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How do I find the MAC Address on my Wireless Access Point?
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There are a number of ways to find the MAC Address of your Wireless Access Point.
First, a MAC Address (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address) is essentially unique identifier for any device with a network adapter. It will look something like this "12-34-56-78-9A-BC". Each "octet" should have two characters.
There are a number of ways to find the MAC address of your Access Point.
1) A lot of the manufacturers will print the MAC Address on the bottom of the router. Flip it over and see if its there.
2) You can log into most Access Points and they will display it typically under something like the "Wireless" section of the Administrative tool
3) If those fail or you can't find it, you can use software like NetStumbler (http://netstumbler.com) for Windows or iStumbler (http://istumbler.net) for Mac. These tools will show you a list of all of the nearby Wireless Access Points with their SSID, MAC Address and a few other properties. Mark down the MAC Address associated with your Access Point.
NOTE: Most Wireless Access Points have two MAC Addresses -- one for the wireless adapter and one for the internal network adapter. Typically the wireless adapter will be the higher number. So if you see two and don't know which is which, go with the higher one.
Hopefully these methods will help you. Feel free to post a reply with what worked / didn't work for you.
Thanks again for your support!
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For those running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, just Option-click the AirPort symbol in the menu bar. The MAC address will appear right beneath the name of your wireless network (like 12:34:56:78:9a:bc).
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Inappropriate?There are a number of ways to find the MAC Address of your Wireless Access Point.
First, a MAC Address (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address) is essentially unique identifier for any device with a network adapter. It will look something like this "12-34-56-78-9A-BC". Each "octet" should have two characters.
There are a number of ways to find the MAC address of your Access Point.
1) A lot of the manufacturers will print the MAC Address on the bottom of the router. Flip it over and see if its there.
2) You can log into most Access Points and they will display it typically under something like the "Wireless" section of the Administrative tool
3) If those fail or you can't find it, you can use software like NetStumbler (http://netstumbler.com) for Windows or iStumbler (http://istumbler.net) for Mac. These tools will show you a list of all of the nearby Wireless Access Points with their SSID, MAC Address and a few other properties. Mark down the MAC Address associated with your Access Point.
NOTE: Most Wireless Access Points have two MAC Addresses -- one for the wireless adapter and one for the internal network adapter. Typically the wireless adapter will be the higher number. So if you see two and don't know which is which, go with the higher one.
Hopefully these methods will help you. Feel free to post a reply with what worked / didn't work for you.
Thanks again for your support!
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Inappropriate?just a correction: each member of the _sextette_ should consist of two characters.
Before actually counting the number of the characters in your example, I was looking for some 16-character code - in vain, of course. So, an ensemble of six should be called sextette (or: sextet). :)1 Comment Add a comment
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thank you. i came here to post the same comment. aargh! -
Inappropriate?I believe Ryan is referring to the octet used in computer terminology meaning one byte or 8 bits. In other words, the number 156 in binary would be "1001 1100." The same number represented in hexadecimal would be "9C." Those two hexadecimal (0-F) characters "9C" make up the octet. There are six octets in a MAC address.1 Comment Add a comment
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then, that should have been explained/clarified in the instructions. :-) some of us do pay attention to words, and the word "octet" has a standard meaning. if it's used in a non-standard (or context-specific) manner, that should be explained!
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Inappropriate?For those running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, just Option-click the AirPort symbol in the menu bar. The MAC address will appear right beneath the name of your wireless network (like 12:34:56:78:9a:bc).
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WOW! Brilliant tip man!
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brilliant but see below, you need to add another "0" in the front to make it work.
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Inappropriate?It's necessary to note that the information provided while option-clicking does not display 00 as an octet. On the bottom of their Airports, Apple lists the MAC address as 00:1A:2B:3C:00:4D. However, the information provided via Airport in the menu bar will list the same address as 0:1A:2B:3C:0:4D. I believe Skyhook Wireless needs the octet form "00" instead of Apple's address information of "0."
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you may also need to add a zero before the last "couplet." i'm on leopard, and both the first and last couplets were single digits (i.e., 1:xx:xx:xx:xx:1). i had to add a "0" before each of them for the address to be accepted (i.e., 01:xx:xx:xx:xx:01).
based upon the comment here, regarding adding a zero to the first digit, i made an educated guess that this was the correct thing to do for the last one. the form would not accept my entry otherwise. -
Inappropriate?Hugin777, can you tell me how to find the MAC address for my wireless network on Tiger? I don't have Leopard or Airport. Would appreciate your help. Thanks -
Inappropriate?Cindy, just follow Ryan's general advice above...
If that doesn't work, please state which wireless router you have. Or upgrade to Leopard ;-) -
Inappropriate?Ok my cable modem plugs into my airport extreme both have MAC addresses, which one do I register? -
Inappropriate?You should register the MAC address for the wireless device. In your case the AirPort (I assume your cable modem doesn't have wireless capabilities).
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Inappropriate?The download page at netstumbler.com is "404 not found" any other solutions?
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?I put in my MAC address, the "Submit Point" web page says invalid address ?
00-11-95-0b-75-xx (not really xx, just I'm paranoid) -
Inappropriate?does it really matter if yu submit a Mac adress like
00:12:A3:45:BC:67 or 00-12-A3-45-BC-67
Thank you :)
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I just submitted my base station's MAC address using colons instead of dashes, since that's the format that AirPort Utility reports the MAC address in, and I didn't feel like rewriting it manually. (Yes, I know, lazy.)
I got an e-mail back saying that they got my submission and were processing it. Presumably they would have rejected it right away if the format were something they couldn't handle.
That said, I really wish a Skyhook Wireless employee would answer this definitively. -
It doesn't matter - I've submitted in both formats and had them accepted. Just FYI: it took a full week before my AP showed up in Loki.
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Inappropriate?In Tiger, if you open Internet Connect (go to the Airport symbol in the menu bar, click on the symbol to open the menu and select "Open Internet Connect . ."), the Airport tab displays and shows the Base Station ID, which I assume is the MAC address.
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No that is the MAC address of your computer's WiFi
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Inappropriate?In Network Preferences under Airport it shows the wireless adapter address too.
(in this case the AP *is* my iMacs built in wifi sharing the ethernet connection)
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Inappropriate?The config page for my router says it has two mac addresses. One is the LAN mac address, which is the same one that shows up on my computer. The other one is the Internet mac address. I am fairly certain that the LAN mac address is the one I need to use, however it is the lower number of the two, which contradicts what was previously stated.
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This will show all the currently visible wireless networks in range of your wireless network adapter.
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Inappropriate?Thanks for the info. However, Skyhook says the MAC address I found on the bottom of my router (which matches the one displayed in my admin page for the router) is invalid. I live in Switzerland. Does that have anything to do with it?1 Comment Add a comment
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Sometimes the manufacturer prints the mac address incorrectly (for our purposes anyway).
You should format the mac address to match either example below
00:00:00:00:00:00
00-00-00-00-00-00
eg 001B8E-37A276 should be 00-1B-8E-37-A2-76 or 00:1B:8E:37:A2:76
the second example is how most iPod/iPhone apps expect mac addresses to be formated.
Note also that it should be 12 digits long. -
Inappropriate?For Mac users, simply open System Profiler (via the Apple Menu > About This Mac > More Info, or /Applications/Utilities/System Profiler.app), then go to Network > Locations and you will find all the Mac Addresses - including Airport - listed in the sextet format Ryan is referring to (see image).
I submitted my address a few weeks ago and was thrilled when I turned on my iPod Touch today - I am now found! :)
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Inappropriate?For those on Vista, you might want to try Vistumbler (http://www.vistumbler.net/).
Also, on the iPhone/iPod, you can install the free application called WiFinder which will allow you to see what networks (and their MAC addresses) are visible from your device.
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Thank you for your help and support Mr. Jones.
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Inappropriate?Sorry, none of these posts really make it clear to me which one to use.
I have a dual-band Airport Extreme, and it has 3 MAC addresses. One is for the Ethernet connection to the internet, one is for the 2.4 GHz frequency and the third is for the 5GHz frequency. I know the 5GHz is not used by iPhones, so am I right to assume that I need to give the one that is labelled the 2.4GHz MAC address, because that is the one that other devices will be able to detect? I think I've figured out the answer, but, as I said, it hasn't been stated clearly in the posts on this thread. Can someone clarify this?
I’m uncertain
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In fact, you did answer you question -- the key MAC address for most mobile devices is the 2.4 GHz radio, as this is the one used by 802.11 b, g, and n. However the 5GHz frequency is used for 802.11 a and sometimes n as well, so for completeness and availability of location for all WiFi devices, it is reasonable to submit both the 2.4 GHz and the 5GHz MAC addresses.
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Inappropriate?Hello,
I would like to add my mac-address to your systems, but which of the two on the bottom of the router??
- WLAN
**:**:**:**:DC:64
- LAN
**:**:**:**:DC:65
What should i take ??
Greetings
Jonas Dhont
Belgium1 Comment Add a comment
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WLAN is the MAC address we are looking for. WLAN stands for Wireless Local Area Network.
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Inappropriate?My dd-wrt'd router provided the following MAC addresses:
LAN MAC
00:1E:E5:32:45:XX
WAN MAC
00:21:70:D1:AB:XX
Wireless MAC
00:1E:E5:32:45:XX
I used the last one since it was the one Vistumbler showed on the MAC address column. Is that right or I'll have to re-submit my access point information? Thanks!
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If you DD-WRT a router it will use the same MAC address as every other DD-WRT router. If you submit that MAC address it will instantly be quarantined. You would need to change that MAC address or put the original firmware back onto the device.
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Inappropriate?Hello Shane,
Thanks for your help. I had already changed the MAC address from the default one (I cloned it). Will that be OK then? Is the "Wireless MAC" the one I had to enter? Or was the "WAN MAC" the one? I put the one that Vistumbler returned. Thanks in advance.
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Inappropriate?If you have an Android phone, there is a free app, "Wifi Analyzer".
As well as useful analysis of nearby Wifi signal strengths, the app provides an easy way to see a local wireless network's MAC address.
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