The Federal Communications Commission clarified this week that its sweeping ban on foreign-made consumer routers also affects portable hotspot devices.
The FCC added a new section to the FAQ titled, “Is my device a consumer-grade router under the National Security Determination?” The new FAQ section says this category includes “consumer-grade portable or mobile MiFi Wi-Fi or hotspot devices for residential use.” The FAQ states that the ban does not cover “mobile phones with hotspot features”.
This means that companies making consumer hotspots need a waiver from the government to import and sell any future hotspot that has not been first approved by the FCC. Like routers, devices already approved for sale in the US can be imported and sold without receiving special exemptions.
The FCC defines routers broadly, giving the agency considerable flexibility to include different types of consumer networking devices in the ban. When the FCC announced the ban last month, it defined routers as “consumer-grade networking devices that are primarily for residential use and can be installed by the customer,” and which “forward data packets, most commonly Internet Protocol (IP) packets, between network systems.”
But while an earlier version of the FAQ said cellphones with mobile hotspot features were exempt, it did not specifically say that portable hotspot devices were within the scope of the ban. In addition to hotspot devices, the new FAQ section says the router restriction applies to “consumer or small and medium-sized business routers that are sold or rented through retail and can be self-installed 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.”
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