FCC quietly raises outdoor power limits on 6GHz — here's what changes

The FCC’s order, adopted last week, raises permitted power for standard-power 6GHz outdoor access points, closing a gap that had kept the band mostly indoor-only in the US.

For mesh vendors, this matters because 6GHz backhaul links between outdoor nodes were previously power-limited enough that most manufacturers stuck with 5GHz for anything beyond a single building. Expect the first outdoor-rated 6GHz nodes to show up at CES.

Nothing changes for hardware you already own — this affects new products built to the updated limits, not a firmware unlock for existing routers.