I know this isn't strictly amateur-related, but we're the ones who
know the laws the best, right? Anybody know if it's legal in Texas for
a university to block cell phones in its cafeteria?

KE5MBX wrote:
I know this isn't strictly amateur-related, but we're the ones who
know the laws the best, right? Anybody know if it's legal in Texas for
a university to block cell phones in its cafeteria?

If you're talking about intentional interference (jamming), it is *never*
allowed. If you're talking about creating a faraday shield so signals can't
get in/out, that would be allowed (although, a bit impractical and expensive
to retrofit).

Bryan WA7PRC

I'm quite sure it's intentional interference, every now and then they
turn the thing off for some reason and everyone has full reception in
there. Now I just don't know where to start complaining about this!
Had a feeling it was illegal.

Subject: Illegal Interference

Ms. Snider,
It seems to me (and much of UTA's student body in general) that there
is an active cell phone jammer in our cafeteria. I have considered
the possibility that the metal walls around the cafeteria act as a
Faraday Shield, but phones tend not to work even a few feet beyond
those walls. There have also been a few occasions when students are
able to receive a full signal mysteriously, as though the interference
was shut off. I sincerely hope that the loss of signal in the
cafeteria is caused by a passive shielding, because I can see the
advantages in service to be had from blocked reception.

Interference with any communications signal is illegal in the United
States under the Communications Act of 1934 (Title III part 1 sec.
301, or page 137 in the link). I think that if such a jamming signal
exists, it should be permanently removed from the cafeteria in
compliance with the law. If the interference is indeed caused by a
passive Faraday shield such as the metal walls around the Connection
Cafe, I am very sorry to have bothered you with an irrelevant
complaint. I plan to test some more, hopefully to find the reason for
the lack of signal for myself.

I would like to note that I am very happy with the quality of the
cafeteria's food and service. The greatest complaint I could possibly
come up with is that the coke sometimes tastes like it's probably diet
coke, but that's not really important and it's probably just me.

Thanks for reading,
Nelson Blaha