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I notice that the devices listed on the wireless system listed a MAC address that is supposed to be the router but it is not the same # that is on the router case.

It differs by one one digit, *.98.65 vs *.98.66. Is another MAC address generated when a wireless system is created using the same device for LAN?

Mark Buffalo
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Gary
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  • Can you show us a screenshot of what you're looking at? `*.98.65` looks like an `IP address`, not a `MAC address`. You can blank out important details if need be, but I'd like to see if there are periods or colons in what you're talking about. The difference is night and day. – Mark Buffalo Nov 14 '15 at 18:44
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    Some vendors write the MAC address with dots. So he is talking about MAC address. As mentioned in the answer, a device with multiple (LAN, WLAN) interfaces will have several MAC addresses, sometimes listed on the case, sometimes not. Sometimes they are +1 to the base address listed on the case. – flohack Nov 19 '15 at 16:48

2 Answers2

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Each network interface has its own unique MAC address, assigned by the vendor of the equipment. So if you have a wired and a wireless interface you will see two addresses. If multiple interfaces are integrated into one piece of equipment (e.g. a router with multiple ports and/or WiFi), it's likely that the vendor will asign two consecutive MAC addresses.

So to really answer your question: the MAC address is assigned to the interface by the vendor in the production process, it's not generated the moment you connect to a network.

Teun Vink
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Part of what you're saying isn't clear to me. Do you have the concept of MAC addresses and IP addresses mixed up? *.98.65 looks like part of an IP address, not a MAC address. A MAC address would look like this: *:98:65. Colon vs. period.

If you do have the concept mixed up, then what connects to a router has little to do with what is inside of a router. In this case, *:98:65 and *:98:66 are likely part of your router's internal components. The router, and each physical interface inside the router, has it's own MAC address.

  1. The router itself is likely *:98:65
  2. The local area network interface is likely *:98:66
  3. You probably have a third somewhere for your wireless network interface. It may be something like *:98:6A.

It all depends on how many interfaces are inside the router. By design, each interface is supposed to have it's own MAC address, and these are supposed to be unique, although MAC spoofing is pretty easy.

Now, when a wireless device connects to a router, it's MAC address - spoofed or otherwise - will be registered with the router. The router's administration page should show this, unless it's firmware has been modified to hide the connected device from the page, while still acting normally.

However, if your router itself is showing that it has two MAC addresses as being part of it (it probably has three if it's wireless), then it means there are at least one interface inside your router, which includes the router itself.

If not, could you show us a screenshot of what you're looking at?

Mark Buffalo
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