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Inconsistent last two characters of MAC address and problems with Range Extender

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    169

    Inconsistent last two characters of MAC address and problems with Range Extender

    I have the classic Linksys WRT54G router. At the back is a label that claims it's MAC address is XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-AA. However, when I go into the router's status page via http, it claims the MAC address is XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-AB. I am trying to install a range extender, and it recognises my router's MAC address (BSSID) as XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-AC. What does the last two digits of the MAC address represent, and why is it inconsistent?

    My TP-LINK TL-WA730RE range extender seems to be unable to connect to my router when my SSID is hidden. Without doing anything to the range extender, if I change my Linksys's SSID to hidden, the range extender disconnects. When I broadcast the SSID again, it reconnects. What could I possibly be doing wrong in the settings of the range extender for it to fail to connect when the SSID is not broadcast?

    Hope someone can help me with the above questions, which might or might not be related. If my understanding is correct, the SSID is for human use only, and the machine uses the BSSID only. So why does it matter if the SSID is hidden or not?


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    2,879

    Your router probably has several MAC addresses. One for the WAN interface, the LAN interface, and then another one for wireless. The one on the label is probably the WAN port. The others you may get from the configuration.

    No idea on the rest though.

    Last edited by 100LL; 18-06-2011 at 12:29 AM.
    ICEBreaker likes this.