- The FCC says foreign-made routers are no longer allowed
- Your existing home router is protected from the ban
- About 60% of US home routers are made in China
After placing nationwide blocks on companies like Huawei and DJI in recent years, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has now placed a blanket ban on new routers that are not made in America.
The ruling applies to “consumer-grade routers” that are “manufactured in foreign countries,” the FCC says, and approval will not be granted to such devices in the future — even if those already on sale and in use are safe.
According to the FCC, routers made outside of US borders represent both a “supply chain vulnerability” and a “serious cybersecurity risk.” In other words, it is suspected that problems with the router supply could disrupt the US economy and infrastructure and could be used by foreign states to spy on the communications of US citizens.
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It is part of a broader move by the United States to reduce its reliance on other countries for hardware and software. The FCC’s statement pointed to a series of recent cyberattacks — including Volt, Flax and Salt Typhoon — that involved foreign-made router technology.
What does this mean for my Wi-Fi network?
Finding a router made in the US isn’t that easy – many US companies that sell routers to consumers, including Google and Netgear, get their products made overseas. Pakinomist estimates that about 60% of home routers in the US are made in China and imported into.
It appears that companies will have to change their manufacturing processes or abandon the US market – although they can apply for “conditional approval” from the FCC for new routers. At the moment it is not clear how easy it would be to get it.
However, it’s worth stressing that nothing will happen to your current router or home Wi-Fi network – it will continue to work as usual. The FCC ban only applies to new products going forward, not routers that have already been approved or put on sale.
It’s possible that US-based router manufacturers will be treated more favorably than foreign entities in the future – TP-Link is one of the companies that have been accused of having strong ties to the Chinese government – but it’ll be a while before we get the full picture of how this decision will play out.
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