jeffhykin
@jeffhykin@lemm.ee
- Comment on Would it be weird if I took something my neighbor put out for trash? 1 month ago:
No
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
No
- Comment on Magic 2 months ago:
What’s the big deal? Just solve for …
… = (π^2 / 6) - (1 + 1/4 + 1/9)
Ez
/s
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
Wow that’s super interesting to know. So its still got some resistance, but a lot less than I thought. Thanks again for sharing!
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
Thank you for such a long and detailed post! I indeed did not know about things beyond the SIM, and I didn’t know about the extra details about the country codes either. That is extremely interesting to me.
With the phone spoofing though, does that mean two factor with a phone number is basically useless? If I had authentication based on a MAC address, it would take seconds to break it. But I think, and sure hope, that auth based on phone numbers is more secure.
I think your domain name answer – that for the most part computers didnt need them – is a very satisfying answer.
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
If I’m understanding correctly, you’re saying that right now the network doesn’t have an exhaustive table of IP addresses to physical locations. It has a cache, and a hierarchy, and the path to a location of the IP is fluid.
But a system where every device could be directly contacted/identified like a Sim card, would effectively require a complete table of “what network is device ABC at” that is updated every time the device changes network connections. It would be like trying to change domain name to point to a different IP address.
The problem is, updating a domain to point to a new IP takes hours or days not seconds, so doing that every time a phone changes WiFi is not practical.
Is that a good summary?
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
Finally :D thank you so much!
So basically VOIP is “cheating” because its not actually handled by the network directly, the phone company pays for always-online servers, and phone(s) reach out to those server every time they change networks, in order to be able to route calls to them.
Which also means! it is possible to do the same thing for computers, but it requires having
- A static IP
- An always online server
- The device needs a daemon that tries to connect to a always online server, and proves itself
- that server needs to manually reroute traffic (through a VPN or some other means) to the device, wherever it might be
Which also explains why general network providers wouldn’t want to create the infrastructure to always keep track of discovering devices as they changed networks: not keeping track is less expensive. (And that’s on top of the legacy approach of local networks and desktops.
Thats a sizable edit!
Yeah 😅 I didnt want it to be this complicated, but I didnt see how else to explain that current addressing systems don’t meet the same need as a phone number.
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
You’re right it depends on the definition of phone number, and I edited the original post to try and be more clear that I meant the phone number including the country code and area code.
If you’re talking about something other than country/area code though, then that’s news to me.
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
Thats a valid solution, thanks for saying it!
I think it is good to note this requires either having another system at home or in the cloud to host the VPN right?
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
This I’m interested in, because its at the edge of my knowledge when it comes to domains and cellular networking.
Are you saying if cell phones had a larger address space, let’s say 32 digits base 10, and every device was given a cell phone number, it would overwhelm the existing infrastructure?
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
Fair, I could have said fully qualified number, including country code.
And also fair, instead of saying a MAC could be edited, I should’ve said each phone number has one global owner, while each MAC address could have many owners.
Corrections have been made 👍
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
AFAIK a static IP does not fix that. If I’m wrong, which is possible, I’d be very happy to find that out.
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
AFAIK static public facing IP addresses are limited to a physical location. It would work if my laptop never left my house but as soon as I take it to the airport its no longer accessible. People who try to connect to the static Iap would just get a message saying the address timed out.
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
I can send a message to the IP address but AFAIK the message won’t get to him because he will alalmost certainly have a new address when he connects to the airport WiFi in the new city.
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
Cool, I’ll have to look that up!
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
I can get VOIP calls behind a NAT without cell service. I’m asking how is that possible. Is the router somehow part of the same AP as cell service?
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
Yep, and I can verify my phone number didnt change when roaming, people could still call me.
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
The IP doesn’t persist and the MAC address isnt unique. A phone number is both.
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
Even paying for a static IP its not like a phone number which is discoverable behind a NAT without extra router configuration.
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
Okay, then change you number to 911 and I’ll call it to check.
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
Sure, change the title to say “phones have unique phone number (b/c sim cards), why don’t computers have an equivalent?”
With VOIP I can get phone calls even without cell service, even behind a NAT. Why is the network designed in such a way where that is possible, but I can’t buy an 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.
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
no need for an endpoint to be directly exposed
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.
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
Uh, then how do phone numbers work?
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
Solid answer, thanks! You deserve all the upvotes that were, instead, for some reason, given to the guy that just said “I think its a MAC address”
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
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 a MAC address. Its 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).
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
I cant edit my phone number, but I can edit my MAC address. They’re categorically different.
How would the internet know how to find your phone?
The same way phone calls try to find my phone when its powered off. Attempt, and then fail under a timeout.
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
This is the kind of answer I was looking for, thank you!
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
- Yeah I was lazy with saying ipv32. I didnt want to say ipv6, since I kinda think it needs to at least be 64bits, and really for a public-private key pair should be larger, so more like 512 to avoid anything like the v4 v6 cacatestrophe again in 20 years with post quantum forms of assymetric 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? 🤦♂️
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
Cell phones don’t get a new number every time they switch cell towers, so why do laptops.
Its not like I can write down the IP address of my friends laptop so I can send it a message once he gets to a new city.
- Comment on Phones have unique phone numbers, why dont computers have unique computer-numbers? 6 months ago:
I’m shocked this answer has so many upvotes. No, a MAC address is not close to a phone number.
- “two network interfaces connected to two different networks can share the same MAC address”
- “Many network interfaces, however, support changing their MAC addresses”