The only slight problem with this is that there are no routers made in the USA.
Well, you can run your own router on your own hardware but other than that, agreed.
Is that hardware also made in the US ><
My point was mostly that the concept of a router can be executed by any computer with more than one NIC.
Trump isn’t disallowing computers from outside the US, surely, only stuff that looks like routers. They’ll have a hard time defining what a router is.
Yeah, I wonder how the dumbasses licking his boots will feel about brands like Qotom/etc making high interface mini pcs- whether they consider them “routers” under this. I hope we don’t have to go back to what I did 10 years ago- cheap intel desktops with 3-4 nics.
But where is that hardware made
get iron from local mine and go make some relays
But where were those tools made?
well, Trump has a worryingly faint and ever-changing idea of where the USA borders end…
All it needs is a bribe from Cisco, and it’s no problem anymore. Probably.
New business venture: sell computers that totally aren’t routers, pinky promise, but just randomly happen to run OpenWrt perfectly and have all the needed hardware.
Just to spell out what many comments already hint at:
There are no US-made routers. “Made” here refers to companies, not where the stuff is actually made. Even if the plastic housing happened to be made in the US for one or two products, the components are still from far away.
Those few US companies paid MAGA for this.
This is corruption pure and simple.
And also I’m SURE there will be no backdoors installed in these routers. This was a mutual deal to control information, not just a financial one
Those few US companies paid MAGA for this.
Almost certainly not just a money thing. They very likely also made deals for government access to and control of their devices. This isn’t just corruption. It is fascism.
What’s the play here? Something isn’t making sense.
With the Trump administration, the only thing you can be sure of is that the stated reason isn’t the real reason. Somebody’s got to be getting a payday from this.
It’s a money grab. About the only networking companies that build in the us are like Cisco and juniper. Which odds are, you aren’t running at home. This is without a doubt a money grab. Google and Amazon will gladly pay the exemption fee. Some others will as well. This isn’t about security or “pay American”. It’s a money grab.
Starlink devices are currently the only approved ones.
Same play as always. Bullies countries and corps to get what he wants. As long as it serves him that’s all he cares about.
There will be some meetings with oems, and gold things dropped on his desk, and the exceptions will start being handed out. Same as always.
The rent for your ISP provided hardware is about to go up by x10. Also you will get a letter saying you don’t have an approved router installed.
So consumer grade routers are a security risk, but not ISP switches or server routers? That’s the opposite of what a state level actor would look for.
Brother it is class war so
I mean, it’s kind of old news that these consumer routers make up the majority of bot nets, although I doubt requiring them to be US-made will change much.
As I read it, they are scared of the Chinese Communist Party having an “official” back door built in. Not run-of-the-mill criminal bot-nets.
Isn’t Huawei already banned?
Is it? Because I just saw them available on Amazon and Alibaba. I think I even saw it on Walmart a few weeks ago too.
He is talking about ISP grade hw.
The next step is government approved routers with NSA backdoors.
Yep, marketed as very safe, meeting “standards” .
Are there actually any US-made consumer network routers on the market? All the brands I can think of are pretty much made in Asia these days.
Ubiquiti is an American company, not sure if the tech is really MADE here though, seems like that’d be weird considering the components are all made outside the US anyway.
Ubiquiti may not be considered consumer with regards to this, but it’s pretty unclear so it’s a bit of a gamble.
Yeah, it’s all so ambiguous. I switched to them because they were better made and cheaper than the Netgear I was forced to replace after 1.5yrs. It’ll be interesting to see where this ends up. Probably lawsuits. Glad I’m already set for a while, I guess.
It would be funny if, like, the UniFi line got banned but the EdgeOS line didn’t just based on target audience
Functionally no. This will force most users to use whatever their ISP provides.
Those can’t be imported either lol. This ruling will never stand up in court.
Nah, “conditional approval” is written into the regulation. You might know this wording better as “pay us a large sum and we’ll give you approval.”
Exactly, since nothing is made in the US, only the ISP routers on the government list will be legal.
Based on the regulation as written, approval is granted only if the company:
- Fully reveals their entire supply chain
- All business relationships and contracts
- Justifies why they aren’t producing in the US
- And provides a detailed step-by-step plan with a fixed schedule for moving production to the US
- Which is then monitored by the government
It’s not a ruling, the FCC
was ordereddecided that they’re not going to certify any new foreign made home routing equipment. No certification means the radios won’t be legal for consumers to operateThis isn’t a law or judicial ruling, it’s policy
The FCC is a commission that decides things. It’s a ruling in every sense of the word. And they can be sued for really anything. Here the fcc is getting sued for approving something. https://www.freepress.net/news/public-interest-coalition-sues-fcc-unlawful-approval-largest-broadcast-merger-history
I mean, you can sue pretty much anyone for anything, but fair… It is technically a ruling
It’s still just a policy though, which means it’s easy to change or to do unofficially if the courts reject it (which seems unlikely right now, but I’d love to see it happen)
It’s incredible how every day in this country continues to be unimaginably dumber than the last.
It’s really amazing how this country just ran on word and vibes up to this point. Turns out you could just do whatever and nobody would have the cajones to stop you
Cisco is made in China. Ubiquiti, Vietnam or Thailand I think.
How is this going to work?
If we see a reversal of the policy soon then it was a standard playbook policy announcement to receive corrupt bribery money from some big manufacturers and importers. If we don’t, it may very well have been with no takers anyway.
We’ve seen it plenty before (within the last year). Like tarrifs, then exclusions, etc.
Smuggling? Setting up a factory in Florida that reboxes routers and slaps “Made In America” stickers on them? Resale/referb router prices going through the roof?
Take your pick.
You can install router software on any computer
On Linux you can just turn the kernel into a router with a few commands. Its actually very cool.
Damn, that IS cool.
It’s also true for every mainstream operating system.
For anyone looking into this, I recommend picking up a “network appliance” PC. They’re low-spec, often fanless, and come with 4 Ethernet ports. You can often get them for roughly the same price as a router. You will need to provide your own WiFi AP with this method.
Hmmm… so if you install a router os on a pc that’s made outside the US, will that make you a criminal?
So… all network routers?
Yes.
So at what point do they ban all new computers not made domestically?
So at what point do they ban all new computers
not made domestically?FTFY. It’s the same thing.
well pricing them out of reach of the population wasn’t working, so soon
Something is happening, first the age verification and now this. They’re setting up to verify identities online I presume?
The fascists always attack free speech, and our first amendment rights have been under attack from many directions.
I’m more wondering that if all consumer network routers have to be made in the US (e.g. forcing people to use the ISP-provided one), it makes it easier for them to utilise the ISP’s backdoors for monitoring of people’s LANs. If that’s actually the goal, then the next logical step would be to deny anyone access using a third-party router or ISP-provided router that didn’t have their firmware.
They’re setting up to verify identities online I presume?
To track online activities.
To ensure nobody is doing anything the government (or its corporate funders) don’t like.
Look at the Project2025 manifesto and see how much they want people’s activities to be controlled.
You can of course run your own router.
Great, so zero network products can be sold, and we have to dispose of any existing ones in a couple years.
I guess the US won’t have any Internet anymore.
Perhaps it’s a fallback plan in case the universal Internet ID thing doesn’t work out. Gotta keep the masses stupid and uncoordinated.
Where did it say we have to dispose of existing ones? It doesn’t say that no products can be sold, and the article specifically says models that have already been approved can continue to be sold. I also think it’s dumb, but it’s important to be accurate.
In an exception to the usual rule, routers included on the Covered List can continue to receive updates at least through March 1, 2027, although the date could potentially be extended.
I guess it depends on what this means here. It COULD mean that you won’t get software updates (security updates) next year.
Lol i love how something so massive was just given an arbitrary 1 year date. We all know it’s because nobody dealing with this has any clue what the impact is, and any that do don’t care because it will probably be making them more money… no way this all happens within a year, and if it does it’s gonna be a shit show.
Based on the language, it would seem to exclude ISP provided routers as those are not “designed to be installed by the consumer”. It also excludes anything not SoHo.
I haven’t seen an ISP offer tech installation on anything in years unless the home wasn’t pre-wired. Self installation kits are the norm these days.
Seems like a great opportunity for ISP to start charging whatever they want to install their crap. Don’t want to pay for the installation and use their router? No internet for you!
Look Vlad, I’m doing it too!
I’m so glad they’re focusing on this instead of how shitty and expensive our home internet is.
You’ll be able to save so much money once private households wont have internet anymore!
Mandatory Triple play packages by xfinity is coming BACK! Yay… I forgot what it was like to over pay for my internet with 2 additional services I don’t want. Can’t wait.
/s
