My smartphone MAC address has changed

[Patricia55]

I changed from EE PAYG to an EE monthly package in mid-August, which went fine. Whilst I was discussing this with the agent, she persuaded me to change my Landline/Broadband provider from ten years with TalkTalk (TT) to now using EE, promising I would get just as good equipment and service with EE as I have done with TT. That all took place on 31/08/23 and, within the first two days, I realised I'd made a very big mistake.

Apart from the mounting grievances I've been dealing with since that date (including no longer being able to access My EE on my smartphone, but could still access it via my PC), I discovered that my smartphone MAC address had completely changed from the one I had whilst using the TT router, yet all my other device MAC addresses remained the same.

After being given a link by a helper in the EE forum for "MAC Address Lookup", I checked it out earlier today with both the TT and EE MAC addresses........very interesting. The TT one showed the origin, etc, of my smartphone, whereas the EE one showed this >>>

Info

No assignment is found for this MAC: (address numbers).

MAC Address more info

Locally administered addresses (LAA): the address is assigned to a device by a network administrator, overriding the burned-in address.

Note
It's also be a randomized MAC. Media Access Control (MAC) address randomization is a privacy technique whereby mobile devices rotate through random hardware addresses in order to prevent observers from singling out their traffic or physical location from other nearby devices.

Type of transmission: Unicast <<<

Can anyone here explain this for me, please, preferably without any heavy technical jargon because it's double Dutch to me? I didn't know that a MAC address could be changed, nor do I understand why it should be, or through which source. Did EE or OR implement this? If so, how and why?

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I would greatly appreciate any comeback to my query, no matter what ideas or knowledge anyone has.

[XRaySpeX]

Where are you picking up the phone's MAC from? From the phone's own settings or from the MAC that the router says it is or is that both?

[Patricia55]

Hello again, XRaySpeX
I got the original one from the TT router, and the second one from the EE router, both via the router management. I haven't recently checked the smartphone details for what MAC address shows on it, so I'll go and do that after I've finished my dinner.

The MAC Address Lookup information was a bit puzzling, though. I'll get back to you after I've checked my phone details.

[Patricia55]

Yes, the phone's details show the original (first) MAC address on it, which matches what the TT router manager showed. The EE router manager shows a completely different one for it.

[XRaySpeX]

@Patricia55 : So it's really an EE router issue as the phone still has its correct manufacturer's MAC & hasn't been changed. I'll have a look to see if the Smart Router is doing any of this MAC address randomization for privacy technique jiggery-pokery.

[Patricia55]

"...................randomization for privacy technique jiggery-pokery." made me giggle with your use of words.😆

Thank you, because that bit about "It's also be a randomized MAC. Media Access Control (MAC) address randomization is a privacy technique whereby mobile devices rotate through random hardware addresses in order to prevent observers from singling out their traffic or physical location from other nearby devices."  made me think that it's something to do with EE somehow preventing anyone from finding my true MAC address, or something similar (purely a guess on my part).

[XRaySpeX]

Yes, something like that. It is a privacy technique but I do not know yet whether the Smart Router is meant to employ it. From what you say, it looks like it does.

I only have the EE Smart Hub, which is similar to the Smart Router. All the MACs that it shows are the correct device MACs. I will explore my further resources to see what I can find out.

[Patricia55]

Thank you, I'd appreciate that.
What made me think it must be coming from EE's end, is that I noticed the Router Manager showing "Private IP Address:" rather than just "IP Address:" on each devices information boxes. Of course, I'm only guessing here, but it's something which has sparked my curiosity. Catch you later.

[XRaySpeX]

Well, they are private IP addys. They aren't on the Net. Nowt to do with private MAC addys.

[Patricia55]

"Nowt" is a very English term which I'm used to hearing quite a lot where I live (near the backbone of England).