For this reason, connected network devices are often identified within the network as the name of the vendor - such as Netgear, Hon Hai, Cisco, etc.

MAC addresses are allocated in large groups to hardware vendors.

Here are a few examples: Physical address, basic service set identifier (BSSID), Ethernet hardware address (EHA), hardware address, and adapter address.

There are many other names for a MAC address.

But considering this is a 48-bit scheme with a total of 281,474,976,710,656 - that’s 281 trillion and then some hundred billion more - possible addresses, it’s safe to say many things more consequential, like humanity or hopefully just the need for the MAC itself, would expire before we have to worry about a MAC shortage.

Eventually, we’ll run out of MAC addressing space.

Take “permanent” with a grain of salt because, just like a VIN, it’s susceptible to modification.

It’s like the vehicle identification number (VIN) of a car.

It’s embedded in each networking adapter by the manufacturer. Here are some interesting facts about the MAC address. But it’s faster to pick an existing one and randomly change one of its numbers or letters. Generally, when you alter a digit or letter appropriately, you’ll get a new MAC.Īppropriate is the key in this case since there are rules on how to form a MAC address. This same address can also appear as d4:fb:6a:7c:31:b4 or D4FB6A7C31B4, depending on what platform or application you use to view it.Īs you might have noticed, MAC is not case-sensitive but tends to appear in all lower or all upper cases. If it belongs to an actual device, that’s just a coincidence.) (This is a random address I made up for this post.

That said, here is a MAC address as you’d see on a Windows computer: D4-FB-6A-7C-31-B4 Depending on where you view the address, these groups are separated by colons, hyphens, or nothing.

If the device has more than one adapter, each will have its own MAC address.Ī MAC address consists of six groups of two characters (numbers or letters). This NIC is available as a Wi-Fi, an Ethernet adapter (wired), or a cellular modem.Īn actual device, like a phone or a computer, only has a MAC address when it has a network adapter. Your device - be it a computer, a tablet, or a phone - can connect to the Internet because it has a NIC. So a MAC address - I’ll call it MAC from now on - is precisely that, the unique identifier to control the access of a network interface controller (NIC), which we often call a network adapter.

How to change the MAC address of a Mac computer.

How to change the MAC address of a Windows computer.

How to change the MAC address of a router.

Reasons you might want to change your MAC.

What is wifi mac address