TP-Link has been trying everything in its power to gain conditional approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). According to a new Bloomberg report, the FCC is citing discrepancies in power levels in TP-Link routers as the latest roadblock on its path to selling new Wi-Fi 8 products stateside.

In letters dated October 15, 2026, the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology made some damning claims about TP-Link's reporting practices. Specifically, the FCC alleged that TP-Link "included false or incorrect information in its applications” related to equipment authorizations for four individual router models (including high-end Archer models).

For a company that truly needs to dot every "i" and cross every "t" when it comes to a Trump administration that is increasingly skeptical of TP-Link's past ties and motives, any perceived missteps are even more magnified. However, in addition to the alleged wonky product information provided to the FCC, perhaps more troubling is that three of the four routers under scrutiny also had higher-than-allowed power usage levels.

In addition to power limits, the FCC's testing regimen for routers includes evaluations of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), radio frequency (RF) emissions, and national security compliance. The latter has been a big sticking point with the FCC and the U.S. Department of Defense given the proliferation of TP-Link networking gear in civilian and governmental capacities.

We reached out to TP-Link about the FCC’s findings and were provided with the following statement:

"Routine spot checks have been a standard FCC practice across the consumer electronics industry for many years, and individual product test results can occasionally vary.

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