Sixteen years ago, I was asked to attend a meeting at Verizon regarding the IPv6 plan, whether the routers were manufactured in China, and what is your consumer security look like. I was informed that they were working on IPv6, they are secure and that all consumer routers were produced in the US.. Fast forward to March 10, 2026, when I began researching the topic. Here the my results. *The main OEMs Verizon used for consumer routers/gateways were:* - *Actiontec* — U.S. company; at least some Verizon MI424WR units were *made in China*. - *Westell* — U.S. company; at least some Verizon VersaLink 7500 units were *made in China*. - *D-Link* — Taiwan company; production country *not firmly verified *here for Verizon-labeled units. - *Linksys* — U.S. company at the time Verizon used the BEFW11S4; production country *not firmly verified here*. - *Arcadyan* — Taiwan company; verified as OEM/grantee for Verizon’s *G3100*, and likely associated with *CR1000B* and *ARC-XCI55AX*. - *Wistron NeWeb (WNC)* — Taiwan company; associated with Verizon’s *CR1000A*, *ASK-NCQ1338*, and likely *WNC-CR200A*. *What I can say confidently about their production location* *Clearly verified as produced in China* - Actiontec *MI424WR Rev. F* - Actiontec *MI424WR Rev. I* - Westell *VersaLink 7500* *OEM company is verified, but factory country is not yet firm from the sources I checked was one year ago.* - Arcadyan-made Verizon *G3100* - WNC-made Verizon *CR1000A* - Arcadyan-associated *CR1000B* - WNC-made / WNC-associated Verizon 5G gateways - D-Link and Linksys older Verizon consumer units *Best initial conclusion* For Verizon consumer routers from the 2000s through today, the OEM pattern is: - *Older DSL / early broadband / early FiOS:* mostly *Actiontec, Westell, D-Link, Linksys*. - *Modern FiOS / 5G Home:* mostly *Arcadyan* and *Wistron NeWeb*, both *Taiwan-based OEMs*. *Today Update: *From the models we discussed, the ones I can *confidently tie to physical assembly in China* are: - *Verizon G3100* — third-party hardware databases identify the OEM as Arcadyan and list the *country of manufacture as China*. - *Verizon D-Link VDI/DI-624 generation* — multiple hardware-db entries for DI-624 revisions list *country of manufacture as China*. That supports the Verizon-era D-Link family being physically assembled in China, though not every single revision is proven by the same source. - *Verizon Linksys BEFW11S4 family* — at least the *BEFW11S4 v4 (r2, China)* is explicitly listed as *country of manufacture: China*. Earlier revisions were not all China-built; for example, v3.0 is listed as Taiwan. The ones I *would not label as China-assembled based on what I could verify* are: - *CR1000A* — FCC documents identify *Wistron NeWeb (Taiwan)* as applicant/manufacturer, and third-party hardware databases list the *country of manufacture as Vietnam*, not China. - *CR1000B* — FCC documents identify *Arcadyan (Taiwan)* as applicant, but I did *not* find a solid primary source proving China assembly for this exact Verizon model. A third-party hardware database result suggests *ROC/Taiwan*, not China. *OEM/Production/Manufacture Update*From the models we discussed, the ones I can *confidently tie to physical assembly in China* are: - *Verizon G3100* — third-party hardware databases identify the OEM as Arcadyan and list the *country of manufacture as China*. - *Verizon D-Link VDI/DI-624 generation* — multiple hardware-db entries for DI-624 revisions list *country of manufacture as China*. That supports the Verizon-era D-Link family being physically assembled in China, though not every single revision is proven by the same source. - *Verizon Linksys BEFW11S4 family* — at least the *BEFW11S4 v4 (r2, China)* is explicitly listed as *country of manufacture: China*. Earlier revisions were not all China-built; for example, v3.0 is listed as Taiwan. The ones I *would not label as China-assembled based on what I could verify* are: - *CR1000A* — FCC documents identify *Wistron NeWeb (Taiwan)* as applicant/manufacturer, and third-party hardware databases list the *country of manufacture as Vietnam*, not China. - *CR1000B* — FCC documents identify *Arcadyan (Taiwan)* as applicant, but I did *not* find a solid primary source proving China assembly for this exact Verizon model. A third-party hardware database result suggests *ROC/Taiwan*, not China. *Model/family* *Physically assembled in China?* *What I could verify* Verizon *G3100* *Yes* China listed in hardware databases. Verizon *CR1000A* *No evidence of China; likely Vietnam* FCC shows WNC Taiwan; hardware-db lists Vietnam. Verizon *CR1000B* *Not verified as China* FCC shows Arcadyan Taiwan; no strong China-assembly proof found. Verizon *D-Link VDI/DI-624 era* *Yes, at least some revisions* Several DI-624 revisions list China. Verizon *Linksys BEFW11S4 era* *Yes, at least some revisions* v4 (r2, China) explicitly lists China; older revs varied. The main caveat is that the *manufacturing country can vary by hardware revision*, even within the same retail model family. That is especially clear with the Linksys BEFW11S4 line, where one revision is from Taiwan and another is explicitly from China. *Now the question...* Will the US carriers require all their consumers to change routers, who will bear the cost and what about timeline? Just a thought... Joe Klein On Wed, Mar 25, 2026 at 6:43 AM Saku Ytti via NANOG <nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
On Wed, 25 Mar 2026 at 11:51, Mukund Sivaraman <muks@mukund.org> wrote:
What relation does speaking in Mandarin have with injecting code for money?
None. Hence 'Most people'.
Point being, the seat doesn't matter, Chinese nationals sitting in China or Silicon Valley does not have security implications.
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