Last month saw a surprise ban on almost every new wireless router intended for use in US homes. The FCC ruling described all foreign-made routers as a national security risk.
The FCC offered a pathway to approval, and today Netgear has received that – but nobody knows why. Not even Netgear itself was able to offer an explanation …
The wireless router ban
The ban was introduced late last month.
Almost every new wireless router for use in US homes is now banned from sale within the country under a new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruling. The FCC says that all routers made outside the US “pose unacceptable risks to the national security of the United States or the safety and security of United States persons.”
Router manufacturers were told they could apply for an exemption by proving that their devices are safe, but it was indicated that switching to US manufacturing would be a key requirement of doing so.
Netgear now exempted
The FCC website has been updated to show that Netgear has been granted conditional approvals for a wide range of its products.
Netgear, Inc.’s Nighthawk consumer mesh, mobile and standalone routers (R, RAX, RAXE, RS, MK, MR, M and MH series), Orbi consumer mesh, mobile and standalone routers (RBK, RBE, RBR, RBRE, LBR, LBK and CBK series), cable gateways (CAX series) and cable modems (CM series)
Netgear told us.
We reviewed the FCC’s public guidelines for conditional approval, submitted an application that followed those guidelines, and received approval on our application.
But the reason is unclear
Neither the FCC nor Netgear itself has offered any explanation for the ruling. While the company describes itself as “US founded and headquartered,” its devices are manufactured in China and Taiwan, just like its competitors.
The Verge’s Sean Hollister shares my bemusement.
The FCC only states that the Pentagon has now made “a specific determination” that “such devices do not pose risks to U.S. national security.” That’s strange, given how the FCC’s original and exceptionally loose justification for the entire router ban was that foreign routers automatically pose a national security threat […]
The FCC’s approval is also strange because the agency’s Conditional Approval process makes router makers submit “a detailed, time-bound plan to establish or expand manufacturing in the United States,” but Netgear has not publicly committed to US manufacturing as of today.
Perhaps Netgear gifted someone with a US-made piece of glass and gold …
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