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More Printer Problems with an RBE371 Mesh Network
I've been having a problem with my new Netgear Orbi RBE371 mesh network since I installed it on Saturday. I have two printers, an Epson ET-8500 and a Brother MFC-L3770CDW. Until Saturday I was using ...
regarding my statement: "this is the equivalent of "Private Wi-Fi address = OFF", which is very safe and reliable on Netgear networks as you have found on your other computers."
You had written that "The "Private WiFi Address" option doesn't appear in the network settings .....This seems to be the switch that works"
My particular comment meant that if for the reasons I previously stated, the Private WiFu Address feature is not available/does not show as a setting on your MacBook Air, you still have a situation that "works" - If available, Private WiFi Address set to OFF fixes your issue. I am saying that in computers that do not have that feature, they function like Private WiFi Address is off - meaning, there is no masking, changing, rotating the MAC address the computer reports. So the behavior of your laptop without that setting is identical to a computer with Private WiF Address=Off. You don't have to do anything.
your Macbook Air may not support that feature. Here's how to tell:
- What is your exact macOS version? If it's Monterey or older, you won't see Private WiFi address;
• Is the MacBook Air is Intel or Apple silicon? Find this under the Apple Menu/About this Mac, "Chip". Many Intel Macs don't support it either, and Apple doesn't offer specifics as to which do and which don't.
Given the Private WiFi address is only RELIABLY available on Silicon Macs, if you have an Intel Mac and the setting is not there, while it could be due to the OS you are using, even if on an OS later than Monterey, the chipset may not support it. I could not find any specifics on which chipset versions do and don't. In any case, if it's not there, the is the equivalent of "Private Wi-Fi address = OFF", which is very safe and reliable on Netgear networks as you have found on your other computers.
Thank you, donawalt. When you wrote "the is the equivalent of "Private Wi-Fi address = OFF", which is very safe and reliable on Netgear networks as you have found on your other computers." what do you mean by this? Is this a shell command?
regarding my statement: "this is the equivalent of "Private Wi-Fi address = OFF", which is very safe and reliable on Netgear networks as you have found on your other computers."
You had written that "The "Private WiFi Address" option doesn't appear in the network settings .....This seems to be the switch that works"
My particular comment meant that if for the reasons I previously stated, the Private WiFu Address feature is not available/does not show as a setting on your MacBook Air, you still have a situation that "works" - If available, Private WiFi Address set to OFF fixes your issue. I am saying that in computers that do not have that feature, they function like Private WiFi Address is off - meaning, there is no masking, changing, rotating the MAC address the computer reports. So the behavior of your laptop without that setting is identical to a computer with Private WiF Address=Off. You don't have to do anything.
Ah yes, that makes complete sense because without this features the actual MAC address would always be used. And in that case, something else is wrong with not being able to see the printer. I'm babysitting the Tahoe update now to see where it is failing and once that completes successfully (hopefully) I can come back to this solution and see if the switch is there. Thanks for the clarification!