Android network Id

[Seymore4Head]

My router has a Network map.
Our phones show up as something like android-5foe3ac
The desktops show with the names of the network paths.
Is there a setting in the Android that will allow you to change the
description to something useful so each phone can be IDed?

[Big Al]

I have no answer but oddly today's How-To-Geek newsletter had an article about malware in routers and got me to looking
at the router and one thing I noticed was the attached devices... android.30284020f or such.

I'll be interested to see if there is a solution.
Not that this is what you want, but in my router I can rename those devices. I have to translate the IP addresses to
the ID though, seems like it would be easier to turn off all but one and just try pinging till you find one one line.

But I like where you are going.

[Nil]

On 31 Aug 2015, Seymore4Head <Seymor...@Hotmail.invalid> wrote in
comp.mobile.android:

I assume it's like a more conventional Linux setup where, if you have
root access, you can rename the host. IOW, you can probably only do
that to your phone if it's rooted.

[Mike Yetto]

While walking through the streets of Soho in the rain
Nil <redn...@REMOVETHIScomcast.net> wrote...

I'm pretty sure that's the case. If you get into the settings and
change the device name it only holds for Bluetooth or
WiFi-Direct.

Mike "of course that can change with your next phone" Yetto
--
"Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitates."
- William of Ockham

[lew]

If the router's company has an app that also display the lan map,
then one should be able to change the names of the connected
devices. eg: Netgear has a free app (Genie) on Google for their
routers that has an edit function to change the connected device's
name.

[Anonymous]

> My router has a Network map.
> Our phones show up as something like android-5foe3ac

This command will give you some identifying string:

$ adb get-serialno

Is that the same as the hostname?

[Whiskers]

Not without rooting each device, as far as I can tell. This is normal
for Unix/Linux based systems.

Each Android device should have a unique hostname anyway so once you
know this it's possible to identify which is which on your network; it
should also have a unique MAC of course, which your router should also
display.

If you have access to the Android device, install "WhatsMyIP for
Android" by Neofrontier Technologies or "What is my IP address" by
Webprovider or other such app and run it to discover that device's
current LAN and public IP numbers - then it's very easy to identify the
device on your LAN.

I think some routers allow you to add a note or label to particular
devices.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

[Seymore4Head]

Hey, it does!
Thanks

[Seymore4Head]

I wouldn't know where to enter the command that you suggest, but I did
figure out how to re-label the devices.

Thanks

[Seymore4Head]

I had already figured out that the Android wireless setup will display
what IP address it uses. It seems to be the same one every time for
my phone. I don't know if the other devices stay the same, but they
do seem to.

Thanks

[Big Al]

I've done port forwarding in my router and have referenced a device by it's name not IP. And even though the IP changes
due to DNS re-assignment in the router, the port forwarding still follows to the new IP. Which of course is a great
feature.

[Nil]

On 01 Sep 2015, Seymore4Head <Seymor...@Hotmail.invalid> wrote in
comp.mobile.android:

> I wouldn't know where to enter the command that you suggest, but I
> did figure out how to re-label the devices.

Not exactly. You changed the name that's displayed in your router's
user interface. You didn't re-label the device itself. You you were to
look at its listing on another router, you'll see the same name as
before.

[Seymore4Head]

Yeah, I get that has not physically changed the name on the device
itself, which I think would be much more useful, but it is a pretty
good workaround.

Are you saying that you can somehow enter a command line on each phone
and it will change the ID name?

[Nil]

On 01 Sep 2015, Seymore4Head <Seymor...@Hotmail.invalid> wrote in
comp.mobile.android:

> Yeah, I get that has not physically changed the name on the device
> itself, which I think would be much more useful, but it is a
> pretty good workaround.

I would have suggest this earlier if I had understood what it was you
were after. I thought you wanted to really change the phone's host
name. I've changed them as you did on my router so I could distinguish
the various Android devices on my network.

> Are you saying that you can somehow enter a command line on each
> phone and it will change the ID name?

Either that or edit a configuration text file... but only if the phone
is rooted.

[Bob Martin]

In Developer Options one can set Device Hostname

[Nil]

On 02 Sep 2015, Bob Martin <bob.m...@excite.com> wrote in
comp.mobile.android:

> In Developer Options one can set Device Hostname

Not on my phone (ZTE Valet).

[Whiskers]

Nor any of the three Android devices I've used. Changing the host name
of a system is a 'superuser' or 'admin' task which should not be
available to a normal user. Perhaps the option appears on the
'Developer' menu when a device is 'rooted'.

[lew]

Yes. Doesn't appear if the device isn't rooted.