TidBITS1d ago
The Verge Explains the US Government’s Router Ban
https://tidbits.com/2026/03/26/the-verge-explains-the-us-governments-router-ban
The Verge Explains the US Government’s Router Ban - TidBITS

Sean Hollister’s lively Q&A explains why the FCC’s foreign router ban won’t recall existing routers, audit new ones, or do much of anything to improve security—it just blocks future imports unless manufacturers commit to US production.

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Show threadEarthling
@TidBITS Someone commented directly to the article on something I was wondering about. What are internet providers who rent modems to customers going to do? Will they have cut outs to get around the foreign modem ban? We’ve always bought our own to avoid Comcast control and fees.
Mar 26 at 5:29pmWeb
Show threadAdam C. Engst1d ago
@earthlingusa @TidBITS Completely unknown, but The Verge's article has an entry on that. https://talk.tidbits.com/t/the-verge-explains-the-us-government-s-router-ban/33156/6?u=ace
The Verge Explains the US Government’s Router Ban

It’s unclear how ISPs will be affected. From the article: The ban is just on consumer routers, right? What about the routers and cable modems my ISP rents me, my pocket hotspot, my network switch, my Wi-Fi extender? It could affect all of those or none of those. The FCC is banning “consumer-grade routers” as defined in NIST Internal Report 8425A. These are routers “intended for residential use and can be installed by the customer.” But it also defines routers loosely as devices that “forward...

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Show threadEarthling1d ago
@adamengst @TidBITS Thanks.