this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In general, I thought IP addresses are mutable while MACs stay the same, and I thought that's why the outside world uses IPs to identify networks while routers inside a network use MACs to identify specific devices. If you can change your MAC arbitrarily, doesn't that risk making the router's job more difficult? Why not just assign yourself a different internal IP?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I mean yeah, but in this case you want to make the routers job of shutting you out more difficult.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Changing your MAC will make older messages undeliverable, but that just means the connection will be momentarily interrupted until you establish new connections after re-connecting to the WiFi.

Why not just assign yourself a different internal IP? Because a. the router probably wants to assign you one itself via DHCP; and b. the router isn't looking at your IP address to lock you out; it's looking at your MAC address.

If your IP address is where in cyberspace you are, a MAC address is who you are. If you want to fool the bouncer, change your name, not your address.