Marriott Receives FCC Ruling on Petition To Allow Wifi Blocking

Back in October, Marriott was caught blocking Wifi at the Gaylord Opryland hotel, saying that they had been intending to block “rogue wireless hotspots”. Marriott and the American Hotel & Lodging Association then petitioned in late December the FCC to allow them to block Wifi. Yesterday the FCC issued their ruling on the matter.

When I received an alert today from the FCC that a ruling has been made, I was pleased to hear that Marriott has not been granted approval to block guest hotspots or limit their personal wireless access.

Here’s the FCC document –

Here’s a link to the full document.

Here’s a link to the filing from December.

As a consumer I agree wholeheartedly with the FCC. I personally pay for a monthly hotspot, and it is fast and reliable. If a hotel is able to block that and require that I use what they provide instead then it would deny me of a service that I pay for already. Bravo to the FCC for nipping this in the bud, because if they had allowed it I could foresee other hotels trying this as well.