Netgear and Eero exemptions prove Wi-Fi must be a public utility
By Josie Calloway · Reporting from Pittsburgh ·
If you’re reading this, your internet is probably running through some fancy mesh system—a whole home solution that promises to blanket every corner of your house in flawless 6GHz signal.
When Connectivity Becomes Another Luxury Commodity
If you’re reading this, your internet is probably running through some fancy mesh system—a whole home solution that promises to blanket every corner of your house in flawless 6GHz signal. The tech press makes it sound like a miracle cure for the modern American life: reliable connectivity, fast speeds, and zero dead zones. But when I look at this endless parade of expensive boxes—the TP-Link Deco X55 AX3000 selling over 6,000 units in July 2026 on Amazon, or the Netgear Orbi lines dominating CNET’s lists—I don't see innovation. I see a deeply profitable infrastructure failure dressed up as consumer choice. The problem isn't that we need Wi-Fi; it's that we are being sold the illusion of control over something that should be treated like basic public utility, not an elective appliance upgrade.
The Great Router Arms Race and Regulatory Blind Spots
The reporting on this topic is a dizzying mess of specs: 2.5G ports, Wi-Fi 7, BE10000, gigabit backhaul. Tech reviewers are obsessed with who has the highest number or the newest frequency band, whether it’s the Eero Max 7 supporting up to 10 Gbps or the Deco XE75 Pro covering a whopping 7,200 square feet. But these articles—from tech.yahoo.com detailing TP-Link's best sellers to broadbandnow.com comparing eero 6+ value against Google Nest Wifi Pro’s sleek design—are all just cataloging who can afford the most expensive box right now.
The real story, which is buried under layers of marketing jargon, is regulatory instability and market fragmentation. CNET noted that as of April 22, Netgear and Eero are "the only consumer routers that have received an exemption" from a notice issued by the FCC banning new foreign-made routers on March 25. This isn't just background noise; it’s a structural warning sign. We are told to worry about signal strength (dBm) or latency, when we should be worried about who controls the foundational standards and whether those standards can even be maintained without government oversight.
The Standardization of Shipping Containers
This entire market—this endless competition between eero, Netgear, Google, and TP-Link—is a perfect microcosm of our relationship with essential infrastructure: we treat it as bespoke luxury goods instead of standardized public works. It reminds me, starkly, of the standardization of shipping containers. When the world adopted the intermodal container, they didn't argue over whether the steel should be painted blue or red; they committed to universal physical standards (ISO compliance) that allowed disparate components—ships, trains, trucks—to integrate into a single, efficient global system. The friction cost of commerce plummeted because everyone agreed on one measurable, repeatable standard.
The mechanism is crystal clear: standardization lowers the barrier to entry and dramatically increases efficiency for all participants. What we have in our broadband market is the exact opposite. We have dozens of proprietary ecosystems—the eero app, the Google Home controller, the Deco setup—each requiring its own specific knowledge base, its own brand loyalty, and often, a subscription service just to keep the lights on. This fragmentation isn't choice; it’s friction engineered for profit.
The Verdict is Regulation, Not Better Hardware
We are being sold an arms race of faster frequencies and more gigabit ports when what we desperately need is a commitment to universal, open standards—the digital equivalent of the ISO container. We should not be debating whether a Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 system or a Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 mesh unit offers better coverage; we should be demanding that internet service providers and hardware manufacturers commit to an interoperable standard that treats connectivity like water mains: reliable, universal, and accessible regardless of the zip code. Until this market is forced to adopt true standardization—a single, unified physical layer protocol for home networking—the poorest neighborhoods will continue to get the sickest signal, while we keep buying $600 boxes promising a flawless connection that only exists on paper.