WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — TP-Link will settle for $200,000 after allegations certain Wi-Fi routers sold by the company were not in full compliance with rules pertaining to power levels, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced.
TP-Link allegedly marketed select Wi-Fi router models that had a user setting which violated Section 15.15(b) of the commission’s rules. The setting allowed users to operate the router at power levels exceeding those approved by the FCC.
TP-Link has fully cooperated, agreed to pay $200,000 and implement a program ensuring future compliance with FCC rules and regulations. The company has taken measures to stop the sale of non-compliant units as well, while agreeing to work with the open-source community and Wi-Fi chipset manufacturers to let customers install third-party firmware on their routers.
“The commission’s equipment rules strike a careful balance of spurring innovation while protecting against harmful interference,” saidTravis LeBlanc, chief of the Enforcement Bureau. “While manufacturers of Wi-Fi routers must ensure reasonable safeguards to protect radio parameters, users are otherwise free to customize their routers and we support TP-Link’s commitment to work with the opensource community and Wi-Fi chipset manufacturers to enable third party firmware on TP-Link routers.”