In this reply to the comment on Barchiesi (2014 Eur. J. Phys. 35 038001) by van Hees, two levels of discussion are proposed. The first is basically related to the teaching of magnetostatic and to the link between the proposed formulation in Barchiesi (2014 Eur. J. Phys. 35 038001) and that in the comment. A solution to the problem without resorting to vector potential, which could be problematic for undergraduates, is proposed to deal with the infinite wire carrying constant current. The second describes the advantages of solving the problem of the wire of finite length, despite the non-conservation charge.