Marriott Pays $600,000 for Blocking WiFi at Nashville’s Opryland Hotel
Source: The Wall Street Journal.
Hotel Accused Of Blocking Personal Wi-Fi Signals In Convention Hall
By Gautham Nagesh
Oct. 3, 2014 12:48 p.m. ET
Marriott International Inc. agreed to pay a $600,000 civil penalty for blocking people from using personal Wi-Fi networks at Nashville’s Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center, one of the largest hotel and convention centers in the eastern U.S.
The Federal Communications Commission announced a settlement with Marriott on Friday, which bars Marriott from using the blocking feature on its Wi-Fi monitoring system at the Gaylord Opryland. The FCC, in its complaint, accused Marriott of blocking personal Wi-Fi signals in convention halls to encourage guest to pay to use its Wi-Fi offerings.
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The FCC received a complaint in March 2013 from an individual who attended a function at the Gaylord Opryland that alleged the hotel “was jamming mobile hot spots so that you can’t use them in the convention space.” The FCC found after an investigation that employees at the Gaylord Opryland has been blocking wireless hot spot networks created by guests, while charging conference attendees anywhere from $250 to $1,000 to use the Gaylord’s Wi-Fi service in the conference center.
Under the consent decree, Marriott must stop using Wi-Fi blocking technology and file reports with the FCC for three years, along with paying the civil penalty.
Write to Gautham Nagesh at gautham.nagesh@wsj.com
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/articles/marriott-pays-600-000-for-blocking-wifi-at-nashvilles-opryland-hotel-1412354894
I moved this over here from Economy, as it seems to be getting traction.
Here's the same thing, from another source, but this time with a link to the decree (which I have greatly simplified from the original link):
Marriott must pay $600,000 for blocking personal Wi-Fi hotspots
Here’s some payback for everyone who has felt gouged by hotel charges for Wi-Fi service: Marriott International has to pay $600,000 following a probe into whether it intentionally blocked personal Wi-Fi hotspots in order to force customers to use its own very pricey service.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission looked into allegations that employees of Marriott’s Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville used signal-blocking features of a Wi-Fi monitoring system to prevent customers from connecting to the Internet through their personal Wi-Fi hotspots, the regulator said in its consent decree. The hotel charged customers and exhibitors $250 to $1,000 per device to access Marriott’s Wi-Fi network.
The hotel’s Wi-Fi blocking violated the U.S. Communications Act, the FCC said.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I know when I travel, having Wi-Fi in my room is very important.
These bastards interfere with that to their peril.
