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IP and MAC Addresses
MAC Address stands for Media Access Control Address. IP Address stands for Internet Protocol Address. MAC Address ensure that physical address of the computer is unique. IP Address is a logical address of the computer and is used to uniquely locate computer connected via a network
MAC Address
MAC addresses are primarily assigned by device manufacturers, and are therefore often referred to as the burned-in address, or as an Ethernet hardware address, hardware address, or physical address.
Label of a UMTS router with MAC addresses for LAN and WLAN modules (Above)
IP Address
What Are MAC Addresses Used For?
A MAC address sounds like a superfluous thing to have the moment you already have IP addresses. And, in many cases, you are right. However, your home and/or business networks use MAC addresses to communicate internally. In short, MAC addresses are chiefly used for two things: internal network communication and external network authentication (on some ISPs).
A huge problem...something to discuss
IP addresses are written as four numbers separated by dots, such as 202.21.128.102. Each number can range from 0 to 255 which, if you do the maths, allows for a little over four billion addresses.....what does that mean?
What is IPv6, and why aren’t we there yet?
IPv6 has been in the works since 1998 to address the shortfall of IP addresses available under Ipv4, yet despite its efficiency and security advantages, adoption is still slow.
Read more (above article)