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AIBU

Neighbour's son asking to use our wifi

(98 Posts)
nevesnan Sun 16-Jun-19 15:22:55

Hi everyone, I don't know if I am being unreasonable over this but the adult son of our neighbour (who we don't really get on with. long history) knocked at our door to ask to use our wifi.

I told him we didn't have wifi (we do) and he left. Is is a normal thing to use your neighbours wifi. He doesn't live there by the way he was visiting.

notanan2 Mon 17-Jun-19 14:30:21

Tillybelle we have been on our providers case, we actually switched providers to another that would sort it but its still an issue. I wonder if its because theyre not new houses: old thick walls!

Newatthis Mon 17-Jun-19 14:27:09

WOW - what an almighty cheek!! Definitely would have said no.

Tillybelle Mon 17-Jun-19 14:21:28

notanan2. you can extend the wifi range by making it "tune in" to your electric cabling. I have no idea how it works and it does not use any electricity. You need to buy the appropriate thing to plug in and join to your internet router. Some seem to work independently. For example only I found this on Amazon
amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-Universal-Booster-Extender-EX2700-100UKS/dp/B00NIUHAG6/ref=smi_www_rco2_go_smi_8682124849?_encoding=UTF8&hvadid=226630155727&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046381&hvnetw=g&hvpone=&hvpos=1o2&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvrand=17084409885081555918&hvtargid=pla-387791301753&ie=UTF8&linkCode=df0&psc=1&psc=1&tag=googshopuk-21&th=1]] (crumbs- longer than I thought!)
BUT I would ask your internet provider what you need. They ought to help you with this.

Tillybelle Mon 17-Jun-19 14:04:16

25Avalon.
You explained he could have ''gone to a pub or café where it is free for customers." That is where my paranoia pings. A public wifi, as far as I know, does not allow access to certain sites. "Certain sites" being....

Johno Mon 17-Jun-19 14:03:03

Does he have access to using your wifi.. yes. If he is within range and he has your password. Should he have access? absolutely no way. It is the same as trespass.

Tillybelle Mon 17-Jun-19 14:01:09

an extra "but". where from I ask?? My computer moves some words, usually when I type a 't'. Sorry! - also my eyes are terrible with the glare on the screen.... sorry OP i'll go away!

25Avalon Mon 17-Jun-19 13:59:04

Chances are that he has a smart phone in which case he could have switched his phone's 4G Mobile Data on to access the internet and would not need to have bothered you at all - except he would have to pay to his mobile phone company! Using your Wifi was a cheap option but don't feel bad about not giving him access to it when as I say he could have switched his 4G on or as others suggest gone to a pub or café where it is free for customers.

Tillybelle Mon 17-Jun-19 13:58:22

I let an evil man use my computer when he came to visit - uninvited but he drove a long way and I felt obliged... I didn't know he was evil then but found him alarming and difficult. I don't know what he did with it but to this day but I still get cold chills of fear when I remember how I let him have access to my very private information. I may think I am extremely ordinary and boring, but I still have a private life, children, a sad background - which he exploited!

Sorry! My life in which I have been tricked and abused by some wicked people over the years has made me extremely safety-conscious. I might sound paranoid sometimes but I really mean it when I say it is better to be safe than sorry.

Tillybelle Mon 17-Jun-19 13:52:32

nevesnan. Quite simply a polite "no".

In a case of something I haven't come across before I always ask "What's the worst that could happen?" Well here, obviously you don't know how he will use it. He might do something illegal that tracks back to you. However unlikely it may be, I just wouldn't take the risk.

EmilyHarburn Mon 17-Jun-19 13:51:06

Say no for all the reasons people have mentioned above.

ReadyMeals Mon 17-Jun-19 13:51:02

I think I might have asked why, it could be he just had one urgent email to send and had run out of data. I wouldn't let them use it on an ongoing basis so as soon as he'd done the thing he needed to do I'd change the passcode.

blue60 Mon 17-Jun-19 13:28:55

They cannot see which particular household has wifi, and if you want to say you haven't got it so be it.

If it makes things easier to say that, then that is your prerogative and avoids possible confrontation.

Passwords are given for a reason, to keep you safe from unauthorised use, and you can bet they would be using it at your expense.

You are right to say no.

NannyG123 Mon 17-Jun-19 13:28:36

I agree with everyone else he's got a blooming cheek.

SynchroSwimmer Mon 17-Jun-19 13:27:36

In fact I have done exactly that with my mini mobile wifi unit....I love the fact that other guests in various hotels abroad will see it on their screens when they are searching themselves

SynchroSwimmer Mon 17-Jun-19 13:26:01

I would be tempted to re-name my own Wifi something like:
BBC TV Detector Van 3

?

Mapleleaf Mon 17-Jun-19 12:38:50

No, not being unreasonable, being sensible.

Sherry1 Mon 17-Jun-19 12:32:35

I notice several people saying he will be able to see that you do have wifi... When you look for local wifi it lists what is connected nearby but it doesn't give an address. Even so I totally agree that you shouldn't let him use it.

SparklyGrandma Mon 17-Jun-19 12:16:40

I once had a cheeky neighbour ring my doorbell late at night to ask to borrow a tenner to ‘get to work’.

I slammed the door shut without saying a word, which would have been a rude one, if I had said it.

The cheek!

blondenana Mon 17-Jun-19 12:13:07

Scrounging neighbours are awful, my son has a neighbour who has scrounged from the day my son moved in, from borrowing sugar, coffee,asking to have a shower, as had no electric, to borrowing tobacco, borrowing money for a stamp, borrowing his phone as had no credit,even asking to boil 2 eggs,
Unbelievable, my son eventually had to say no more, but the man still came back, so at last he was told in no uncertain terms to go away,
I think he had been round all the other neighbours before that,

Ninny1967 Mon 17-Jun-19 12:06:06

Imagine if he went onto illegal sites! In this day and age I wouldn’t trust anyone. There’s a world of badness online from child pornography to terrorism. Also you say you don’t get on with your neighbours, now that’s an alarm bell right there. Tell them McDonald’s do cheap coffee and free WiFi failing that buy their own broadband service, cheeky buggers ?

SparklyGrandma Mon 17-Jun-19 11:55:00

YANBU - and if you did and he used lots of bandwidth say streaming games or movies, you may well have been kicking yourself.

olliebeak Mon 17-Jun-19 11:53:54

Technically speaking, it's actually illegal to give neighbours access to your Wi-Fi password - though it's perfectly alright to share it with visitors to your home ie family members, babysitters etc.
Although he'll be able to see details of 'available signals' in your vicinity, those details DO NOT include your actual address - so you don't need to worry about him catching you out. He's got a damn cheek!

Pepine Mon 17-Jun-19 11:46:43

Unless your WiFi identifies you (by name or house name for example), he will have no way of telling if you have it or not. If this is the case or he challenges you simply say that you don’t have a guest WiFi option which is obviously what he is asking as we all know giving out your personal passwords for anything makes you vulnerable so you never do it.

Nannan2 Mon 17-Jun-19 11:35:12

Because hes a scrounger and/ or doing something dodgy is why EthelJ! Or downloading music( even legally) is very costly so why use his own if he can put it on someone elses bill?

EthelJ Mon 17-Jun-19 11:28:38

Most people have smart phones these days do om not sure why he couldn't have used his data on that or bought more data if he needed it.