My question is : will I NEED a MAC (hardware) address on the R4S? I've bought a (Chinese brand) R4S WITHOUT MAC chip.
As I'm trying to think this through, it occurs to me.... In bridge mode the ZTE will probably just search for any MAC addresses on its same network segment, then send the WAN address to the router at any MAC address discovered. There should only be ONE device on the ZTE modem's network segment, since the router will seperate the WAN from the LAN addresses.
Can you guys confirm? I have asked this question before on this forum, but did not get a comprehensive answer, which is why I'm still confused.
Also, once the ZTE device is in Bridge mode, its theoretically NOT IP reachable anymore..... & will merely wait for a MAC address on its cat5 cable??....
I haven't actually switched ZTE firmware across to bridge mode. I do not want to lose access to the ZTE & don't understand what will happen when I do switch it to bridge mode... until I'm ready w R4S installed & ready for the ZTE bridged modem, I'm very reluctant to switch the ZTE over....
the non-unique MAC in it self isn't an issue, but assigning a static IP to it could be.
you can always script or override the MAC, before you bring up the network.
or get the version with an unique MAC, they're usually an extra $10.
another option is to use an ethernet USB adapter for the WAN port.
I haven't looked into the issue that much, but there's a difference between not having a MAC, hence getting one generated by the OS, and reusing one across several devices.
Both will cut costs, but the one with the non-unique MAC will have the same address on every reboot, while the one without a MAC, will get a random address, unless scripted/reconfigured.
With openwrt you can work around the random MAC.
The non-unique one shouldn't cause you any trouble at all, unless you have two+ identical devices on the same subnet.
