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Re: [LUG] MAC address on Android

 

Been offline for a day and this thread is still going! J

 

 

OK, just taking a step back.

 

The first half of a MAC address is the manufacturer’s Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI), so if Android is randomising it on startup, then that’s why it’s only allowing the 2nd half to be changed.

 

If you want to know them all it’s available here: http://standards.ieee.org/develop/regauth/oui/public.html - you can download the entire list if you want!

 

Alternatively, there’s plenty of other sites which will allow you to search using the various formats used (01:23:45 or 01-23-45, etc)

 

>> The phone always has a MAC address starting 00:08:22:

 

Well, according to the list that’s a Chinese company called InPro Comm 
 
You’re likely to see the chip manufacturer here, not the handset manufacturer.
 
 
My fiancée’s HTC uses 00-23-76, which does as least resolve to “HTC Corporation”. And that does not change.
 
>>This is Nexus specific, but quick googling shows this is actually not that uncommon:
>> http://forums.androidcentral.com/verizon-galaxy-nexus/147857-wifi-mac-address-changes-every-reboot.html
 
That forum appears to be hanging around 1 OUI mainly: 
00904C = EPIGRAM, INC
 
Another forum member actually had a “Samsung” device:
2C-44-01 = Samsung Electronics Co.,Ltd
 
You say that the phone was a chinese cheapo… ?
 
There was (and probably still is) a problem with cheap cloned devices coming out of low cost manufacturing centers (I’m trying to avoid just pointing to the Chinese here) having identical MAC addresses. As TCP/IP is based on MAC address resolution, then cloned devices can cause big problems with 2 devices having the same address.
 
Perhaps there’s a newer issue with cloned tech – randomised MAC addresses?
 
Changing MAC addresses is a big problem for anything using the network. Maybe not for consumer tech, after all, Starbucks doesn’t care what MACs turn up, but when you’re trying to do anything with that device (i.e. securing your wifi), then randomising it not good.
 
It gets kind of worse with IPv6 – the IP address is (initially) tied to the MAC address, so random MAC addresses are not something to be desired.
 
Basically, to cut a long conversation short, I agree with bad apple – your phone’s not working. Its basic networking component is not working correctly and so you need a replacement or refund.
 
 
 

 

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