Wi-Fi smart phones use IP adrs

They don't have an IP - but they do have a MAC address.

What that means, I couldn't tell you.

 

Anything that has wifi has a buitin MAC address. Devices usually only get an IP address when they connect to a wifi network. The network will usually hand out an IP address that is behind some form of NAT. This greatly reduces the need for IPs because many devices can use NAT to share one real IP

 

I think the key is to remember that the MAC address is set and doesn't change (although it CAN be changed), while the IP address is assigned dynamically and changes often. Most WiFi and carrier connections use NAT to provide a private network address (typically 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x).

A MAC identifies the hardware but gives no idea on where its located and how to route to it. An IP address only identifies the current connection, but shows the net, subnet, etc so it can route data.

 

The service provider assigns IP addresses to their customers using either DHCP (dynamic) or giving fixed IP addresses. The IP address is assigned to your home router (or mobile phone), and only the MAC of your home router (or mobile phone) is visable to the ISP. Everything behind your home router, the network doesn't see, the router is a gateway and is responsible for taking the internet signal from the ISP and re-distributing it to everyone who is connected to it ("NAT").

In your original post about "running out of IP addresses", that's a current IPv4 issue, there's only so many IP addresses in the xxx.xx.xx.xx range, so that's why most ISP's use DHCP, so they can assign you an IP address and then take it back when you are done and give it to someone else ("recycling"). With IPv6, there will be enough IP addresses for everyone in the world several times over, so every device can get a unique IP address and never have to worry about changing it.

Read about IPv6 here: IPv6 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I just set up and tested a fiber optic network using MAC forwarding and VLAN tagging because no DHCP server was available during testing. In this way the MAC was used as the destination address and the IP address was irrelevant because the routing was done on L2 instead of L3.

 

That's kind of misleading in light of the OPs original comment about "embedded IP addresses". IP addresses are hierchical based on network topology, not by the physical device. The Wiki link you provided expands further, suggesting that half of the IPv6 address can correspond with the MAC, but not that devices will be assigned an embedded IP address.

I get your point, but now you're just confusing the issue. I would say the address is still relevant at the destination for IP communication, and you haven't altered the L3/IP topology. And if you have, then you probably have a few devices that don't like it, but are dealing with it, but then again, I have no clue what you're doing.

 

OK lets put it in simple terms. A WFIF router gets its IP from the ISP. Devices that are WIFI capapble and when connected to wireless router get assigned an IP by the router. The router assigned IPs have nothing to do with the ISP IP assignment. Correct me if I am wrong, please.