Two towns in France experience several nights of Internet outages after a man tried to jam his own children's WiFi access.

The issues lasted from midnight to 3am over several nights, until a technician from the Agence Nationale des Fréquences (ANFR) discovered the source of the disruptions.

No Messanges received

The ANFR agent was called in by the local telecoms company in Messanges, Landes, and was able to track down the source at 1:30am. After confronting the owner of the house, the agent discovered a multi-band jammer capable of knocking out both mobile and WiFi signals.

The man responsible claimed that his teenage children had become addicted to social networks and other online applications. After consulting online forums, he said that he bought the jammer off of the Internet.

“A radical solution, but above all illegal and disproportionate," the ANFR said. "The equipment did not just jam his house but also his neighbors, the inhabitants of his town, and the inhabitants of the neighbouring town.”

The man was fined €450 ($511) for the ANFR call out, and faces a €30,000 ($34,000) fine and up to six months in prison if found guilty.