[jbeachy]

I'm not quite a newbie but it seems my question should be posted here LOL. I've searched the forums and haven't found a definitive answer.

Is IP and MAC (Media Access Control) Address the same thing? Is MAC only used on devices that have WiFi (the xx20 series)?

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[sunkast]

No they are two different addresses.

MAC address - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
IP address - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[BBJet]

ok a short explanation for you:

MAC address: Digital name of your interface, every network interface has an unique MAC address and every network interface has a different one. These address it's an hexadecimal numer of 12 or 16 digits... don't remenber but you can get the idea

IP address: Is the numerical address asigned or configured to connect your device (PC, Laptop or BB) to the router or default gateway of your network (can be you Service provider in the case of the BB but i'm not sure how it works in this case). You can get these address automatically if your default gateway has DHCP configured and your device is configured to get the IP address by DHCP then the whole process should be transparent for the user. If the DHCP is not configured then you must know the IP address and subnet mask of the default gateway (router) to configure your device and get connected.

Eg:

You know your default gateway address is 192.168.100.1 and the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 then you should pick an ip address (not used by another device in your network) in that subnet range and configure it manually to your device. If you dont know what addresses are taken just try any, if you dont get a warning then you are good to go, if not just try another.

Lets say you will configure your pc to connect to this default gateway. You will be asked about:

IP address: Pick one in that range for example 192.168.100.2
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 in this case
IP default gateway: 192.168.100.1 (your router)

Sometimes you get asked about a DNS address it depends what are you connecting and how the router its configured. I will make this explanation short, ask if you need to know anything else.

I'm newbie at BB world but i work as networking engineer for living. If you need something detailed for BB I won't be able to help you.

good luck.

[jbeachy]

Thanks. I knew IP Address stuff but wasn't sure of MAC. So� my Verizon BlackBerry Curve 8330 / 4.3.0.127 doesn't display MAC anywhere that I can find including the Diagnostics report.. Is MAC just a WiFi configuration?

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[sunkast]

No. Every network device has a MAC address. It's a permanent address.

[howie]

any device that can obtain an IP address has a MAC address. That's kind of like the PIN on BlackBerries in that it is unique to that specific device. So the WiFi BB's probably have two, one for the regular cellular internet from the carrier and one from the WiFi chip. Just like your computer if it has a network cable port and WiFi, it will have two different MAC addresses (one for each).

[jbeachy]

I can find IP Address on my Curve but haven't found MAC. How do I display MAC?

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