

You can also use the MAC to reserve a particular IP address for an adapter within a local network. Without an IP address, the device can’t connect at all. Without MAC, an adapter can’t get an IP address. The use of a MAC addressĪ DHCP server (like your router) uses a MAC address to assign an IP address to a network adapter. IP Reservation is one of many uses of the MAC address.
#Mac address of my router license#
Specifically, you can’t register your vehicle (and get a new license plate) if it doesn’t have a VIN. Both are used to identify a car but at different levels and purposes.

If MAC is the VIN of a car, then the IP address is the license plate. Once the device is yours, however, it’s a good idea to keep this address secure.

It’s not a secret everyone can see it - again, it’s like the VIN of a car, it must be visible. Generally, a device has its MAC on its label. instead of their MAC addresses or the names you give them. 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.

That said, here is a MAC address as you’d see on a Windows computer: Depending on where you view the address, these groups are separated by colons, hyphens, or nothing at all. This NIC comes as a Wi-Fi adapter, an Ethernet adapter (wired), or a cellular modem.Ī MAC address consists of six groups of two characters (numbers or letters). 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 for short - is precisely that, the unique identifier to control the access of a network interface controller (NIC), which we often call a network adapter.
#Mac address of my router how to#
