speeds allows you? What do you know about fibre optic broadband?

It is quite important. We have fibre optic (only think I really know is that it uses a different sort of cable and it quicker. Well, I do have some knowledge about how fibre optic cables work. Anyway, doesn't matter. We have it.) and it was great when that was rolled out to our village as we are a bit in the dark ages here so the previous internet was sloooooooow. It is great being able to stream things no problem now. The internet has changed so much in recent years that I don't think you can access it fully without good broadband speeds.

Computer use is supervised, but its time we sorted out those 'parental controls' you can set up - if only I knew how!

My daughter has been using the internet since she was about 4, she is now 16. Right from the start I told her there could be some bad people on the internet just like in real life. I was always with her when she was a youngster using the computer so could guide her to fun age appropriate sites. Now she is 16 she uses her own tablet to use Social Media but I have given her pep talks about what she should and shouldnt be doing and the reasons why, she is a sensible girl and I trust her to make good decisions.

My partner chose our broadband and TV provider last time because the Sky people called round and convinced him to change from Virgin, grrrrr. I definitely want to change back because Virgin were much better.

How important is the speed of internet in your household? Do you know what your broadband speeds allows you? What do you know about fibre optic broadband? My daughter and myself use the internet a lot in the evenings and speed is very important. I dont know what broadband speed allows us and dont know much about fibre optic broadband

i limit my DD to an hour internet a day as I appreciate the need to be on social media but I feel she needs to explore other ways to communicate.

• How do you help your DC(s) be responsible and stay safe in the real world? Can this be applied online?

Pretty much the same rules apply, albeit differently. We teach our kids never to speak to strangers in real life - and on the internet. This extends to not giving out any personal information on forums or other chat related sites.

• How do you help your DC(s) make the most of the online world, and become a safe and responsible user(s) of the internet?

By ensuring that they ask us before joining or playing on a site, so that we can check it out. Also by frequently reminding them of the "e safety" golden rules that they learn at school and at home.

• Last time you were choosing your broadband and TV services, how did you make your decision? Was it based on things like recommendations from friends or family, or reviews? Did you buy online, over the phone or go into a store?

We have been Virgin customers (previously Telewest!) since we moved into our house 17 years ago so this predated us even having a computer or the internet!!

• How important is the speed of internet in your household? Do you know what your broadband speeds allows you? What do you know about fibre optic broadband?

We've recently been upgraded to 60mb broadband, this is far more important to me than it is to the kids though!

I have parental controls in place for youtube and Amazon prime. When our 9 year old uses the internet, I only check on her occasionally as she is very sensible and only goes on sites that have been agreed to beforehand. Our 7 year old is a completely different matter. She needs to have supervision every minute that she is using it.

Whenever the children want to view a new site I always view it before they are allowed on.

Another tip is when they want to join sites that you would rather they didn't go on too much is set their password. This means they have to ask you to log in for them so you can easily check what they are doing.

My DS is 7 so at the moment he only really uses the internet for playing Minecraft/Terraria and Sims games, when he gets older I will be very wary of letting him have uncontrolled access to some social media sites as they can have a very damaging effect on children and their self esteem, but its difficult as you don't want to feel you are letting your child suffer from not having an online presence which is seen as the norm amongst kids of a certain age.

I tell him now that he must only stick to certain websites but I don't police him as such, I trust that he will tell me if he sees anything uncomfortable and to be honest I think he would be highly likely to tell me if he came across something which was unsuitable. I tell him that he has to take care on the internet as alot of people can post anything they want, some things which are not things he/I would want to see, and some people can be mean on the internet to each other, and if he has any concerns he can talk to me about them.

My DC are still very young - just 2 and 4 - but I do allow them to watch cartoons on You Tube. I find they tend to watch the same cartoon over and over so they haven't yet stumbled across anything untoward but I should start looking at parental controls to prevent that ever happening in the first place.

We did have Virgin Media but got a better deal with Sky so have moved to them and I haven't noticed any deterioration in internet speed.

DS is only 2 so still too young for the chat but it will be a priority alongside not talking to strangers. It would be a great storyline for a children's book actually. DH deals with all the broadband and internet stuff, I have no idea what the speed we have is.

How do you help your DC(s) be responsible and stay safe in the real world? Can this be applied online?

I am still learning as DC are relatively young (3 and 5). I think I am going to have to use parental controls once DD2 can spell. She does not use the PC at all herself currently but I am pondering.

• How do you help your DC(s) make the most of the online world, and become a safe and responsible user(s) of the internet?

Use the internet with them. I will explain when the time comes about what the pitfalls are. It's important that they are informed and understand why we have to be careful.

• Last time you were choosing your broadband and TV services, how did you make your decision? Was it based on things like recommendations from friends or family, or reviews? Did you buy online, over the phone or go into a store?

I looked online for reviews in terms of customer service and price.

• How important is the speed of internet in your household? Do you know what your broadband speeds allows you? What do you know about fibre optic broadband?

Very important, I work online a lot! Ours is not great. I will be tempted by fibre optic when it arrives our way.

It's the same as the real world, giving your children lots of warnings and explaining danger, the internet is such a difficult place to monitor, something can always slip through from inappropriate material to bullying.
We chose our supplier after trying a few, we came back to the original which provided the best service.
I do know about broadband speeds, it's important in our house as there are so many of us with devices, we had fibre optic broadband installed which has speeded things up.

I use BT broadband, and when I set it up it asked whether I wanted to 'opt in' to filtering - I did. My kids are quite young at the moment but I'd like to give them the choice when they are old enough to decide for themselves.

My younger son aged 7 has to be on the internet in the lounge with the rest of the family no hiding away in his room. My older child aged 13 has to have me as a friend on facebook and also has to let me know his password for any websites he's a member of, that's the deal and I check periodically who he's been talking to and on what sites

I just make sure I join in with what ever is happening on the family computer... what ever happens we do it together, so there is no need to check what anyone is up to!