Neighbour's son asking to use our wifi

And springychicken? I think youre being a bit naìve.and too trusting.sorry.

I would be very wary of letting anyone use my wi-fi but definitely not someone that I barely knew and didn't think much of.
You never know what they might download or what they can get into.

And it would still show on list even for a line no longer used( like our old one from previous tenant as its a different phoneline) so you could just say you had it cut off.

For those who mentioned being able to see their WiFi and know they have - he will be able to see all providers within the area but not see where they are coming from. I used to use my upstairs neighbours wifi with their permission as I didnt have a connection in my place and it worked for both of us as I paid half their Bill.

Absolutely not and make sure your's is secure and password protected. Sounds very suspicious and DH would not allow it. He will be able to see you have wifi though so I wouldn't lie - just say you don't share it.

Anyway most smartphones(if he has one) have their own wifi these days so he'l just have to pay for that& use it instead wont he? If he asks again just say " hasnt your phone got its own wifi then?- just call in phone shop& they'l help you with that"-then close door.Or just tell him " oh i cant be bothered with all that new fangled internet nonsence"- itl be so beleivable, he wont bother you again probably- even if he does think youre old fogeys!

Some of these replies make me realise im not as big a technophobe/ beginner as i thought i was! Lol. I thought everyone knew a list shows up if someone clicks to try connect?It wont show which yours EXACTLY is though, unless you change yours to something which includes your actual name in it- you can change it to whatever you want- even a sentence- it doesnt neccessarily mean strongest signal is next doors either- as some signals are much weaker than others.

I would definitely say no ! You could lay yourself wide open to him abusing it and you have no way of controlling that!! We had newneighbors ask to use ours on the pretext they couldn't get connected for months by BT. I was amazed how quickly they were connected after that !

Those who think he can see its you specifically who has the wifi are wrong- so dont fret over that( unless the wifi has been changed to one with your name in it- like my neighbours has!) It also shows old connections still on the list like our old one from original phoneline- so i wouldnt worry over this- it wont let him connect without the password so you are fine to say youve not got it- the ones showing could be any house around you( unless youre the only 2 houses in the middle of a field! Lol) you can also change name of yours to something totally different& unrecognisable.But you are right to be cautious as maybe the reason they get cut off is not because of bills but because hes downloading illegal stuff( even one my sons was unknowingly streaming some copyright music from a music site he thought was okay-when we got told it wasnt he never went on that one again- but the implication was we would be disconected if he had!And no i wouldnt give password to people i never get on with and only my family get it when they visit.And neighbours like that are a pain- i had some years ago and it started with a bit of painkilling medicine for the child then escalated to a regular borrowing of things some which never came back unless i went to ask.also when they had their electric cut off she asked if she could put a cable extension through just to watch wimbledon!(i relented in end just for the semi- finals& final then removed cable!) I couldnt understand it im not a tennis fan

The only people who access my wi-fi are rellies and friends .

You definitely did the right thing.

If people want to use a service, they need to pay for it- tell him that.

ooh, I can be silly, and I think I would have shared, but I am also very scared of IT,,
so if I come across this, I won`t... I share mine with my gks when they come visit, but that is different..
don`t think we should share to someone we don`t know..

What a scrounger ! Apart from the family, never let an outsider use the wi-fi. Crime of sorts springs to my mind at such a request, drug dealing for instance where an ISP can be traced-------right back to yourself and unwittingly brought into your domain as being part of it.

That's why it's best not to name your wifi as some people do then no one knows which one is yours.

Its pretty obvious anyway, the strongest one is most likely next door's!

Anja, if he hasn’t got WIFI , how will he know the neighbours have got it?

All the wifis in range show up on tablets/laptops/phones

That's why it's best not to name your wifi as some people do then no one knows which one is yours.

Don't share it , all his family and any visiting friends could use it . Your neighbours cannot see if you have wifi , they may see several local signals, but you cannot identify which house they come from .

Thank you Urmstongran. Technophobe that I am, I thought it might be ‘hidden’ somehow. Suppose nothing is these days!

Because Auntieflo as he would try to use internet on his phone a list of possible suppliers will come up.

Most public houses/cafes etc have free wi-fi these days so if he needs something online that badly he should go to somewhere like that.

Your address is not shown on the list of local wi-fi, only the supplier, type and signal strength etc so he wouldn't know if you have it or not.

Anja, if he hasn’t got WIFI , how will he know the neighbours have got it?

it would be absolute madness to give your wifi password to the neighbours son, as previously said, if he's illegally downloading movies etc your ISP provider will be writing to you in no uncertain terms, plus he could also download porn. Also do you not think he would pass the information on to your neighbours? before you know it all and sundry will have access to your wifi

I don't know why it's necessary to lie about it. Tell the person involved that for reasons of security you do not share your WiFi.

Not unreasonable at all!
We host volunteers who have access to our very poor WiFi.
Before the days of WiFi, they would ask if they could use my broadband computer to download their photos or print their boarding passes .
I reluctantly agreed but would have to spend ages afterwards converting it back to English or deleting thousands of pictures which were blocking the pc. because I'm not techie
At least now they all have phones and tablets and data.
I even say it's like asking to borrow my toothbrush!!
I send them to the library which offers a free service.
Don't worry that you fibbed. Plead ignorance and say you don't have WiFi to share if he asks again.