[awalton]

> Appears that TP-Link's heart is not in this -- they're doing the minimum to comply with FCC rules.

The FCC has commented that the minimum is significantly less than what TP-Link actually implemented. See https://ifixit.org/blog/7571/fcc-routers/ (and the linked FCC amendment) for more information.

[moefh]

TP-Link appears to be doing the minimum as in "minimum effort", as opposed to "minimum restriction to firmware modifications".

The article you linked shows that people saw it coming:

> Open source projects might not be fully out of the woods yet, though. A few commenters on the FCC’s post have pointed out that some manufacturers might choose to lock down the whole router—as opposed to just the radio—as a cost-saving measure, even if that’s not what the FCC intended.