You could also restrict clients to only be able to connect for x days, so neighbors don't find your WiFi to be their backup internet connection. Change the Value to a MAC address of your liking. Navigate to the Network Address (or Locally Administered Address) entry. Click on Configure button, then on the Advanced tab. The Properties window of the connection will appear. For example, OpenMesh WiFi devices include such functionality which could allow the receptionist at your office to print out 'tokens' for access, which could be unlimited in duration. Right-click on the network adapter you want to work with and choose Properties.

If it is a guest network, fully physically or VLAN separated from any production network, with little need for authentication then perhaps a token-based system or captive WiFi portal type system would be useful. These alternatives are easier to maintain going forward however than updating MAC lists every time a device is swapped out. However, from a security perspective, I would consider MAC filtering to be a deprecated practice with superior, albeit more difficult to implement alternatives available. Other than that, it is useful for keeping inventory and identifying computers on the network when NetBIOS name/etc is not available or has been changed to something you don't recognize.

So, from your MAC address list, you can determine what DHCP or static address a machine has, which is useful on occasion. A Media Access Contro (MAC) Address is used to register certain devices to the UC Berkeley network by acting as a username for each individual device. For example, one can lookup a given MAC address's IP address on the network using ARP. MAC address lists are often maintained for other reasons. It is also known as a physical address, and it is also unique for each device. It is a 48-bit identifier (6 blocks of two hexadecimal characters (8 bits)) that uniquely corresponds to a card or network device. Instead, 802.1x authentication or something like Cisco's MacSec offers far superior security. The MAC address comes from the acronym for Media Access Control. I agree that for the reasons you explained, MAC address authentication is not very difficult to bypass - although as schroeder points out, this is difficult on non-rooted phones/tablets.

What is wifi mac address used for