This leads to the question of what exactly the FCC means by consumer-grade routers.
In September 2024, NIST submitted proposals to strengthen the – undeniably modest – IT security of routers (NIST IR 8425A). It states: “Routers forward data packets, most commonly Internet Protocol (IP) packets, between networked systems.”
This encompasses a wide range of devices, from WLAN repeaters to smartphones
They wouldn’t be forwarding packets between networked systems unless you’re using one as a hotspot. And even then I don’t know if the term “networked systems” would include a single computer or if they intend it to mean an area network of some kind.
From another article about this topic:
So new smartphones are banned too?
They wouldn’t be forwarding packets between networked systems unless you’re using one as a hotspot. And even then I don’t know if the term “networked systems” would include a single computer or if they intend it to mean an area network of some kind.