Looks like my ISP has a MAC address filter on their end, hence newly installed wifi router was being blocked until I did a MAC address clone from PC to router using in-built function in the router's firmware: What is happening now is all devices connected wirelessly have access to internet, but the WinXP PC, connected via cable will not open any URL in any browser, albeit Skype works fine (I was able to make a call). I guess the question here is whether it is possible to get a PC working with router whose MAC address is the same? I would like to make it work without changing PC's MAC address if possible. This is because I would like the PC to be able to connect to Internet without the router when needed.
1 Answer
No. The mac address is used when deciding where network packets should go. You'll need to altered the client pc mac, or better, ask your isp to allow your router's original mac.
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2I think you are sort of right. The router whitch has the cloned mac should have the mac cloned only on the WAN port and not visible in the LAN side. So in theory it is possible to get this working with mac address cloneing but maybe the router is messing up the physical lan/wan ports– LayticiaJul 15, 2011 at 7:50
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yes. either way, having a cloned mac on the network isnt a good idea long term. It may bridge the two interfaces anyhow.– SirexJul 15, 2011 at 9:24
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@Sirex funny you should say this, because mac cloning is a function in the router's firmware (see my screenshot). I guess Belkin developers should have known that it wasn't such a good idea? Anyway, I did the right thing and sorted it out with my ISP. Jul 16, 2011 at 8:22
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This is odd. Every other router I've seen only uses the clone MAC on the WAN port. Fail.– surfasbJul 16, 2011 at 8:26
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as layticia says the cloning is done on the wan port not the lan, so no clash occurs.– SirexJul 22, 2011 at 9:14