Eli5 Whats the difference between a MAC address a IP address and IMEI address?

Question

Is there one universal way to identify all electronics?

What is each one used for?

I got as far as understanding that an IP address can be changed and it’s recognized/used for networking and MAC addresses are physically imprinted on hardware but then why do we have IMEI?
Can you share an example where a (lay) person would use each of them?

Are there additional identifiers for electronics ?

TIA

In: 0

Answer 1

The prevailing strategy when it comes to interconnect all of these devices is by *layering.* Layering basically means to divide up how you communicate into different layers with each layer not knowing or caring about what happens on the other layers.

Since each layer doesn’t know what’s going on at other layers (mostly) you need different addressing schemes. This is what MAC and IP addresses are: different ways of addressing devices on different layers for a specific technology. For example, MAC addresses are used with specific technologies operating on the data link layer. You might instead decide to use a different technology that doesn’t use MAC addresses. But your layer 3 (which uses IP) might not change, in which case you would still using IP addresses at that later. This kind of flexibility is what the layered model provides.

I do not know much about IMEI, and do not see how it readily fits into this scheme. It does not appear to be an address the same way MAC and IPs are, but it is an identifier for SIM cards and other mobile devices.

Answer 2

The prevailing strategy when it comes to interconnect all of these devices is by *layering.* Layering basically means to divide up how you communicate into different layers with each layer not knowing or caring about what happens on the other layers.

Since each layer doesn’t know what’s going on at other layers (mostly) you need different addressing schemes. This is what MAC and IP addresses are: different ways of addressing devices on different layers for a specific technology. For example, MAC addresses are used with specific technologies operating on the data link layer. You might instead decide to use a different technology that doesn’t use MAC addresses. But your layer 3 (which uses IP) might not change, in which case you would still using IP addresses at that later. This kind of flexibility is what the layered model provides.

I do not know much about IMEI, and do not see how it readily fits into this scheme. It does not appear to be an address the same way MAC and IPs are, but it is an identifier for SIM cards and other mobile devices.