#Mac address lookup device mac#
MAC addresses, however, have been used for other things.įor example, since MAC addresses are theoretically unique, a MAC address could be used as a unique identifier for tracking the actions being taken by or on a specific computer. When it comes to data traveling over the network, your MAC address never makes it further than the first piece of networking equipment between you and the internet. When it moves from the ISP’s router to another router on the internet, it contains the MAC address of the ISP’s router. When your router sends the information further upstream to your ISP’s router, it contains the MAC address of your router. But when it arrives at your router, that MAC address is removed. That means when information leaves your computer, it has your computer’s network adapter’s MAC address. While the IP addresses involved indicate the original source 3 and ultimate destination, a MAC address is used only on connections from one piece of networking equipment to the next. The MAC address is used by the network to identify which piece of hardware a packet of information is to be sent to. So the uniqueness on which we might want to rely is not 100% reliable.īut that isn’t really the biggest problem.