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I hope it still connects with the real MAC address. Otherwise that could get very problematic.

by michaelmior 12y ago

Karunamon 12y ago
Why is that? The only good use that comes to mind is MAC filtering, and that's easily defeated anyways.
- 0x0 12y ago
  DHCP with static (reserved) IP addresses comes to mind.
  - ams6110 12y ago
    Yes, I do this at home because it resolves the problem of a duplicate IP addresses on the network caused by a device assuming it still has the same IP address (Apple devices seems to do this in particular) while meanwhile another one has taken it.
    - craigyk 12y ago
      What? IME Apple devices are extremely polite about refusing/deactivating IP addresses that are already in use.
      - ams6110 12y ago
        My experience is I get home, open my laptop, and it seems to by default assume it has the same IP as last time it was on my home network. Meanwhile my kid's 2DS game is using that IP, and I have a few minutes of chaos. I just assign fixed IPs to all the regularly connected devices and I don't encounter that.
        rsynnott 12y ago
        Are you sure this isn't a router problem? A number of routers have an issue where they occasionally drop their table of DHCP allocations and just start again; this mostly only manifests when a new device connects.
      - fpgeek 12y ago
        You may have been lucky, but I'd suggest looking at http://cafbit.com/entry/rapid_dhcp_or_how_do http://cafbit.com/entry/rapid_dhcp_or_how_do There's been plenty of debate about whether this rapid DHCP behavior is desirable (e.g. Is the improvement in user experience worth the potential for conflicts and/or other issues on networks not expecting this?), but, either way, I don't see how that behavior can be fairly characterized as polite.
- rgsteele 12y ago
  If you connected to a hotspot using a captive portal, you would need to sign in every time you disconnected and re-connected from the access point.
- mnx 12y ago
  It might be easily defeated, but some places rely on it, and iOS users would be effectively locked out of those networks.
gnu8 12y ago
They could make it optional, but having such a technical option wouldn't be Apple's style. Perhaps it could generate a new random MAC address for each saved network, which would be thrown away when you use the 'Forget network' command.
- michaelmior 12y ago
  That would probably solve most of the problems I was considering. But somehow I suspect implementing this may be more challenging than it appears.
X-Istence 12y ago
This is just for scanning, look at the slide that is mentioned. Connects will still use the real MAC address.

I hope it still connects with the real MAC address. Otherwise that could get very problematic.

Karunamon 12y ago

Why is that? The only good use that comes to mind is MAC filtering, and that's easily defeated anyways.

0x0 12y ago
DHCP with static (reserved) IP addresses comes to mind.
- ams6110 12y ago
  Yes, I do this at home because it resolves the problem of a duplicate IP addresses on the network caused by a device assuming it still has the same IP address (Apple devices seems to do this in particular) while meanwhile another one has taken it.
  - craigyk 12y ago
    What? IME Apple devices are extremely polite about refusing/deactivating IP addresses that are already in use.
    - ams6110 12y ago
      My experience is I get home, open my laptop, and it seems to by default assume it has the same IP as last time it was on my home network. Meanwhile my kid's 2DS game is using that IP, and I have a few minutes of chaos. I just assign fixed IPs to all the regularly connected devices and I don't encounter that.
      - rsynnott 12y ago
        Are you sure this isn't a router problem? A number of routers have an issue where they occasionally drop their table of DHCP allocations and just start again; this mostly only manifests when a new device connects.
    - fpgeek 12y ago
      You may have been lucky, but I'd suggest looking at http://cafbit.com/entry/rapid_dhcp_or_how_do http://cafbit.com/entry/rapid_dhcp_or_how_do There's been plenty of debate about whether this rapid DHCP behavior is desirable (e.g. Is the improvement in user experience worth the potential for conflicts and/or other issues on networks not expecting this?), but, either way, I don't see how that behavior can be fairly characterized as polite.
rgsteele 12y ago
If you connected to a hotspot using a captive portal, you would need to sign in every time you disconnected and re-connected from the access point.
mnx 12y ago
It might be easily defeated, but some places rely on it, and iOS users would be effectively locked out of those networks.

gnu8 12y ago

They could make it optional, but having such a technical option wouldn't be Apple's style. Perhaps it could generate a new random MAC address for each saved network, which would be thrown away when you use the 'Forget network' command.

michaelmior 12y ago
That would probably solve most of the problems I was considering. But somehow I suspect implementing this may be more challenging than it appears.

X-Istence 12y ago

This is just for scanning, look at the slide that is mentioned. Connects will still use the real MAC address.