The FCC just saved Netgear from its router ban for no obvious reason

no obvious reason

Could it be related to Netgear being manufactured in Vietnam Thailand and Indonesia to avoid China tariffs and that somehow got them through an audit? I only ask if the overall unwritten goal is to avoid China.

I would love to see the US rekindle the domestic manufacture of affordable consumer/prosumer network hardware. The US can already manufacture SoCs, PWBs, and chassis hardware, we just need a business case for putting it all together. Managed well, sustained protection from international competition could provide this business case, and buffer against global shipping disruptions, while the sheer volume of CPE equipment would eventually drive down costs.

But fickle bans will never get us there.

Either they agreed to put the back door in their routers or someone got paid off.

Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't the router ban intended to affect foreign companies, not one based in San Jose, California? If so, that would explain why they get an exception.

Why is TP Link still being sold.

I feel like pretending a department under this administration's thumb is actually going to act honestly is a bit absurd.

They made a donation ... somewhere. Now they're all good. None of Trump's bluster is honest, they're just graft gates.

It wasn't any different during the first administration. I worked at a company slated to be acquired by a foreign company. But the approval just never came from the feds. Then one day the acquiring foreign company CEO visited the White House and that day Trump approved it. Trump even made a little speech about jobs. Then we were all told we were going to be laid off... just like that almost all the American jobs gone. Shortly after one of Trump's companies announced a big land deal in the home country of the acquiring company. MEGA ...

Follow the money.

My bigger fear is whether Netgear has one or more backdoors exploitable for use by the US government. It's firmware will have to be reverse engineered and then reviewed by AI, proof-based analysis, and security researchers.

In the long term, an absence of competition bodes poorly.

I was under the impression the ping back to china security issues are what prompted this, until they were evaluated. I don't think Netgear would have a problem passing the audit.

Obviously the Trump family is being made richer or more powerful somehow. It’s obvious. Saying there is no obvious reason is as insane as believing the delay in banning TikTok wasn’t corrupt.

They paid the shakedown fee.

‘The United States’ foreign router ban didn’t make a whole lot of sense, and today may not change that.`

???

No obvious reason? What if the Executive Branch is a dog chasing cars?

It’s just doing things.