Articles tagged “fcc”

These fraudulent robocalls touting over-the-top and fraudulent travel deals are a scourge. Maybe a lot of them will stop now — but there are assuredly other scammers out there so travel brands, which are victims in addition to consumers, aren't home free yet.

Marriott guests didn't take the chain's Wi-Fi-blocking practice sitting down and fought back, with Marriott International ultimately getting fined $600,000. What makes Hilton Worldwide think it can evade the same fate?

The FCC couldn't have more forcefully rejected the hotel industry's efforts to block Wi-Fi hotspots at meetings, conventions or anywhere else.

Fair or not, the modern traveler judges hotels by their Wi-Fi forwardness. The American hotel industry has everything to lose and nothing to win in this fight, even if it wins a ruling by FCC.

Marriott is claiming that its plans are misunderstood and that it merely seeks permission from the FCC to jam others' Wi-Fi in its conference rooms only. But travelers are telling the FCC that they don't want to be reliant on hotel Wi-Fi in conference rooms and other areas of the hotel.

In-flight calls are inevitable, but the rules surrounding their use and the etiquette that will arise is yet to be seen.

It would seem prudent to at least let the airlines make a decision on the wisdom of in-flight phone calls rather than unilaterally banning them. A ban could hurt airlines competitively among business travelers as some international airlines allow calls.

There are so few comments on the FCC site in favor of in-flight phone calls that it is obvious that supporters have been too busy conducting very important business and otherwise shooting the breeze on their smartphones to actually weigh in. Hold on.

The FCC did not vote to end the ban on in-flight calls, but to continue the conversation and start the public comment process -- an important distinction that was muddled by some in the moment.