Ask HN: Router resale and FCC certification

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1085769

by jo • 16 years ago

1 2 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Brainstorming some hardware ideas, and maybe someone has experience with this?

I'm considering low quantity resale of a wireless router with a slight modification (3 wires soldered on the PCB). 1) Would the manufacturer care (Asus)? Legal reasons I can't do this? 2) Would this modification require FCC certification?

If I sell more than 30 of these, I can justify/finance spinning my own PCB, etc.

dpifke• 16 years ago

Reading this decision, I would say you're likely to run into issues with the FCC if they were to find out about it:

http://www.fcc.gov/eb/Orders/2008/DA-08-167A1.html

Relevant quote:

If the radio frequency equipment is modified by any party other than the grantee and that party is not working under the authorization of the grantee pursuant to Sec. 2.929(b), the party performing the modification is responsible for compliance of the product with the applicable administrative and technical provisions in this chapter.

In other words, if it's a certified device (has an FCC ID number on the label), you would need to obtain a new certification (new FCC ID) after making your modifications. Doing so would probably eat whatever profits you stand to make (and then some).

jo• 16 years ago

Thanks for the link and quote, appreciate the help. From my searching it sounds like the FCC operates off complaints mostly, so maybe low risk if I did it. But I should be able work around this problem. I'm basically just exposing a GPIO to a RJ-45 connector, so I can access some custom hardware.

Ask HN: Router resale and FCC certification

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