My Expert Advice: Don’t Buy a Router Until We Know More About the FCC's Ban

Key takeaways: The Federal Communications Commission has banned the sale of new foreign-made routers in the US. The sweeping order applies to virtually every Wi-Fi router currently available in the US market. After speaking with seven industry experts, my advice is to hold off on buying a new router if you can. Under the current rules, banned routers will no longer receive essential security firmware and software updates after March 1, 2027. The FCC’s action has effectively frozen the entire market while router companies scramble to gain approval. More specific information on which router companies will be subject to the ban is expected to become clearer within the next month or two. It's not often that we get bombshell news in the router world, but the FCC’s move to ban the sale of foreign-made routers in the US is absolutely unprecedented. The sweeping order applies to any router in which any stage of “manufacturing, assembly, design and development” occurs outside the US -- in other words, just about any router you can buy right now. The argument is that they pose "unacceptable risks" to national security. Ironically, the order also prevents existing foreign-made routers from receiving vital security updates after March 1, 2027. The ban doesn’t apply to routers that were already authorized by the FCC -- only new models that haven’t been approved yet. That means every router that was available before the order is still available today, and router companies can still restock them using their existing manufacturing processes. Essentially, the FCC is freezing the Wi-Fi router market. As William Budington , a technologist for the digital rights nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, put it to me, “This is using an extremely blunt instrument.” Where previous FCC bans have been limited to specific companies , such as last year’s push to ban TP-Link routers, this one affects an entire industry. So where does that leave someone who needs a new Wi-Fi router ? Should you buy a model you’ve had your eye on in case it sells out? Or is it better to wait and see which companies the FCC considers foreign-made? I know what I would do, but I gut-checked my advice with four cybersecurity experts. Turns out, we agree. My advice: Hold off on buying a new router for now When I first saw the FCC’s announcement, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much chaos this would introduce to the US router market. As I tried to tease out which manufacturers would count as “foreign-made,” it quickly became clear how deeply international the supply chains for routers are. Understanding the scope of the ban Take Netgear. While it’s a US-founded and headquartered company, it manufactures routers in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan . With the exception of Starlink -- the company says its newer routers are made entirely in Texas, according to the BBC -- I couldn’t find a single router brand that’s homegrown. I don’t have any issues recommending routers that were manufactured