OMG! - How *NOT* to make an Android tablet!!!

Forums › Android › OMG! - How *NOT* to make an Android tablet!!!

Linuxluver

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#65665 5-Aug-2010 12:08

Looks like the cheap "Augen" Android tablets being sold in the US through giant retailer, KMart, suffer a serious flaw. They ALL have the same MAC address. (00:03:7F:0E:A2:19)

This means that no two devices can share the same wifi access point as they appear to be identical. It's been dubbed the "one per Starbucks" problem.

Apparently, cheap Chinese manufacturers typically steal a MAC address as they tend not to be part of the global body that dishes them out....and use it on all devices they make.

So....where does this leave those of us who have other tablets?

The MAC address in my M001 is: 1C:4B:D6:7E:8B:7A

What's yours?

Menu -> Settings -> Wireless Controls -> WiFi Settings -> Press "Menu" -> Touch "Advanced" and you should see it.

Or open a command prompt ("Better terminal" app?) and type in "ifconfig" and press enter. It's the MAC associated with "ra0" (which also tells us the wifi is from RA-Link in Taiwan - who open-sourced their wifi driver code a couple of years ago).

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#363591 5-Aug-2010 12:19

That is pretty shocking if its true.

vinnieg

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#363596 5-Aug-2010 12:23

ahahahahaa, that is amazing!!!!! That really made me laugh

Guess if someone got it rooted and put ADB Shell and could possibly change the MAC that way?

I have moved across the ditch. Now residing in Melbourne as a VOIP/Video Technical Trainer/Engineer.

Elpie

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#363607 5-Aug-2010 12:44

OMG is right! If this is common with Chinese manufacturers it makes me think twice about buying gear made in China.

Does anyone know if Android supports MAC address spoofing?

ZollyMonsta

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#363612 5-Aug-2010 12:52

Linuxluver:
The MAC address in my M001 is: 1C:4B:D6:7E:8B:7A

What's yours?

Menu -> Settings -> Wireless Controls -> WiFi Settings -> Press "Menu" -> Touch "Advanced" and you should see it.

I'll take a look tonight and report back :)

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oxnsox

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#363614 5-Aug-2010 12:55

Seriouly laughable

Do Kmart not have anyone with the knowledge to check these things.... or would that simply put the retail price into the too high basket???
(And now they'll be in the 'really afforable' basket)

But you have to give the manufacturer some credit... wonder if he could sell coal to Newcastle???

Really though it's a marketing failure.... no way are they going to be able to offer them as
'Buy one get one free'

graemeh

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#363641 5-Aug-2010 13:47

oxnsox: Seriouly laughable

Do Kmart not have anyone with the knowledge to check these things.... or would that simply put the retail price into the too high basket???
(And now they'll be in the 'really afforable' basket)

But you have to give the manufacturer some credit... wonder if he could sell coal to Newcastle???

Really though it's a marketing failure.... no way are they going to be able to offer them as
'Buy one get one free'

Oh I don't know.

Isn't it normal for "buy one get one free" that the "free unit must be the same as the first unit". In this case they are truly identical

xpd

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#363647 5-Aug-2010 13:58

We had two PC motherboards here once from the same manufacturer (think they were same model as well) with the same MAC on the on-board NIC..... we were wondering why one would always have network issues when the other was turned on.

Simple solution was to disable the onboard NIC on one and use a PCI NIC :)

But not as easily solved on a tablet :)

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Linuxluver

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#363651 5-Aug-2010 14:06

The SlateDroid forum thread where the dupe issue was discovered can be found here. One user bought two of them and discovered they had dupe MAC addresses. Two others confirmed their MACs are the same as his pair.

The total so far stands at 4 out of 4. A very small sample....but 100% accurate so far.

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PenultimateHop

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#363696 5-Aug-2010 15:07

This happens far more often than you might think - I see it all the time in large broadband networks where gateways (DSL modems etc) have been produced with the same MAC on the WAN interface.

It can happen to any vendor (3com and Intel have both done it in the past with their NICs), but it does typically happen with vendors which have less QA emphasis...

freitasm

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#363715 5-Aug-2010 15:36

Chinese manufacturers do it all the time. Why do you think you can buy Bluetooth USB adapters for $2 each online these days? They all have the same MAC. Good luck getting those things to work too...

This is the kind of things that brings bad name to a product platform. Consumers can't differentiate cheap market forces from the platform itself.

graemeh

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#363721 5-Aug-2010 15:41

It happens with the DD-WRT firmware too BUT if you're using that it is in the documentation and it's quite reasonably assumed that you know the implications.

ZollyMonsta

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#363782 5-Aug-2010 17:55

1c.4b.d6.7e.17.f2 here... so different than yours :)

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maverick

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WorldxChange

#363791 5-Aug-2010 18:08

I have seen the same same for Cisco PAP2-NA's that's why we ban them from our network..... Being sold by some scum dealers on trademe for next to nothing.

No help from Trademe when pointed out to them I must say , they weren't interested, not a fan of trademe anymore as they were happy to let customers buy known counterfeit devices

Yes I am a employee of WxC (My Profile) ... but I do have my own opinions as well