In the municipality of Messanges on the Atlantic coast in France, there was recently an unusual problem: between midnight and 3 a.m. in the town of 900 inhabitants, the mobile telephone network and the Internet stopped working.
After the problem was reported to the Agence National des Fréquences (ANFR), they dispatched a technician.
He found that a signal jammer was being used to block radio frequencies.
The technician followed the signal - and met a homeowner in a neighboring town who admitted to having bought a jammer online.
According to a report by ANFR: "The jammer was installed by the family man to prevent his teenagers from using their smartphones to surf the Internet instead of falling asleep." His children are addicted to social networks and other applications during the pandemic become their smartphones, the father explained accordingly.
In an Internet forum he came up with the solution with the jammer.
What the father probably didn't find out during his research: The use of such a jammer is illegal in France and is punishable by a fine of up to 30,000 euros and six months in prison.
The ANFR reported the use of the jammer to the public prosecutor's office, who confiscated the device and are now investigating.