WiFi found at convention centers and hotels are expensive and sometimes slow. However sometimes due to business reasons, guests absolutely need to WiFi and have no choice but to pay for it. Customers have found ways around it by using their phones as hotspots, but some establishments have found a way to block them, much to the displeasure of the FCC.
Recently it seems that MC Dean has been found guilty of blocking the WiFi hotspots of its guests, so much so that the FCC has hit the company with a whopping $718,000 fine for doing so. In their investigation, it was discovered that the company had enabled an “Auto Block Mode” for its WiFi system, essentially jamming all WiFi routers nearby that wasn’t the company’s own network.
This isn’t the first time that the FCC has clamped down hard on establishments who attempt to block local WiFi hotspots. Last year the FCC found that Marriott was guilty of similar practices and slapped the hotel chain with a $600,000 fine. Earlier this year another company by the name of Smart City was found to have engaged in similar practices, resulting in a $750,000 fine.
Safe to say these amounts aren’t small and are hopefully big enough where they might be discouraged from such practices in the future.
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