14 DAY TRIAL // Hardware vendor TP-Link says it will make changes to its routers so it would prevent US users from loading custom open source firmware on their devices, all in order to comply with current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation.
Last year, the FCC published a new set of rules that all router vendors must abide by if they want to sell their devices in the US. The rules say that routers should operate within a narrow set of limits.
The reasoning behind this decision was to prevent network interference from misconfigured devices jamming licensed radio frequencies. At its core, the ruling makes technical sense, since some users were in the habit of using custom firmware such as OpenWRT, DD-WRT, or Tomato, often resulting in routers operating at different frequencies than they were initially designed for.
The FCC did not specifically prohibit the act of loading custom open source firmware on these devices, but merely wanted to make clear it will not allow the commercialization of routers that allow users to alter frequency limits, output power, country codes, etc.
While a router's default vendor firmware comes configured to work within a country's local specifications, some routers provide the ability to load custom firmware, which in turns lets users change those settings. While most users will leave these technical specifications alone, some do alter them, either out of accident and curiosity, or thinking they'll get a better range out of their device.
TP-Link will block open source firmware after June 2, 2016
The logical step of action would have been for router makers to put in place some type of hardware-based filters that prevented them from operating outside those limits.
That requires some R&D and design modifications, which some companies are apparently not willing to make, mainly because it comes with inherent costs. Instead, it's much easier to modify a router's default firmware and prevent the ability of loading custom firmware on the device.
TP-Link says that the ability to load custom firmware has been removed only from devices sold in the US. The company says that after June 2, 2016, such routers won't be available for purchase, that being the FCC deadline for hardware manufacturers to comply with their ruling.