A US beauty school is in hot water after it deployed a mobile phone jammer to stop phones going off in class. The Federal Communications Commission is set to propose a $25,000 fine against the company hawking the products, london-based Phonejammer.com. It might also start taking action against outfits which have bought its products, including the US beauty school that deployed it to keep phones quiet in class.

In 2008, the agency issued a citation to Phonejammer for "marketing in the United States radio frequency devices designed to intentionally interfere with cellular and PCS frequencies."

Despite the company's claim that it was not marketing such products in the US, where they remain illegal, FCC noted that you could get a catelogue with US prices and the outfit's jammers target US cellular and PCS frequencies. In November 9, 2009, the FCC received a complaint from AT&T about mobile phone interference in the 800MHz and 1900MHz bands. Staff from the FCC's Texas field office tracked the problem to the Cosmetology Career Center in Carrollton, Texas and found a 5W jammer on the premises.

The jammer was handed over to the Feds who also spotted a copy of an April 21, 2009 invoice sent by e-mail from for the sale and shipment of a Model PJ005." When the FCC contacted Phonejammer earlier this year, the company's lawyer insisted that Phonejammer "has not shipped or distributed units to the United States."

Apparently the  5W jammer operated by the Cosmetology Career Centre, is still available for $395, it has two antennas, a jamming radius of 2-25m, and it blocks PCS, GSM, and CDMA signals between 850MHz and 2100MHz.