Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-03-01 Thread Alexander Harrowell


On 3/1/07, Brandon Galbraith [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

On 2/28/07, Brian [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:



 a small number of wifi users with a card in a laptop to get to cellular
 broadband, itd be pretty easy..

Or directional wifi uplink to a building nearby, preferably G vs B (for
54Mbps).


Just *say* you're using the hotel WLAN. If they show up with a
spectrum analyser, well...you'll have to pay, but then that reminds me
of the calibration standard for the first radar speed trap, which was
based on a measurement by the National Physical Laboratory on the
basis that if you could prove the NPL wrong you deserved to get away
with speeding.


RE: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-03-01 Thread Mike Hammett
Fixed wireless or cell wireless?  I wouldn't touch cell, but most every
conference I've been to (granted they are WISP conferences) has had a fixed
wireless backhaul.

 

  _  

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
Brandon Galbraith
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 5:42 PM
To: Steve Meuse
Cc: Jared Mauch; nanog@merit.edu
Subject: Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

 

On 2/28/07, Steve Meuse [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 

On 2/28/07, Jared Mauch  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]  wrote:


http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-157A1.pdf 

I do suggest reading this.  They can not legally bar you from 
using the devices.  They can charge you outrageous fees to get to/from
the MMR or telco demarc and make it prohibitively expensive.


Right, a wifi that goes nowhere isn't terribly useful :) 


You could always get to upstream via wireless.

-brandon 

 



Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-03-01 Thread Wayne E. Bouchard

Just to be clear...

While it's kind of hard to restrict radio (along the same lines as
restricting the right to breathe the air in the building... you can't
control what flows through the air), nothing restricts the hotel from
lining the exterior walls with your basic faraday cage preventing
those signals from entering at all. Of course, this also blocks cell
phones, walky talkies, sattelite, and anything else that uses RF for
communication.

If they choose to allow any of these signals in, they pretty well have
to allow ALL of them in. (And filtering cell phones esp in a building
where every single interior door is locked could be argued to
interfere with 911 emergency services and be a threat to public
safety.) So the restrictions they're trying to put into place have
more to do with what activities they, as the property owner, allow
you, as a visitor, to engage in while on the premises.  That kind of
grey line rule making can get very tricky to both claim and to
enforce.

The whole thing is an ooey gooey quagmire that I want no personal part
of. :-)

On Wed, Feb 28, 2007 at 02:35:43PM -0600, Carl Karsten wrote:
 
 me again.
 
 So wifi at pycon 07 was 'better than 06' witch I hear was a complete 
 disaster. More on 07's coming soon.
 
 Now we are talking about wifi at pycon 08, which will be at a different 
 hotel (Crown Plaza in Rosemont, IL) and the question came up: Can the hotel 
 actively prevent us from using our own wifi?
 
 _maney: although - wasn't the hotel stuck on our wifi or no wifi at last 
 report?
 
 CarlFK: only the FCC can restrict radio
 
 tpollari: it's their network and their power the FCC has no legal right to 
 that. and no, you show me where they do.  I'm not wasting my day with that 
 tripe -- the caselaw you're likely thinking of has to do with an airline 
 and an airport and the airline's lounge, in which case they're paying for 
 the power and paying for their bandwidth from a provider that's not the 
 airport. We're not.
 
 I know that there are all sorts of factors, and just cuz the FCC says boo 
 isn't the end of the story, but i don't even know what the FCC's position 
 on this is. google gave me many hits, and after looking at 10 or so I 
  decided to look elsewhere.
 
 Carl K

---
Wayne Bouchard
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Network Dude
http://www.typo.org/~web/


Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-03-01 Thread Steven M. Bellovin

On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:55:37 -0800
Brian [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 a small number of wifi users with a card in a laptop to get to
 cellular broadband, itd be pretty easy..
 
You might want to check the terms of service for cellular broadband
-- it's certainly not permitted by Verizon for the EVDO service.



--Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb


FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-02-28 Thread Carl Karsten


me again.

So wifi at pycon 07 was 'better than 06' witch I hear was a complete disaster. 
More on 07's coming soon.


Now we are talking about wifi at pycon 08, which will be at a different hotel 
(Crown Plaza in Rosemont, IL) and the question came up: Can the hotel actively 
prevent us from using our own wifi?


_maney: although - wasn't the hotel stuck on our wifi or no wifi at last 
report?

CarlFK: only the FCC can restrict radio

tpollari: it's their network and their power the FCC has no legal right to that. 
and no, you show me where they do.  I'm not wasting my day with that tripe -- 
the caselaw you're likely thinking of has to do with an airline and an airport 
and the airline's lounge, in which case they're paying for the power and paying 
for their bandwidth from a provider that's not the airport. We're not.


I know that there are all sorts of factors, and just cuz the FCC says boo isn't 
the end of the story, but i don't even know what the FCC's position on this is. 
 google gave me many hits, and after looking at 10 or so I decided to look 
elsewhere.


Carl K


Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-02-28 Thread Jared Mauch

On Wed, Feb 28, 2007 at 02:35:43PM -0600, Carl Karsten wrote:
 
 me again.
 
 So wifi at pycon 07 was 'better than 06' witch I hear was a complete 
 disaster. More on 07's coming soon.
 
 Now we are talking about wifi at pycon 08, which will be at a different 
 hotel (Crown Plaza in Rosemont, IL) and the question came up: Can the hotel 
 actively prevent us from using our own wifi?
 
 _maney: although - wasn't the hotel stuck on our wifi or no wifi at last 
 report?
 
 CarlFK: only the FCC can restrict radio
 
 tpollari: it's their network and their power the FCC has no legal right to 
 that. and no, you show me where they do.  I'm not wasting my day with that 
 tripe -- the caselaw you're likely thinking of has to do with an airline 
 and an airport and the airline's lounge, in which case they're paying for 
 the power and paying for their bandwidth from a provider that's not the 
 airport. We're not.
 
 I know that there are all sorts of factors, and just cuz the FCC says boo 
 isn't the end of the story, but i don't even know what the FCC's position 
 on this is. google gave me many hits, and after looking at 10 or so I 
  decided to look elsewhere.

I suggest you google for massport fcc and continental.

- jared


-- 
Jared Mauch  | pgp key available via finger from [EMAIL PROTECTED]
clue++;  | http://puck.nether.net/~jared/  My statements are only mine.


RE: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-02-28 Thread Frank Bulk

While the hotel cannot prevent you from using Wi-Fi, but they could:
a) restrict you from attaching equipment to their internet connection
(unless you contracted for that and the contract didn't restrict
attachments) or electrical outlets
b) ask you to leave and charge you for trespassing if you didn't

Its highly unlikely those renting facilities from the hotel would agree to
such onerous restrictions and a hotel renting you the facilities is unlikely
going to boot you out.

See:
http://www.wifinetnews.com/archives/007102.html
for some good coverage on the Massport incident.

Frank

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Carl
Karsten
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 2:36 PM
To: nanog@merit.edu
Subject: FCC on wifi at hotel

me again.

So wifi at pycon 07 was 'better than 06' witch I hear was a complete
disaster. 
More on 07's coming soon.

Now we are talking about wifi at pycon 08, which will be at a different
hotel 
(Crown Plaza in Rosemont, IL) and the question came up: Can the hotel
actively 
prevent us from using our own wifi?

_maney: although - wasn't the hotel stuck on our wifi or no wifi at last
report?

CarlFK: only the FCC can restrict radio

tpollari: it's their network and their power the FCC has no legal right to
that. 
and no, you show me where they do.  I'm not wasting my day with that tripe
-- 
the caselaw you're likely thinking of has to do with an airline and an
airport 
and the airline's lounge, in which case they're paying for the power and
paying 
for their bandwidth from a provider that's not the airport. We're not.

I know that there are all sorts of factors, and just cuz the FCC says boo
isn't 
the end of the story, but i don't even know what the FCC's position on this
is. 
  google gave me many hits, and after looking at 10 or so I decided to look 
elsewhere.

Carl K



Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-02-28 Thread Steve Meuse

It's about revenue recovery. If you provide your own free wifi, they are
losing potential business. It's usually part of the negotiation with the
Hotel.

-Steve


On 2/28/07, Carl Karsten [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:



me again.

So wifi at pycon 07 was 'better than 06' witch I hear was a complete
disaster.
More on 07's coming soon.

Now we are talking about wifi at pycon 08, which will be at a different
hotel
(Crown Plaza in Rosemont, IL) and the question came up: Can the hotel
actively
prevent us from using our own wifi?

_maney: although - wasn't the hotel stuck on our wifi or no wifi at last
report?

CarlFK: only the FCC can restrict radio

tpollari: it's their network and their power the FCC has no legal right to
that.
and no, you show me where they do.  I'm not wasting my day with that tripe
--
the caselaw you're likely thinking of has to do with an airline and an
airport
and the airline's lounge, in which case they're paying for the power and
paying
for their bandwidth from a provider that's not the airport. We're not.

I know that there are all sorts of factors, and just cuz the FCC says boo
isn't
the end of the story, but i don't even know what the FCC's position on
this is.
  google gave me many hits, and after looking at 10 or so I decided to
look
elsewhere.

Carl K





--

-Steve


Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-02-28 Thread Jared Mauch

On Wed, Feb 28, 2007 at 03:28:11PM -0600, Frank Bulk wrote:
 
 While the hotel cannot prevent you from using Wi-Fi, but they could:
 a) restrict you from attaching equipment to their internet connection
 (unless you contracted for that and the contract didn't restrict
 attachments) or electrical outlets
 b) ask you to leave and charge you for trespassing if you didn't
 
 Its highly unlikely those renting facilities from the hotel would agree to
 such onerous restrictions and a hotel renting you the facilities is unlikely
 going to boot you out.
 
 See:
 http://www.wifinetnews.com/archives/007102.html
 for some good coverage on the Massport incident.

IANAL, but I just (re-)read the FCC order on the massport
incident (ugh, silly massport, i have avoided logan for years now
because of them..) and would like to offer my own comments on
the above.

Assuming you're there staying in a hotel room, it is likely to
be considered a nightly lease of some sort, which protects your rights
to use a Part 15 unlicensed band device within your room.  This
would also extend to your lease of any meeting rooms where you
have some level of exclusive access to them.  (The continental case
actually is quite close to a conference where you may have paid 
attendees).  As long as you've contracted power for your devices or the
solar/battery array you're using to power the device meets the fire code,
it doesn't appear they can restrict your usage of any of these devices,
even if it's specifically prohibited in the lease/contract you have
signed.  In any common spaces (bathrooms, bar?, hallways, etc..) they
may be able to prohibit your placement of equipment, but not necessarily
the reception of the signal.

- Jared


-- 
Jared Mauch  | pgp key available via finger from [EMAIL PROTECTED]
clue++;  | http://puck.nether.net/~jared/  My statements are only mine.


Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-02-28 Thread Marshall Eubanks




On Feb 28, 2007, at 5:01 PM, Steve Meuse wrote:



It's about revenue recovery. If you provide your own free wifi,  
they are losing potential business. It's usually part of the  
negotiation with the Hotel.




Yes, some Hotels will indeed want revenue recovery for this - they  
will typically start at the
rental rate per person x the number of attendees x number of days,  
which could be $ 10K USD per day or more for a 1000 person meeting.  
You may or may not be able to negotiate it down; I think that in the  
IETF experience the

negotiate it down factor has ranged from not at all to 100%.

But, since it is part of the contract, they can certainly enforce  
whatever is agreed to.


Regards
Marshall



-Steve


On 2/28/07, Carl Karsten [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
me again.

So wifi at pycon 07 was 'better than 06' witch I hear was a  
complete disaster.

More on 07's coming soon.

Now we are talking about wifi at pycon 08, which will be at a  
different hotel
(Crown Plaza in Rosemont, IL) and the question came up: Can the  
hotel actively

prevent us from using our own wifi?

_maney: although - wasn't the hotel stuck on our wifi or no wifi  
at last report?


CarlFK: only the FCC can restrict radio

tpollari: it's their network and their power the FCC has no legal  
right to that.
and no, you show me where they do.  I'm not wasting my day with  
that tripe --
the caselaw you're likely thinking of has to do with an airline and  
an airport
and the airline's lounge, in which case they're paying for the  
power and paying

for their bandwidth from a provider that's not the airport. We're not.

I know that there are all sorts of factors, and just cuz the FCC  
says boo isn't
the end of the story, but i don't even know what the FCC's position  
on this is.
  google gave me many hits, and after looking at 10 or so I decided  
to look

elsewhere.

Carl K



--

-Steve




Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-02-28 Thread Jared Mauch

On Wed, Feb 28, 2007 at 05:18:24PM -0500, Marshall Eubanks wrote:
 On Feb 28, 2007, at 5:01 PM, Steve Meuse wrote:
 It's about revenue recovery. If you provide your own free wifi,  
 they are losing potential business. It's usually part of the  
 negotiation with the Hotel.
 
 
 Yes, some Hotels will indeed want revenue recovery for this - they  
 will typically start at the
 rental rate per person x the number of attendees x number of days,  
 which could be $ 10K USD per day or more for a 1000 person meeting.  
 You may or may not be able to negotiate it down; I think that in the  
 IETF experience the
 negotiate it down factor has ranged from not at all to 100%.
 
 But, since it is part of the contract, they can certainly enforce  
 whatever is agreed to.

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-157A1.pdf

I do suggest reading this.  They can not legally bar you from
using the devices.  They can charge you outrageous fees to get to/from
the MMR or telco demarc and make it prohibitively expensive.

It may also be problematic to be held hostage showing up
and them saying that no, you can not install your equipment while you
hire a lawyer to explain to them that you are violating FCC fules
for the OTARD rules.

- Jared

-- 
Jared Mauch  | pgp key available via finger from [EMAIL PROTECTED]
clue++;  | http://puck.nether.net/~jared/  My statements are only mine.


Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-02-28 Thread Robert Bonomi



 Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 17:38:10 -0500
 From: Jared Mauch [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

[[.. munch ..]]
   http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-157A1.pdf

   I do suggest reading this.  They can not legally bar you from
 using the devices.  They can charge you outrageous fees to get to/from
 the MMR or telco demarc and make it prohibitively expensive.

   It may also be problematic to be held hostage showing up
 and them saying that no, you can not install your equipment while you
 hire a lawyer to explain to them that you are violating FCC fules
 for the OTARD rules.

   - Jared

Note well that the 'OTARD rules' do *NOT* apply to an organization holding
a meeting at a hotel, or other meeting/convention facility.

I quote:
   For the OTARD rules to apply, the antenna must be installed on property 
   within the exclusive use or control of an antenna user where the user 
   has a direct or indirect ownership or leasehold interest in the property 
   upon which the antenna is located.

An orgaization contractig for the short-term use of a meeting facility has
_no_ such 'ownership or leashold' interest in the property.



Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-02-28 Thread Steve Meuse

On 2/28/07, Jared Mauch [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:



http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-157A1.pdf

I do suggest reading this.  They can not legally bar you from
using the devices.  They can charge you outrageous fees to get to/from
the MMR or telco demarc and make it prohibitively expensive.




Right, a wifi that goes nowhere isn't terribly useful :)


-Steve


Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-02-28 Thread Brandon Galbraith

On 2/28/07, Steve Meuse [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:




On 2/28/07, Jared Mauch [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:



 http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-157A1.pdf

 I do suggest reading this.  They can not legally bar you from
 using the devices.  They can charge you outrageous fees to get to/from
 the MMR or telco demarc and make it prohibitively expensive.


Right, a wifi that goes nowhere isn't terribly useful :)



You could always get to upstream via wireless.

-brandon


Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-02-28 Thread Brian


Brandon Galbraith wrote:
On 2/28/07, *Steve Meuse* [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
wrote:




On 2/28/07, *Jared Mauch*  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:



http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-157A1.pdf
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-157A1.pdf

I do suggest reading this.  They can not legally bar
you from
using the devices.  They can charge you outrageous fees to get
to/from
the MMR or telco demarc and make it prohibitively expensive.


Right, a wifi that goes nowhere isn't terribly useful :) 



You could always get to upstream via wireless.

-brandon

a small number of wifi users with a card in a laptop to get to cellular 
broadband, itd be pretty easy..


Brian


Re: FCC on wifi at hotel

2007-02-28 Thread Brandon Galbraith

On 2/28/07, Brian [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


Brandon Galbraith wrote:
 On 2/28/07, *Steve Meuse* [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 wrote:



 On 2/28/07, *Jared Mauch*  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:



http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-157A1.pdf
 
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-157A1.pdf

 I do suggest reading this.  They can not legally bar
 you from
 using the devices.  They can charge you outrageous fees to get
 to/from
 the MMR or telco demarc and make it prohibitively expensive.


 Right, a wifi that goes nowhere isn't terribly useful :)


 You could always get to upstream via wireless.

 -brandon

a small number of wifi users with a card in a laptop to get to cellular
broadband, itd be pretty easy..



Or directional wifi uplink to a building nearby, preferably G vs B (for
54Mbps).