The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has offered a small concession to router device manufacturers by extending the deadline for renewing software updates, slightly easing the impact of its sweeping ban.

Previously, Wi-Fi router makers were subject to a waiver allowing them to push security patches to already-authorized devices for just one year.

In a slight reprieve, the FCC has pushed that deadline out, meaning early moving device makers like Netgear, which had faced deadlines as soon as 2027, now have until 2029 to provide firmware updates.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which organizes the annual CES event in Las Vegas, had called out the rule earlier this month, arguing that the one-year stipulation would leave thousands of unsupported routers sitting vulnerable.

“CTA supports the administration’s goal to protect U.S. networks from equipment and services deemed to pose an unacceptable threat to national security,” the group said in a regulatory filing. “We suggest ways to achieve the administration’s goals while addressing the concerns of industry to continue to bring secure devices to the American public.”

To ease such concerns, an FCC order dated May 8 sees the agency’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) approve extending the waiver, stating it would “give the commission an opportunity to consider a rulemaking on this subject, also reduc[ing] potential harm to the public interest.”

In addition to routers, the software and firmware update extension also applies to foreign-made drones.

The extension includes “all software and firmware updates to ensure the continued functionality of the devices, such as those that patch vulnerabilities and facilitate compatibility with different operating systems,” the notice reads.

“OET finds that special circumstances warrant a deviation from the general rules and the public interest would be better served by extending the waiver of the prohibitions on these Class I permissive changes in these circumstances.”

Only a handful of device makers have joined Netgear in gaining an FCC exemption, including Amazon’s Eero line, Adtran, and Calix.

The ban was initially passed back in March and covers consumer-grade devices containing components produced outside the U.S. It does not impact any previously purchased consumer-grade routers.

Its scope was then extended in April to cover foreign-produced routers capable of connecting to cellular networks like LTE/5G customer premises equipment (CPE) devices and Wi-Fi hot spot devices.