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Knowledge document #250

Restricting Wi-Fi access to known devices (MAC address filter)

The FRITZ!Box's Wi-Fi network is already protected from unauthorized access in the factory settings by individual Wi-Fi security settings. With the FRITZ!Box's MAC address filter you can additionally specify that only specific wireless devices may connect to the FRITZ!Box.

In the FRITZ! Mesh, the FRITZ!Box (Mesh Master) transmits the list of known wireless devices to all Mesh Repeaters (for example FRITZ!Repeater). As a result, the MAC address filter applies uniformly to all wireless access points in the Mesh.

Important:A MAC address filter alone does not provide sufficient protection from undesired access. MAC addresses are transmitted in the Wi-Fi without encryption and can be easily changed ("MAC spoofing"). MAC addresses are therefore not suitable for the secure identification of wireless devices. This is especially true for current mobile devices, some of which use a new, randomly generated MAC address for Wi-Fi connections every day.

Requirements / Restrictions

  • The MAC address filter does not restrict login to the Wi-Fi guest access.
  • The list of "Known Wireless Devices" is limited to 128 entries.

Note:All instructions on configuration and settings given in this guide refer to the latest FRITZ!OS for the FRITZ!Box.

1 Enabling the MAC address filter

  1. Click "Wi-Fi" ("Wireless") in the FRITZ!Box user interface.
  2. Click "Security" in the "Wi-Fi" ("Wireless") menu.
  3. Click "Restrict Access to Wi-Fi".
  4. Enable the option "Do not allow any new wireless devices".
  5. Click "Apply" to save the settings.

Now only wireless devices listed under "Restrict Access to Wi-Fi" can connect to the FRITZ!Box's Wi-Fi network.

2 Adding a new wireless device

To add the MAC address of a new wireless device to the list of "Known Wireless Devices", you can either temporarily disable the MAC address filter so that the FRITZ!Box can add the MAC address automatically, or you can enter the MAC address manually:

  1. Click "Wi-Fi" ("Wireless") in the FRITZ!Box user interface.
  2. Click "Security" in the "Wi-Fi" ("Wireless") menu.
  3. Click "Restrict Access to Wi-Fi" and then "Add Wireless Device".
  4. Enter the MAC address of the wireless device.
  5. Click "OK" and then "Apply" to save the settings.



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