If you’ve ever tried to use a personal hot spot or smart phone to provide a Wi-Fi signal in the Greater Columbus Convention Center, it’s possible your signal was being blocked. It was probably very annoying; it also happened to be illegal.
A recent investigation by the Federal Communications Commission found that Smart City, the company that provides Internet access to the Convention Center, had been automatically blocking personal Wi-Fi networks at convention centers in several cities, including Columbus. This blockage left exhibitioners and visitors unable to access the Internet except through Smart City’s network.
The cost of accessing that network? $80.
“It is unacceptable for any company to charge consumers exorbitant fees to access the Internet while at the same time blocking them from using their own personal Wi-Fi hotspots to access the Internet,” said Travis LeBlanc, Chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, in a press release issued Tuesday. “All companies who seek to use technologies that block FCC-approved Wi-Fi connections are on notice that such practices are patently unlawful.”
The FCC’s investigation into Smart City began in June of last year and was part of an ongoing crackdown on Wi-Fi signal blocking across the country.
Wi-Fi blocking violates the Communications Act of 1934, which prohibits any person from “willfully or maliciously” interfering with authorized radio signals. Even so, in an advisory issued in January, the FCC warned of a “disturbing trend in which hotels and other commercial establishments block wireless consumers from using their own personal Wi-Fi hot spots on the commercial establishment’s premises.” In response to this trend, the agency said it would “aggressively” investigate cases of Wi-Fi blocking.
Last year, the FCC hit Marriott International, Inc. and Marriott Hotel Services, Inc. with a $600,000 for blocking personal Wi-Fi signals at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville. Smart City ended up being fined $750,000 for its Wi-Fi blocking activities.
On Tuesday, Smart City entered into a Consent Decree with the FCC in order to resolve the investigation. Smart City noted in a press release that, “as part of the Consent Degree, Smart City did not admit liability and the FCC did not find that Smart City violated any laws.”
In a statement, Smart City’s president Mark Haley said his company had “occasionally” used technology that would “prevent wireless devices from significantly interfering with and disrupting the operations of neighboring exhibitors on our convention floors.”
Haley said that the company received no prior notice that the use of this Wi-Fi blocking technology was considered a violation of FCC rules and that the company stopped its signal blocking activities in October 2014 after being contacted by the FCC.
Haley also said that while Smart City has “strong legal arguments, we’ve determined that mounting a vigorous defense would ultimately prove too costly and too great a distraction for our leadership team. As a result, we’ve chosen to work cooperatively with the FCC, and we are pleased to have resolved this matter.”