US bans sale of all *new model* non-US made wifi routers

[Viktor Jaep]

You better start working on RGNMON.

Oh you know I will.

 

[sfx2000]

They did this with mobile phones and masts/repeaters a few years ago. Our cellphone coverage went to 10% of what it was previously, with the network only able to handle 5 or 6 calls per transmitter. Battery drain on cellphones and inability to make calls, mixed with much poorer security.

Might I ask which country this is?

I've been tracking this over in Germany where there are a couple of different architectures are in play for the 5G deployment (along with the 4G Huawei/ZTE ripout)...

Feel free to PM me if you rather not reply in thread...

 

[sfx2000]

Yes, this is absurd. We just need to let the dust settle and see what pay-to-play options are offered so that companies can buy their way out of this.

I agree - for our US based forum members, there is always the recourse of reaching out to your senators and representatives - many have email, but sometimes a written letter is more effective - just keep in clear and concise - describe the problem, propose a solution and a clear call to action.

For those who are not based in the US - be mindful, as this could easily happen in your country (or in the EU, any of the member countries that would apply to all)...

For those who are inclined to do more - OpenWRT is out there, along with Tomato, DD-WRT, RMerlin, and other FOSS distributions. Support them - can be code contributions, financial support, etc... they can't break the GPL, so that is always a chance...

There is always a way - and with the current US admin, the sky seems to always be falling somewhere, which really is their point...

 

[Tech9]

For those who are inclined to do more - OpenWRT is out there, along with Tomato, DD-WRT, RMerlin, and other FOSS distributions.

For the majority of SNB Forum members the only available option is Asuswrt-Merlin and its existence depends on ASUS. Nothing else runs on the popular around hardware. In fact most users purchased specific ASUS devices only because of Asuswrt-Merlin.

Might I ask which country this is?

UK

 

[sfx2000]

For the majority of SNB Forum members the only available option is Asuswrt-Merlin and its existence depends on ASUS. Nothing else runs on the popular around hardware. In fact most users purchased specific ASUS devices only because of Asuswrt-Merlin.

Not all routers/aps are broadcom based - there are Asus router/ap's running on Mediatek and QC-Atheros chipsets

I get it that most AsusWRT users here are using Broadcom based devices, but that's not really relevant... the work that Eric does could easily move over to Mediatek or QC-Atheros devices, as it's all middle and upper layer stuff...

 

[sfx2000]

UK

you're out of context here - not your question to answer...

 

[Tech9]

not your question to answer

I know, but my memory works this way. I know the country, the city, the ISP provider, the address, the phone number and how the place looks for this member. Once I see something I may recall it after many months.

 

[RMerlin]

nyone know if any ASUS wifi 8 routers have cleared FCC approval?

None has appeared yet on the FCC public database AFAIK, unless that website is out of date - been a while since I've last monitored it. I'm only starting to see traces of Wifi 8-related code appear in the GPL sources, so it's probably still way too early.

Who knows what that means

Politicians themselves probably don't either.

ASUS won't stop supporting their devices Worldwide because of US policy.

Or they could just do what they recently did in Germany due to similar legal silliness: simply stop offering the downloads on their regional support site.

how many times the policy will be edited to accommodate specific cases is unknown and the final result may be closer to "No Change". Time will tell.

I remember the FCC issues a few years ago where they tried to forbid any third party firmware usage in a router (they even mentionned DD-WRT by its name in the public document). To have things toned down drastically after the ruckus was raised by the community at large. The final result was that manufacturers just had to ensure that regulatory-related settings in the radio had to be locked down so not to be overridable by the end user.

And everything stayed business as usual for DD-WRT, OpenWRT, Asuswrt-Merlin, etc...

So, pretty sure none of this will end up as-is in its final form. And if it does, either loopholes will be found, or the next administration will go back on things once the lobbyists start pouring money in.

 

[Tech9]

So, pretty sure none of this will end up as-is in its final form.

Definitely. There was a nice comment under one of the articles - “If it doesn’t make sense it was meant to make cents”. They’re going to figure it out. Hopefully the decisions upstream don’t affect your work.

 

[OzarkEdge]

How do you know this isn't based on a "real security threat"?

Any such threat is worldwide including home routers still used in all other countries; existing banned home routers still allowed to be used in the US; and all banned home routers still allowed to be imported and use by the federal government (and their friends and family). Are we feeling safer yet?

OE

 

[bbunge]

Any such threat is worldwide including home routers still used in all other countries; existing banned home routers still allowed to be used in the US; and all banned home routers still allowed to be imported and use by the federal government (and their friends and family). Are we feeling safer yet?

OE

I seem to remember an actor turned politician who said something like "trust but verify." He was referring to things that go bang and could kill all of us. But it is a good thing to remember for consumer products as well. I have trust in products from the folks in Taipei, Taiwan much more than the folks in San Jose, California for my networking security. The US manufacturer has dropped product support and left consumers at risk way too often. Buy American? Right! This is a global economy and there are a lot of great products that are made in our world.

 

[OzarkEdge]

This is a global economy and there are a lot of great products that are made in our world.

If Americans want to buy 'made in the USA', they first need to get an education to make this possible. Just one of the many premiums they must be willing to afford.

OE

 

[SteevieWeevie]

Anybody talking it up as a positive because it keeps US jobs etc doesn't understand the outlook. Look at the rationale. It isn't about US jobs or anything like that, it's some ridiculous bumpf about security vulnerabilities and backdoors etc.

As has already been pointed out, it's the primary vector for this is software based, not hardware. Just like tariffs, this will only injure US consumers and will offer no benefit whatsoever.

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Anybody talking it up as a positive because it keeps US jobs etc doesn't understand the outlook. Look at the rationale. It isn't about US jobs or anything like that, it's some ridiculous bumpf about security vulnerabilities and backdoors etc.

As has already been pointed out, it's the primary vector for this is software based, not hardware. Just like tariffs, this will only injure US consumers and will offer no benefit whatsoever.

I don't see this as a positive at all. We don't have any manufacturers that can claim their products are 100% made in the USA (that I know of), so there's no jobs, and even if we did, we would not be able to compete on pricing compared to other global manufacturers. Get ready for overpriced routers that will injure US consumers.

I would also be worried that hardware being produced under the close eye of the govt would be more inclined to build in backdoors for them to keep tabs on its citizens. Get ready for a potential loss or invasion of privacy.

It's just another really dumb move. Just like them banning drones that were clearly superior in function and price compared to the US versions.

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Who's looking forward to an overpriced, underpowered, gold-plated security nightmare of a router, much like the T1 grift: https://phone.trumpmobile.com/

I wouldn't put it past him to try to cash in on this.

 

[dave14305]

Get ready for overpriced routers that will injure US consumers.

Already here with the BE19000AI at $899 retail.

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Already here with the BE19000AI at $899 retail.

I'm waiting for the Black Friday sale.

If this was built in the US, it would probably be $3999. No doubt.

 

[Mazz]

Ok so possible ban but a slow down of new Products will be 100% for sure. With that being said, i am not looking for a new router, just bought one...But if someone is looking for 1 we are gonna need a list of recommendations for a new 1. So what do you all recommend someone get before a ban/slow down starts?

 

[sfx2000]

I don't see this as a positive at all. We don't have any manufacturers that can claim their products are 100% made in the USA (that I know of), so there's no jobs, and even if we did, we would not be able to compete on pricing compared to other global manufacturers. Get ready for overpriced routers that will injure US consumers.

There's two things to consider - one has been discussed at length here with the consumer off the shelf router/ap's that we find at BestBuy, etc...

The other is the carrier provided equipment - out of the 42 SSID's I see in a recent scan, 38 of them are gear provided by Cox, T-Mobile (5G), ATT (Fiber and 5G), and Verizon (5G) - and a vast majority of them are from Vantiva, Netgear, Nokia, Askey, Sagemcom, Inseego - most of which are shipped from Taiwan or China... these will also be blocked by the current FCC order.

 

[Tech9]

Meet the T1™ Phone – Premium American-Made Smartphone for Performance & Privacy

Discover the T1™ Phone—a powerful, American-designed smartphone focused on performance, privacy, and freedom. Affordable, secure, and proudly patriotic.

phone.trumpmobile.com

What? Is this real or someone made a joke website?

If this was built in the US, it would probably be $3999.

It may talk to you in a very familiar male voice though.