Sure, I'll change the title to say "phones have unique phone number (b/c sim cards), why don't computers have an equivalent?" I didnt mean one phone == one phone number.
With VOIP I can get phone calls even without cell service, even behind a NAT. My question is why is the network designed in such a way where that is possible, but I can't buy a static address that will persist across networks endpoint changes (e.g. new wifi connection) such that I can initiate a connection to my laptop while it is behind a NAT.
If I were an engineer in the past, trying to send a message back to an endpoint (e.g. a server response) I would've reached for everything having a static IP, same as the EID system with phones, instead of the DHCP multi-tier NAT type system with temp addresses.
I'm all but certain they didnt do it for privacy reasons at the time.
Same people who decide phone numbers and domain names. We already have central registries, why does it being a computer make it harder to have a central authority?
I meant "in the same way that phone numbers are unique to phones (not perfectly unique, some phones have dual Sim, some have no sim, sometimes a Sim changes numbers after contacting the provider, etc)"
Its just typing all that^ in a title is kinda long.
EUI-64 IPv6 (and why its not a reality) though is kinda what I'm curious about. But not really because, even under that spec, its still not static like a phone number. I want to know why networks were not created in a way where I can send a message to a laptop regardless of what WiFi its connected to (assuming it is connected and online).
Yeah I was lazy with saying ipv32 just to mean something excessively long. I didnt want to say ipv6, since I kinda think it needs to at least be 64bits (edit: ipv6 is actually 128bits), and really for a public-private key pair it should be larger, so more like 512 to avoid anything like the v4 v6 cacatestrophe again in 20 years with post quantum forms of asymetric key challenges. But I didnt feel like writing all that out.
I'm with you. I knew I'd get people not reading and say "that's the ip address", but MAC address? 🤦♂️
I'm shocked this answer has so many upvotes. No, a MAC address is not close to a phone number. No two people have the same phone number, and I can't just edit my phone number to be someone else's number.
"two network interfaces connected to two different networks can share the same MAC address"
"Many network interfaces, however, support changing their MAC addresses"
You should learn the nix lang, flakes, zero to nix, etc and try not to get bogged down in the Nix/Aux stuff. Be prepared to wait for things to settle down on that side.
Even paying for a static IP its not like a phone number which is discoverable behind a NAT without extra router configuration.