TravelSkills

News and Tips For Your Trips

FCC strikes again over Wi-Fi blocking

Have you had trouble using a personal Wi-Fi hot spot at conventions in Baltimore? (Image: Baltimore Convention Center)

Have you had trouble using a personal Wi-Fi hot spot at conventions in Baltimore? (Image: Baltimore Convention Center)

You’d think that hotels and convention centers would be well aware by now that the Federal Communications Commission does not tolerate any interference with business travelers’ right to use a personal Wi-Fi hot spot. But apparently the message hasn’t yet hit home with some companies.

Three months ago, the agency slapped a big $750,000 fine on Smart City Holdings for blocking personal Wi-Fi hot spots at five big U.S. convention centers where it provides Internet services.

And in the fall of 2014, it levied a $650,000 penalty on Marriott for a similar infraction at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville.

In its latest enforcement actions, the FCC said it intends to impose a $718,000 fine on a firm called M.C. Dean for blocking personal Wi-Fi signals at the Baltimore Convention Center. Business travelers attending conventions there who couldn’t use their personal hot spots and needed to link up to the Internet would have to pay M.C. Dean as much as $1,095 per event to get online, the FCC said.

The agency said it received a complaint about the practice at the facility, and sent its own field agents to Baltimore to see what was going on. It found that M.C. Dean blocked personal Wi-Fi “on dozens of occasions in the past year,” the FCC said. The company’s technology was so good at blocking signals that it “appears to have blocked Wi-Fi hotspots outside the venue, including passing vehicles,” the FCC noted.

The agency also slapped a $25,000 fine on Hilton for stonewalling the FCC’s attempts to gather information on complaints alleging Wi-Fi hot spot blocking at some of the lodging giant’s hotels. The FCC said it has been trying for a year without success to get answers from Hilton about the company’s “Wi-Fi management practices at Hilton-brand properties in the United States.”

The agency said it got a complaint in August 2014 about the Hilton Anaheim blocking Wi-Fi hot spots and demanding guests pay a $500 fee to access Hilton’s network. “The commission has also received Wi-Fi blocking complaints involving other Hilton properties,” the agency said.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: Global Entry gets more global + New York’s lowest ranked hotels +Best/worst hotel programs for awards + More flat seats

twitter-floowmeDo you follow us on Twitter? It’s a great way to keep up with the latest news!

Please join the 100,000+ people who read TravelSkills every month! Sign up here for one email-per-day updates!

 


Print pagePDF pageEmail page
Editorial Disclaimer: This editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program. Responses in the comments section are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.”