Seek advice: foreign helper

[Devil]

For health reasons, my wife and I have been forced to have a live-in foreign helper. I have no issues with paying her nor with her normal perquisites, such as health insurance, food, day off et cetera.

What I do not know is the custom regarding communications and the Internet. The household has a telephone line which is also used for the Internet and general communications. As she has a telephone number (different provider), I assume that her constant blabbing on the phone uses this with her friends in the district.

She is also an amateur of television, watching the household set in English, which cannot be fun. To avoid the minimal problems, I am willing to provide her with a small, cheap, TV set in her room. As most of our viewing is around the usual BBC/sky news, with a provider in Paphos, for a few euros per month, this cannot be much fun for her. On the other hand, I am not willing to pay the earth to provide her with entertainment, something just minimal. Has anybody got any help to offer me?

Then, how do I manage the Internet with her? I just do not have a clue! Does she use it for communicating to her home and family? Or does she use the phone, somehow at my expense?

If anybody with a foreign helper has already overcome these worries, I am all ears to hear your help! Please and thank you!

[Dominic]

Why don't you try talking to her?

[Devil]

Conversation at a techie level is quasi-impossible. Ask her how she does this or that and she just looks blank.

[Sadie]

I think, seeing as though this is not your first question to do with this lady, that you maybe employ the services of a translator...maybe get everything down in a contract that you can both agree to?

[WHL]

She can share your internet, using skype, to speak with her friends/family World wide for zero cost, as for the tv, get her a kodi box, about 50 euro and download mobdro or other free add ons for free films/tv, or you can download a provider like ultimate mania for about 80 pounds year and get every channel on the planet including Asian channels.

[trevnhil]

Do bear in mind when thinking of a TV for the 'foreign lady'. and her own mobile phone, the TV will of course assuming from a box take some of your bandwidth.
Likewise if the phone is using your internet then that also will be taking some of you bandwidth ...
All this will have little impact if you have a lot of bandwidth ie 20 or 30 mbps
But if you are working on 8 /10 / or 12 mbps it will certainly slow down what you are doing or watching

[Jimgward]

Devil, if she has a mobile and connects it your WiFi, then she would use Whaatsapp for calling friends around the world for free. Skype, as someone mentioned is an alternative but less popular for this. The data amount used is minimal.

[mike strand2]

Hi Devil. I too have a carer (3 years now) and they obviously need to communicate with home & and with local friends. When she's not using her mobile (paid for by her), then she'll be using the internet. My carer has suggested getting his own line. However that really is unnecessary as I have a 20Mbps service which is more than adequate.

Without knowing precisely what your concerns are, I think you've nothing really to worry about.

[Devil]

To all of you who have replied, a big thank you. I am trying to take on board everything you have said. I do have one techie question though; there is no way I can hardwire the Internet to her room so she will be obliged to use Wi-Fi. Am I correct in thinking that the Internet loading via Wi-Fi will be less than hardwired connections? I do have a 30 MB connection, so from what has been said it would seem that there should be no problem. Ideally, I would like her to have an independent Internet connection on condition that I do not pay the bill!

In view of what you guys have told me, I will look into this more deeply so as to make sure I do not have any nasty surprises!

[holitec]

We have some customers who have helpers, we managed to run a cable from the router to their room and added an additional router for them. As said above an android box will find lots of local tv and also you tube does many channels from Asia, like news etc.

If it is not possible to run a cable, you could consider a pair of ethernet over mains adaptors, not ideal for tv streaming but will probably be fine for 90% of the time. As long as you have 20Mbps+ internet you should not notice any difference.

HTH

Digby

[josef k]

She will be using WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger to communicate with local friends, and family in her home country (and elsewhere in the world). She can do this using your WiFi connection. This is unlikely to significantly impact on your own use, and is a no-cost solution for you.

To get TV programmes in her own language (assuming she is Philippina, Sri Lankan, Vietnamese or Nepali) she will need a set up as described above using Kodi with the appropriate addons. However, these addons tend to have a short life, so you will need to organise new addons on a fairly regular basis. This is a pain in the whatsit.
An alternative, and one which most use, is just to watch their TV via youtube on their smartphone. Again, this is at no cost to you. If you were feeling generous, you could buy her a new smart TV with a connecting cable to enable her to view her mobile on the TV.

I think a good strategy would be to ask what her friends here have. If you were to meet some, they may have a better grasp of English and you could discuss it with them.

[Maggie B]

Brian. Do you remember what it was like to be a young person living in a strange country . . . . . . Think of the 70's or earlier? Maybe you do, maybe you don't? I know for sure something will crop up in your mind.

Try and embrace this wee wifie and give her some memories of what that was like for you. Apologies, because I cannot remember who suggested a translator but, that was the best piece of advice you have ever received on Dominics forum. (Please remind me of this advice whoever you were?).

If you can communicate with her, . . . . . .you will know almost immediately if this is going to work.

Or not?

[Devil]

Thanks, all!

I will not add anything at this stage, because all your advice is overwhelming my little grey cells, combined with some other serious problems at this time. I will be back though!

[Sadie]

Brian. Do you remember what it was like to be a young person living in a strange country . . . . . . Think of the 70's or earlier? Maybe you do, maybe you don't? I know for sure something will crop up in your mind.

Try and embrace this wee wifie and give her some memories of what that was like for you. Apologies, because I cannot remember who suggested a translator but, that was the best piece of advice you have ever received on Dominics forum. (Please remind me of this advice whoever you were?).

If you can communicate with her, . . . . . .you will know almost immediately if this is going to work.

Or not?

It was me who suggested a translator, the poor girl probably isn’t aware of her responsibilities and like others have said she’s in a strange country living with strangers

[Uncle D]

Thanks, all!
combined with some other serious problems at this time.

Like being socially awkward

[Devil]

Like being socially awkward

As a Scotsman, being socially awkward is a given. We tend to be less hypocritical and more blunt than our friends south of the border

[jeba]

there is no way I can hardwire the Internet to her room so she will be obliged to use Wi-Fi. Am I correct in thinking that the Internet loading via Wi-Fi will be less than hardwired connections?

There are also powerline devices which are using your existing electricity cables to conduct the signal between rooms and act like a WiFi router from that other room. You simply plug them into an existing power point. E. g.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=powerline+ ... _ss_i_3_17

[jeba]

An alternative, and one which most use, is just to watch their TV via youtube on their smartphone.

Or on a tablet which would be smaller, but cheaper than a smart TV. I never use my smart TV but only a tablet because I can easily take it with me and don´t have to sit in front of the TV.

[Lofos-Jan]

Reasonable WiFi to her room via one of the booster methods or a second router would be fine. Most TV programmes (Korean soaps are the new thing!) are all available on the internet so TV, communication with family etc. would all be done via the internet. If she is on a standard salary I wouldn’t think it would stretch to paying for her own internet connection and I do think it would be a little unfair to ask that. It would be nicer if she had a tablet for such communication.

Jeanne