Minions routers went viral

South Korean company Davolink makes Kevin and Bob, Minions-shaped Wi-Fi routers. An X post last month called Kevin one of the best Wi-Fi six E routers money can buy, drawing millions of impressions and selling…

“one of the best Wi-Fi 6E routers money can buy”

The FCC banned foreign routers

Since March, the FCC has banned all new foreign-made network routers from getting authorization to sell in the US unless the manufacturer has an exemption.ASUS, Eero and Netgear all have exemptions, but Davolink does not.

What Kevin and Bob can do

Kevin, the DVW-six thirty two, is a tri-band Wi-Fi six E router nine point six inches tall with a two point five gigabits per second WAN port and an AXE five thousand four hundred rating.

Kevin matches TP-Link's performance

Kevin's AXE five thousand four hundred rating puts it in the same class as TP-Link's Archer AXE seventy five.

How the ban was triggered

The FCC added routers produced in a foreign country to its Covered List on March twenty third, triggered by a national security determination from an interagency body convened by the White House three days earlier.

Existing routers stay legal but frozen

Kevin and Bob were authorized between November twenty twenty three and February twenty twenty four, so they can still be imported, sold and used.

No new Minions routers coming

Davolink has not publicly said whether it applied for a Conditional Approval exemption. Without one, no Wi-Fi seven Minion will reach the US market, and firmware updates for Kevin and Bob are only guaranteed through…