Buy some spare routers now while they're still legal and available, because the FCC decided today (March 23rd 2026) to stop issuing manufacturer licenses for virtually all network routers on the market today.
While browsing Mastodon, an interesting post from Brian Krebs came across my feed talking about the FCC deciding to prohibit new licenses be granted to consumer-grade routers unless they were manufactured in the US due to "supply chain vulnerabilities".
Before I continue, a little about what FCC licensing is supposed to mean.
The FCC or Federal Communications Commission licenses electronic devices (particularly those which emit radio signals) by certifying that they only broadcast on the frequencies they are intended to, within the power constraints they are allowed to, do not interfere with other communications, etc.
Even devices which operate within "unlicensed" spectrums such as Meshtastic / Mesh Core and Wifi7 still need FCC certification prior to being allowed to be imported or sold in the US.
Generally speaking, any device which can transmit radio signals must be certified to legally be sold to US markets. (Whether or not various products sold on Amazon and other retailers are actually certified is a different discussion.)
This certification is a technical certification, (or at least was supposed to be a technical certification).
Unfortunately "thanks" to the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 PDF, this licensing has extended to more than just technical capabilities of the hardware. "Determination of communications equipment or services posing national security risks" is now also a responsibility of the FCC.
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the "Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019". SEC. 2. DETERMINATION OF COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT OR SERVICES POSING NATIONAL SECURITY RISKS.
Under this law, networking equipment used by telecommunication companies like AT&T and Verizon had to be compliant for "national security risks", notably just meaning they could no longer use radio equipment from Huawei or ZTE. Additionally video surveillance equipment could no longer be provided by Hytera, Hangzhou, or Dahua if that video surveillance was used for government, public safety, or national security purposes.
(Video encoder cards from Hikvision can still be used for personal or commercial installations for example.)
The following year in 2022, Kaspersky Lab, China Mobile, China Telecom, Pacific Network, and China Unicom were added to the blocklist. With the exception of Kaspersky, these were still only targetting telecom services however.
For a few years the list of banned devices and services remain relatively consistent. Just telecommunication and video equipment from a handful of Chinese companies (and Kaspersky because evidently fuck Kaspersky...) are on the FCC ban list.
Fast forward to the end of 2025 and there's a new administration and new rules that companies need to play by. (Notably the ecosystem shifted DRASTICALLY to a pay-to-win model.)
Uncrewed aircraft systems, aka drones, are on the chopping block. This completely flew under my radar hehe but from what I've read on the FCC page, "UAS and UAS critical components produced in a foreign country" cannot be licensed anymore.
Uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and UAS critical components produced in a foreign country††—except, (a) UAS and UAS critical components included on the Defense Contract Management Agency’s (DCMA’s) Blue UAS Cleared List, until January 1, 2027,# (b) UAS critical components that qualify as “domestic end products†under the Buy American Standard, 48 CFR 25.101(a), until January 1, 2027; and (c) devices which have been granted a Conditional Approval by DoW or DHS—and all communications and video surveillance equipment and services listed in Section 1709(a)(1) of the FY25 National Defense Authorization Act (Pub. L. 118-159)
At the time of writing, the devices which have "Conditional Approvals" are:
I'm personally not in the drone field so I don't know if this has had an impact on the market over the last 3 months since its implementation, but if you have more information, I would be interested to hear about your experience.
That brings us to March 23rd, where presumably due to pressure from the Orange Idiot's National Security Strategy of 2025 PDF that reads like it was written by a child, the FCC has extended its product ban to include "Routers^ produced in a foreign country", with routers being reasonably defined PDF.
the United States must never be dependent on any outside power for core components—from raw materials to parts to finished products—necessary to the nation’s defense or economy. We must re-secure our own independent and reliable access to the goods we need to defend ourselves and preserve our way of life.
While in theory being self sufficient is great, one must remember that no country exists solely in a vacuum; true security means working with other countries for mutual benefit and security. Isolationism only disconnects the US from global innovation and collaboration and could be argued that it makes us less secure as we would alienate ourselves from allies that could potentially provide assistance.
But, I digress... this article is about networking gear, not political decisions led by an unprecedentedly corrupt orange buffoon.
Routers^ produced in a foreign country, except routers which have been granted a Conditional Approval by DoW or DHS.
The exact verbiage from the FCC states that ALL routers produced in a foreign country, ANY other country, is prohibited from receiving new licenses to be sold in the US unless they ~~pay an extortion fee~~ apply for an exemption from the DoD or DHS. (Yes, I call it the Department of Defense because that's what it fucking is.)
This means that routers and devices on the market as of March 22nd, 2026 will remain on the market and continue to be sold. This new ruling only applies to any new model that manufacturers wish to deploy to the US market.
Cisco, Ubiquiti, TP-Link, and Netgear are all US companies, so surely their devices will be exempt from this ruling...
I am certainly not a lawyer, but from how I read the ruling, "routers produced in a foreign country", seems pretty clear to me.
Of some of the top manufacturers of routers, only 2 are based out of the US (3 if you include Cisco), and only 1 (2 if you include Cisco) even have manufacturing plants inside the US, and none of the manufacturing of consumer routers is done within the US.
Why? Because cost margins just don't make sense. It's fucking EXPENSIVE to manufacturer in the US! Probably because the cost of rent, healthcare, education, groceries, and cost of living in general has SKYROCKETED on this side of the pond.
Charging citizens more tax to buy the goods we need doesn't help either, (yes, our tariffs are a fucking tax on us!)
I welcome this Executive Branch national security determination, and I am pleased that the FCC has now added foreign-produced routers, which were found to pose an unacceptable national security risk, to the FCC’s Covered List.
- FCC Chairman Carr
And here I have to call bullshit; if security is actually their concern, there are far better ways of securing the general public's infrastructure.
For starters, the full source code of routers and critical infrastructure devices can be mandated to be released for compliance with FCC certification. This would ensure that end users and industry professionals can audit the code running in our infrastructure. This would not even be unprecedented as France has already started adopting open and secure policies.
End users can upgrade their devices with the excellent open-source OpenWRT firmware.
Certain 3-letter nation-state agencies can stop hijacking shipments and deploying malware on network devices.
Honestly, I hope so, but given the demonstrated history of our petulant man-child in chief and his army of yes-men he surrounds himself with, extortionist pay-to-play schemes seem like the de-facto industry standard anymore.
At the end of the day, new models of consumer-grade routers will still be available, just at a higher price point due to the Orange tax.