FOOD AND TRAVEL Hotels

Marriott Plans to Block Your Wifi

Written by Bryce

Marriott Hotels are lobbying hard over at the FCC to block your personal wifi signals.

Earlier in 2014 the FCC fined Marriott $600,000 for blocking wifi signals its Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville. Apparantly Marriott didn’t think convention center guests had the right to their own personal wifi spots, regardless of whether they had fully paid for the meeting space. Now Marriott is filing for the ability to kill any Wifi network on their property that they want, claiming it’s for the good of the guests.

Google and Microsoft are strongly opposed.

“The petition, filed in August and strewn with technical mistakes, has received a number of formally filed comments from large organizations in recent weeks. If Marriott’s petition were to succeed, we’d likely see hotels that charge guests and convention centers that charge exhibitors flipping switches to shut down any Wi-Fi not operated by the venue. The American hotel industry’s trade group is a co-filer of the petition, and Hilton submitted a comment in support: this isn’t just Marriott talking.

But there are big guns in opposition, including Google, Microsoft, and the cell industry’s trade group, the CTIA. Even Cisco’s “support” of the Marriott petition seeks to minimize the extent to which a rule clarification would affect most users.” [ via ]

 Weigh in below– how do you feel about Marriott blocking wifi signals?

About the author

Bryce

Bryce Gruber is a Manhattanite mom who can be found jet-setting off to every corner of the globe. She loves exotic places, planes with WiFi, summer clothes, & Sucre brown butter truffles. Bryce's aim is to do to luxury what Elton John did to being gay. Follow her on twitter @brycegruber

5 Comments

Leave a Comment