For years I've been a road warrior. And in all those years, it never fails that some hotel, somewhere, is employing port blocking under the guise of security. And, since WebRTC uses a range of ports for inbound and outbound communications, and since packet sniffing technology can be put anywhere in a network, the chances of what looks like rogue packets can be the end of the use of WebRTC based communications services.
What this usually is though, is really a case of simple ignorance to the way of the world of communications and collaboration tools. The guise of security, the combination of admitted lack of knowledge about technology in some hotels, leads to this type of situation.
The work around, and one I've employed is simply the request to have my devices whitelisted. As a loyal guest of the brand or hotel group, a call to the IT support desk, and a request to be escalated to tier 2 or 3 usually does the trick. You simply provide your MAC address, and they remove the rules affecting the overall network and the problem goes away. One hotel property which I frequent a four times a year or more went so far as to establish an SSID just for me, and a private network for my Amazon Echo. But the secret SSID is the real blessing, as it avoids my need to log-on or register, and the IT team has given me full pipe access. No blocking of ports, no delays and no more need to call the IT help desk for solutions.
The approach is really though all about the hotel IT team treating their network like a real enterprise network.
One suggestion is to include the ability to log on to the network from within the mobile apps hotel chains have, and make that the means to control access. In essence if Marriott or IHG or Accor did that, the ability to drop into communal spaces of hotels by locals would skyrocket, and as a loyal member of their rewards program they would earn bonus points for spends at restaurants and bars, two areas where locals rarely go in traditional hotels, so as brands like Kimpton, Mama Shelter and others court the more mobile youth workers to come into their bars and restaurants, a change in how loyalty programs functions needs to come.
WebRTC with the data channel, apps from hotel brands, and the elimination of port blocking, when put together could be a powerful solution, but it starts with understanding that all traffic isn't over PORT 80, 5060, 69 and whatever POP and IMAP use.
The world of staying connected has changed, and smart hotel operators need to change with it.
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