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FCC bans new routers made outside U.S. [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2026-03-24  

Wireless routers made outside the United States are to be banned by the Federal Communications Commission.

Today, the Federal Communications Commission updated its Covered List to include all consumer-grade routers produced in foreign countries. Routers are the boxes in every home that connect computers, phones, and smart devices to the internet. This

followed a determination by a White House-convened Executive Branch interagency body with appropriate national security expertise that such routers "pose unacceptable risks to the national security of the United States or the safety and security of United States persons.

The list referred to is of devices "deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security." But there's a problem: no-one in the U.S. appears to make such devices for consumers. From the wording of the letter, it reads that existing devices are grandfathered in, so immediate mass lawlessness isn't yet necessary to check one's email.

I wouldn't worry about the nation's internet connections getting sucked into Brendan Carr's suppurating regulatory singularity, though. The whole idea with these guys is you bribe them to let you set up a border warehouse, where workers screw in antennas, and then you can put "assembled in America" on the box and ship them on to Best Buy. The following paragraph is to be enunciated while ostentatiously rubbing one's fingertips together in the air:

The determination included an exemption for routers that the Department of War (DoW) or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have granted "Conditional Approval" after finding that such device or devices do not pose such unacceptable risks. Producers of consumer-grade routers are encouraged to submit an application for Conditional Approval using the guidance attached to the determination. Applications should be submitted to conditional-approvals@fcc.gov.

Previously:

• FCC opens investigation into 'The View' over a Democrat's appearance

• Trump's FCC redefines 'effective competition' to include having only one ISP in your county

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