My MAC addresses don't match the manufacturers' codes

[chrstrbrts]

Hello,

OK, so this is what I mean.

The institution that is responsible for assigning MAC addresses is the IEEE.

Manufacturers are assigned prefixes to use for all the devices they manufacture.

This prefix is the first 6 digits in the hex MAC number.

The last 6 digits for the device are freely assigned by the manufacturer.

Now, my ethernet adapter and wifi adapter are manufactured by Realtek according to my OS.

However, when I searched for the prefixes for those devices on IEEE's website, I found that the prefix for my ethernet adapter belongs to HP.

Further, the prefix for my wifi adapter belongs to Hon Hai aka Foxconn.

How can this be?

Did Realtek contract out the manufacturing of my network devices?

Why wouldn't you have the same company manufacture both adapters?

Thanks.

 

[tcsenter]

Realtek makes chips. It does not manufacture or market the final product (board) on which it's chips are used.

 

[chrstrbrts]

Realtek makes chips. It does not manufacture or market the final product (board) on which it's chips are used.

Interesting.

Why, then, does my OS list the devices as Realtek devices?

Why not list them as Foxconn and HP devices respectively?

Also, I looked at the IEEE site and have found that Realtek has its own MAC prefix.

Why mix and match this way?

 

[MtnMan]

The MAC address is used for only in the local network, it just doesn't matter what the OUI portion is registered to.

 

[Fardringle]

Interesting.

Why, then, does my OS list the devices as Realtek devices?

Why not list them as Foxconn and HP devices respectively?

Also, I looked at the IEEE site and have found that Realtek has its own MAC prefix.

Why mix and match this way?

The physical chips are made by Realtek, so the system uses Realtek drivers to communicate with the network adapter, but your motherboard board was assembled and branded by Foxconn (or HP) and therefore the MAC address can be assigned based on whoever made the final product if the manufacturer chooses to do it that way, or they can use the assigned MAC prefix of the chip maker if they prefer or if the chip maker requires it (Intel adapters, for instance).

 

[mxnerd]

It's like your local bakery shop provides same breads/cakes to different stores and these stores use their own brand/package and then you recognized them differently.

 

[Ichinisan]

The first 6 digits could also be referred to as the "OUI" or "organizationally unique identifier."

https://regauth.standards.ieee.org/standards-ra-web/pub/view.html#registries

The IEEE OUI lookup page used to have a message basically telling you that the MAC might not actually match the brand of the device.

I find OUIs for various Chinese manufacturers when looking at the MACs of major name products.

 

[tcsenter]

Why, then, does my OS list the devices as Realtek devices? Why not list them as Foxconn and HP devices respectively?

It's up to the private agreement of the chip suppliers and hardware vendors. The "device friendly name" reported by the OS is determined by the HW PCI ID (which is unrelated to the MAC address) and the setup information (.inf) of the device driver that is installed for it.