Tuesday, August 2, 2016

TP-Link To Pay $200,000 To FCC Over Router Violations

San Dimas-based wireless equipment maker TP-Link, which develops wireless routers and switches, has agreed to pay $200,000 to the FCC, for allowing its users to run their Wi-Fi radios and routers at higher levels than allowed by the FCC. According to the FCC, TP-Link has also agreed to let third party firmware run on its hardware--while still obeying those FCC power limits. The wireless networking equipment industry is currently struggling to meet new FCC rules--designed to prevent violation of the strict bandwidth and power limits set on wireless devices--while also continuing to allow for innovation in third party, open source software, such as OpenWRT, Tomato, DD-WRT, and others. That open source software has created a revolution in letting hobbyists create their own, high powered routers using standard industry hardware--but also enabled, in many cases, those hobbyists to tinker with power and band limits that violate FCC rules and potentially crimp use of Wi-Fi and other channels to other users.

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