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Comment by matthewmcg | Hacker News Reader

I wonder if hotels are going to start sporting Faraday cages soon?

"We shield you from potentially harmful EM radiation so you can enjoy a safe and comfortable night's sleep."

BTW, up here (Finland, northern Europe) new construction code for so-called zero-energy houses mandates energy saving structures that almost make houses Faraday cages. Walls are to have aluminum foil in them to reflect radiation and keep heat in. The foil also reflects or blocks radiation from communication devices. Also windows have layers that try to block radiation, except for visible light.

So combating climate change shows up in cell phones and modems not connecting, or having poor coverage. People have to go out or keep a window open to make a call. The impact is particularly strong with higher frequencies, so generally, the newer the technology, the worse it is.

House owners have started to install repeaters, but FICORA (local equivalent of FCC) says those are illegal. I haven’t heard of solution proposals for this catch-22, government agencies each work in their own silos.

I have always wondered: would a "passive repeater" (an outside antenna connected directly to an inside antenna through a short coaxial cable, with no active components at all) work in these cases, or would it attenuate the signal too much?

I believe such a "passive repeater" would not be illegal in any sane jurisdiction, since it's nothing more than metal bent in a few specific shapes connected by a cable.

Yes, a passive repeater as you described helps at least in some cases, and they are permitted. And even if the system were insane and they were not permitted, they would be practically undetectable. Active repeaters ones are illegal here. Unfortunately a passive repeater is not always enough.

It's about profit, not a pathological desire to prevent you from using WiFi. So, only if the cost of installing a Faraday cage outweighs the loss of revenue to people who opt for cellular data.

Also, most of this is done at the behest of an IT contractor, who probably has very little if any influence over construction projects.

Just need to repaint the walls. http://www.lessemf.com/paint.html or appropriately tuned wallpaper http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/05/anti-w...

And then they block cell signals. I don't think anyone would stay at a hotel with zero cell phone reception.

Surely that would fall under "interfere" of the law and still earn them the fine?

Surely that would affect mobile phone reception. I can't imagine anyone being happy about that.

The point of the faraday cage is to explicitly allow specific signals by setting up repeaters (i.e. femtocells, or whatever they're called these days) inside the cage.

Do they allow of block data connections over their repeaters?

If they block them then customers are pissed. "Why doesn't my email work? Why can't I get picture messages?"

If they allow them, people can set up wifi hotspots the same as they were before.

Revenue lost from pissed off customers + cost of Faraday cage + cost buying and maintaining repeater network is definitely going to be higher than revenue from selling wifi.

That would block cell phone signals as well. Their customers will get angry pretty quickly..

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