# Can my work monitor my cell internet usage through a wifi repeater? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 2, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-my-work-monitor-my-cell-internet-usage-through-a-wifi-repeater/706124 "2014-12-02T15:02:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ampersands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ampersands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ampersands)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-my-work-monitor-my-cell-internet-usage-through-a-wifi-repeater/706124/1 "2014-12-02T15:02:56Z")
My company allows and encourages people to use their public wifi on their mobile devices. The problem is our building is big and my desk is in the farthest corner and at the edge of signal range. I put in a repeater at the front of my office to boost the signal and it’s worked great ever since, but when our IT guy saw it, he almost made me remove it. I had to register the device just like I did my cellphone in order to use it, so I assumed that it worked the same way and they could still view my browsing history but his response made me wonder. Anyone know the answer? ---
**Author:** ![HipGnosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/76d3ee/32.png) [@HipGnosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HipGnosis)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-my-work-monitor-my-cell-internet-usage-through-a-wifi-repeater/706124/2 "2014-12-02T15:12:59Z")
Of course they can. Just maybe not who specifically is going to which specific sites via the repeater. WHY did the IT guy want you to remove it? ---
**Author:** ![Ampersands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ampersands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ampersands)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-my-work-monitor-my-cell-internet-usage-through-a-wifi-repeater/706124/3 "2014-12-02T15:21:22Z")
I’m not entirely sure. I think it was along the lines of it not being company approved, but it’s password protected and it uses a non-password protected network. Hence my own confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Ampersands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ampersands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ampersands)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-my-work-monitor-my-cell-internet-usage-through-a-wifi-repeater/706124/4 "2014-12-02T15:23:58Z")
> [@HipGnosis](#): > > Of course they can. Just maybe not who specifically is going to which specific sites via the repeater. > WHY did the IT guy want you to remove it? I’m not entirely sure. I think it was along the lines of it not being company approved, but it’s password protected and it uses a non-password protected network. Hence my own confusion. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-my-work-monitor-my-cell-internet-usage-through-a-wifi-repeater/706124/5 "2014-12-02T16:10:16Z")
Incorrectly configured access points especially ones capable of DHCP services can play havoc on a network. It can be accommodated, they just need to be aware of it ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-my-work-monitor-my-cell-internet-usage-through-a-wifi-repeater/706124/6 "2014-12-03T22:08:23Z")
> [@Ampersands](#): > > I’m not entirely sure. I think it was along the lines of it not being company approved, but it’s password protected and it uses a non-password protected network. Hence my own confusion. Yeah, but no one’s tracking what version of firmware it’s running to see if it’s susceptible to a new exploit. A well-run IT system is going to have that kind of thing tracked so that when someone finds an exploit in some commonly-used software, they can go fix it in their deployed devices. If they don’t know about a device, then they can’t go fix it. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-my-work-monitor-my-cell-internet-usage-through-a-wifi-repeater/706124/7 "2014-12-04T15:50:13Z")
Tell him to fix your connectivity so that you don’t need it.