Hotel Wi-fi blocking

In case you ever experience this tell them it's illegal.

Quote:

The Federal Communications Commission announced Friday that it was fining Marriott International $600,000 for unlawfully blocking customers' Wi-Fi access

Quote:

According to a statement from the FCC, Marriott workers were using "Wi-Fi blocking technology" called jammers to prevent people at the hotel from using the Internet via their own personal Wi-Fi networks they established with smartphones or mobile Wi-Fi devices. Meanwhile, the hotel was charging $250 to $1,000 per device to connect to its wireless network in its conference facility.

here

Illegal to jam, but still legal to identify and track the signals.

Article states the hotel believes their fineable actions were legal "protecting their wifi network".

For a long time, the exact opposite situation existed at the off-strip casino, Tuscany. Large rooms, meandering paths, poolside area, generally had a wifi signal that could be used without charge but room guests could subscribe to the internet via Cox and get a signal for a modest daily fee. During events scheduled in their conference rooms the free wifi signal was likely to be quite strong in all areas of the property.

I hate paying for wifi.
Unfortunately addicted to the internet :-)
Therefore I have paid.
What really makes me angry sometimes is after paying a ridiculous fee, they just let you sip, no fat pipes.
Ugh, If I'm paying, and the seller is making a killing, at least give me enough bandwidth to watch a video smoothly.

Quote: terapined

I hate paying for wifi.

Ditto.

My Airport Hall of Shame (so far) for not providing free internet:

- Chicago Midway

- Houston Hobbe

I would like to make a complaint against all the casinos and hotels in Atlantic City.

My wifi is always blocked in their hotel rooms. They are fine in the cheap motels that surround them.

Also, my cell phone service goes to one or zero bars inside the gaming floors.

I don't know, maybe its because there are no windows?

The signal gets even lower if I hold my cell phone over an electronic version of roulette. That has to be from a blocker, right? Move the phone an inch from the table and the signal raises about half a bar.

Does anyone else here have this problem? I think we should file a complaint. There is a place on the FCC website to do so.

The wi-fi situation at hotels amazes me.

Go to the fanciest hotels and you have to pay. Go to Motel-6 and it is free.

Back when I was doing trade show stuff, it was extremely common to have to agree to garbage like this.

Clauses like "(trade show site) has contracted exclusively with (vendor) for telephony and internet. In order to connect, you must order a connection in advance. You agree not to use your own vendor or bypass this arrangement." (Obviously in better legalese than I can come up with at the moment.) Typical rates were $250 for the install + $250 a day, so $1000 for a 4 day event. We were absolutely not allowed to set up our own wifi hotspots (contractual restriction). We were warned in advance that they'd trace it and come shut us down if we tried.

If you wanted enough electrical power to actually run something, that was another $1500. (We had to buy a dedicated circuit, not because our stuff was particularly hungry, but because management didn't accept the risk that a neighboring exhibitor might overload the shared outlets and we'd go dark until the site electrician flipped a breaker.)

Customers got wifi free.

So... it's about time. I can see the convention center has some interest in protecting their wifi network, but anyone with a reasonable amount of skill should be able to tether a small network to a cell phone without going through wifi, too.


It should probably be clear that this isn't a hotel charging hotel guests $1000 for wifi access - this is a convention center charging exhibitors (and possibly convention attendees) for wifi access.

Correct, they were not charging room customers.

However, I checked the FCC website and ALL jammers are illegal in the United States for sale or use anywhere except within a very narrow field of government usage which hotels are not covered by. Who it is used on is not an issue.

They are illegal, period.

So casinos are breaking the law and each fine is a minimum of $16,000 according to their website.

So, I am going to file a complaint.

I think this is one of those things everyone of us should file a complaint about if it happens to us in any hotel (or other facility). The FCC addressed a convention situation, but the same holds true for rooms and other spaces--jammers cannot be used. The hotel may own the space but they don't own the right to do what they want with your cell carrier's signal. Why should anyone pay for a second connection if they don't need it?

Their out is fairly easy, though--if "resort fees" are required, they'll still charge them and provide "free" wifi whether you need it or not. No need to change their fee structure or anything (unless the fees are addressed in some legislative manner); just no jamming. If the resort fee is in any way "optional" you could opt out if you have another connection.

I've never experienced it--I usually choose the best signal available, hotel or hotspot, and go with that.

Quote: darkoz

I checked the FCC website and ALL jammers are illegal in the United States

Link please?

I was under the impression that since WiFi wasn't a licensed service, it was kind of free-for-all, jammers included, provided that they're within a certain emitted power limit.

Quote: RonC

The hotel may own the space but they don't own the right to do what they want with your cell carrier's signal.

As I read it, they were not blocking the cell carrier signal to the cell phone.

What they were doing is interfering with the 2.4ghz WiFi signal when the phone was switched into hotspot mode, so the computer couldn't connect to it.

Quote: Dieter

Link please?

I was under the impression that since WiFi wasn't a licensed service, it was kind of free-for-all, jammers included, provided that they're within a certain emitted power limit.

FCC Jammer FAQ - it claims that the anti-jamming law (47 USC 333) applies to Wi-Fi jammers.

M's response......... (Historical... NO recent information).

M Resort lets you have free wife in the lobby area with free sign on but very short time: just enough to check room rates, say hello to friends and hosts, check flights but not watch movies or horse races.

Quote: FleaStiff

M's response......... (Historical... NO recent information).

M Resort lets you have free wife in the lobby area with free sign on but very short time: just enough to check room rates, say hello to friends and hosts, check flights but not watch movies or horse races.

Some would argue that the free wife is the one that ends up costing the most.

Quote: 1BB

Some would argue that the free wife is the one that ends up costing the most.

I blame this post for the death of my keyboard. So much spit and soda in there now. Well played, sir:-)

Quote: rdw4potus

I blame this post for the death of my keyboard. So much spit and soda in there now. Well played, sir:-)

You shouldn't spit nor pour soda on your keyboard.

Quote: terapined

I hate paying for wifi.

Another reason I stay at 4Q. Fremont St has
free wifi, about 25 feet from the elevator
in 4Q.

FCC has re-affirmed that wifi blocking is unlawful and hotels or convention places or individuals that attempt it will be aggressively pursued by its enforcement bureau.

Quote: Dieter

Link please?

I was under the impression that since WiFi wasn't a licensed service, it was kind of free-for-all, jammers included, provided that they're within a certain emitted power limit.

It's illegal to interfere with signals within certain frequencies dictated the FCC. I believe the frequencies used by wifi are within that range.

This isn't just for wifi, it applies to radio signals as well, and many other signals.

Quote: sc15

It's illegal to interfere with signals within certain frequencies dictated the FCC. I believe the frequencies used by wifi are within that range.

This isn't just for wifi, it applies to radio signals as well, and many other signals.

I understand all that.

Link, please?

Quote: Dieter

I understand all that.
Link, please?

transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0127/DA-15-113A1.pdf