Google, Microsoft and other competing tech giants have found a common cause in keeping the hotel industry from preventing guest access to personal Wi-Fi hotspots.
The American Hospitality & Lodging Association and Marriott International asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) this past summer to allow hotel operators to use equipment to manage networks even if it can cause a guest's smartphone, tablet or other wireless device to experience "interference" on the "operator's property," according to Re/code.
The hotels argued that giving Wi-Fi network operators the power to manage their networks will allow them to "provide a secure and reliable Wi-Fi service to guests on their premises."
Marriott received a $600,000 fine from the FCC in October for blocking guests' personal hotspots, with the agency saying exhibitors and attendees were being charged up to $1,000 for Wi-Fi service. The hotel group argued that it wasn't doing anything illegal and was looking to protect guests from "rogue wireless hotspots that can cause degraded service, insidious cyber attacks and identity theft."
Hotel groups believe allowing guests to use their own cellphone data plans and create their own hotspots gives them the opportunity to avoid paying costly hotel Wi-Fi charges, Lake News Online reported.
While some hotels let guests use Wi-Fi and the Internet for free, other hotels require that guests buy hotel Wi-Fi access.
Those who possess the hotels' proposal submitted filings on Monday, arguing that it's just a way for hotels to keep guests dependent on expensive hotel wireless networks and suggesting that these establishments use other methods for protecting Wi-Fi networks besides jamming personal hotspots, Re/code reported.
"Allowing hotels or other property owners deliberately to block third parties' access to Wi-Fi signals would undermine the public interest benefits of unlicensed use," Google said in one of the filings, while Microsoft also asked the FCC to deny the proposal.
CTIA, the trade group for the wireless industry, told the FCC that wireless devices have "equal rights to use unlicensed spectrum," and that no one has the power to keep others from doing so.
"The public is best served by increasing the potential for these networks, not allowing an individual Wi-Fi network manager unilaterally to shut them down," CTIA said.
