Orbi app shows 2 MAC addresses for the same device

[terrychau]

I've been having intermittent connectivity issues with several of my devices.  I noticed when I view the Device Manager on my phone, it shows my phone twice, but with different MAC addresses (one for the main SSID and one for the guest SSID).  If I delete the one that is not active, it reappears later depending on whether I switch SSIDs.  Why is that?  I thought one device has one MAC address.

[CrimpOn]

The newest operating system releases (Apple, Android, Windows, Linux) often include a feature which creates a new MAC address for each WiFi SSID that the device uses.  Internet searches will turn up many explanations, such as this one:

https://blog.elevensoftware.com/how-mac-address-randomization-can-affect-the-wifi-experience 

This feature can be disabled in Network Settings (varies by operating system)

[terrychau]

thanks, I had no idea of the randomization of the MAC address, does this have a negative affect when using a Mesh network?

[CrimpOn]

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@terrychau wrote:

thanks, I had no idea of the randomization of the MAC address, does this have a negative affect when using a Mesh network?

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As you have seen, the Orbi thinks you have two different devices. Doesn't bother the Orbi at all because the Orbi keeps track of every MAC address that has ever connected to the Orbi WiFi.  (I had 125 devices showing when I actually had only 35 connected - now). The primary effect will be if you want to set up Access Control and keep having "new devices" appear that don't connect because they have new MAC addresses.  I found it to be a headache and disabled the feature on everything I could.  (Older, dumber, IoT devices typically do not have this capability.)

I'd say read the articles and make a choice.