Channels and Instrumentalities of Interstate Commerce

Channels of interstate commerce are "the interstate transportation routes through which persons and goods move." These channels include highways, railroad tracks, navigable waters, and airspace, as well as telecommunications networks, and national securities markets.

Instrumentalities of interstate commerce, by contrast, are the people and things themselves moving in commerce, including automobiles, airplanes, railroad cars, boats, and shipments of goods. Instrumentalities of commerce include, as well, "pagers, telephones, and mobile phones."