How does the it work for student homestayers when it comes to terms of internet access?

Question

how does it usually work do i have to pay for the whole monthly internet fee for myself?. but what if the host has already got a broadband connection can they let me split the monthly cost of usage or i need to get another line for only myself wont that be wasting?

Answer 1

It totally depends on the host family and of course most people (particularly families) have broadband now as dial up is just so slow & the price of broadband has come down.  I had a friend that let her homestays use it whenever they wanted as long as she & her kids had finished with it.  But internet cafe's are better as you can use them when & for how long you like & they are really fast & reliable (the one I'm in in Central Auckland right now costs me NZ$40 for 24 hours usage as a member (you just log in & out each time you come so obviously you're not using the whole 24 hours at once!).  Or they are approx $3 for an hour if you don't want to pay to be a member.  You know some host families are really lenient, my friend just let hers do what they wanted, at one point she had a Brazilian guy who spent most of his time nightclubbing till 5am & picking up girls, etc!  She didn't care, as long as he paid his homestay fee's & she just let him do whatever & she doesn't think he was attending school like he was supposed to either.  She figured, he's 18 so can look after himself & make his own decisions & if he wants to have party times here then so be it.  (She herself used to be into nightclubbing so could understand his passion for that).   Other homestay families can be a bit controlling though & want to know where you are & what you're doing, etc.

Answer 2

Students are not entitled to internet access as of right.

You will have to negotiate some kind of arrangement with your host.

Most people who host students will not have a broadband connection, so your internet access will be limited to times when the host and the family are not making or expecting phone calls.

You may be expected to make a contribution to the cost of the connection.

You could investigate getting a second line made available, but the cost will make it be prohibitive. Search for telecomnz in Google to find out how much.

Driver T

Answer 3

We all need to post short answers sometimes.

If your going to be an exchange student or something and the host family doesn't have an internet connection, then it might pay if you can ask your host family to take you to an Internet Cafe.

But your host family should have internet access, regardless it being dial up or broadband. Just not to be rude, if they do have

an internet connection, ask them if you can use it and offer them a bit of money so that they know your not being stingy/greedy.

Most of the time they would refuse anyway, but still offer!

Answer 4

We have Asian students and we let our students have access to our computer to E-Mail their families back home we have never had a problem with allowing our students to use the Internet.

We have never and would never ask our students for money for the use of the Internet

Answer 5

No I don't think they'll make you pay for it. I have friends who were exchange students from Brazil and there host families didn't make them pay.

I think you should talk to them about it though. They may only have dial up or they may be on a plan that doesn't allow for many downloads. If you're a big internet user you might like to offer them some extra money to cover the cost. It wouldn't be much. My internet bill is $35 a month and I have wireless and I download a bit of stuff =]

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Answer 6

Another option to consider, if you can't work anything out with your host, is a wireless connection. They're more expensive though, but it's better than nothing if there isn't anything else on offer....

http://www.woosh.com/ContentClient/Phone...