The FCC's definition of "produced in a foreign country" doesn't just mean final assembly. It covers "any major stage of the process through which the device is made, including manufacturing, assembly, design, and development." So a router designed in California but assembled in Vietnam is covered. A router with a PCB fabricated in Taiwan for a US company is covered. The brand's country of origin doesn't matter. This creates an obvious problem: there are almost certainly zero consumer routers that would pass this test. The entire industry has been offshored for decades. Chips come from Taiwan a
The FCC says foreign routers are a security risk, but still allows firmware updates to the ones you already own…They're absolutely brilliant for controlling devices, as well as getting insights into how much power is being consumed. One will also come in handy here, since we can use it for…
Chandraveer Mathur Apr 27, 2026, 8:31 AM EDT A seasoned mechanical design engineer turned tech reporter and reviewer, Chandraveer brings more than four years of consumer tech journalism experience to the…
…it's worth understanding what your household is actually consuming. Even in a busy home with a dozen or more connected devices, simultaneous peak bandwidth demand rarely approaches the ceiling of a…
…If my machine starts acting as a miniature update server for other devices so that the multibillion-dollar conglomerate's servers can shed some load, I start questioning who really benefits from…
Abid Ahsan Shanto May 29, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT Abid covers consumer hardware, gaming, and platform updates with an emphasis on accuracy, clarity, and reader-first context. He holds a BSc…
…Secondly, utilize Thread strictly for mains-powered devices. If you want to use Matter, that's absolutely fine, but deploy it where power consumption doesn't matter. Restrict your Matter over Thread…
Megan Ellis Mar 31, 2026, 8:30 AM EDT Megan is a Software Writer at XDA Developers who has been writing about consumer technology since 2016. With a postgraduate degree in New…
…Related 3 easy fixes that completely eliminated my Android Auto lag Using a faster, higher-quality USB cable, updating your device, and freeing up RAM can help Android Auto run more smoothly…
…brands clearly promise five years of major Android OS updates and seven years of security patches. You know exactly when your device will reach End of Life (EOL), so you can budget…
…It might be syncing with OneDrive , checking for viruses, downloading updates, updating information for apps in the background, and many more things that eat away at your battery. A lot of apps…