This week the Federal Communications Commission made clear that its broad prohibition on consumer routers produced abroad also covers portable hotspot devices.
The FCC inserted a new section into an FAQ labeled, “Is my device a consumer-grade router under the National Security Determination?” That addition states the category encompasses “consumer-grade portable or mobile MiFi Wi-Fi or hotspot devices for residential use.” The FAQ also notes the ban excludes “mobile phones with hotspot features.”
Consequently, manufacturers of consumer hotspot units will need a government exemption to import and market any new hotspots that lack prior FCC approval. As with routers, devices that were already cleared for sale in the US may continue to be imported and sold without a separate exemption.
The FCC’s definition of routers is intentionally expansive, enabling the agency to cover a wide range of consumer networking hardware under the prohibition. When the FCC announced the ban last month, it described routers as “consumer-grade networking devices that are primarily intended for residential use and can be installed by the customer,” and as devices that “forward data packets, most commonly Internet Protocol (IP) packets, between networked systems.”
An earlier version of the FAQ had said that cellphones offering mobile hotspot functionality were exempt, but it didn’t explicitly state that standalone portable hotspot units would be covered. Beyond hotspot units, the updated FAQ specifies the router prohibition also covers “consumer or small and medium-sized business routers sold or rented through retail and self-installable by end users”; “LTE/5G CPE [customer premises equipment] devices for residential use”; “residential routers installed by a professional or ISP”; and “residential gateways that combine modem and router functions.”
