Mobile working Toolkit

Scottish hoteliers jam mobiles

Staff, CNETAsia CNETAsia

Published: 01 Sep 2003 09:30 BST

Some hotels in Scotland have installed mobile phone jammers to force guests to use the in-room phone service, reported UK tabloid Daily Record.

The device emits a radio signal that blocks the use of mobile phones. Users who are unaware that their mobile phones have been sabotaged think there is no coverage in the area when the phones show "no service".

Businessman Ronnie McGuire -- owner of Electron Electrical Engineering Services -- imports these gadgets from Taiwan, and sells them to hotels, restaurants, bars and bed and breakfasts, said the report.

Phone jammers -- part of a variety of new technologies developed to address what some argue are mobile annoyances -- are becoming popular.

Firms that want to stop staff from using mobile phones to call and text message using work hours utilise these devices, for example.

"This is a way to enforce etiquette of mobile phone usage where polite persuasion has failed," Paul Kan, chairman of Champion Technology Holdings -- a Hong Kong-based company selling signal jamming technology -- said in a report from news agency Reuters.

Cellphone jamming is illegal in the U.K.

As the number of travellers trotting the globe with mobile phones increase, hotels and other establishments are losing revenue from costly overseas phone calls traditionally made by guests. This has made them turn to phone-jamming devices to recover loses.