diff --git a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/uuid/EthernetAddress.java b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/uuid/EthernetAddress.java
index 5cbb4cd..6b322a4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/uuid/EthernetAddress.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/uuid/EthernetAddress.java
@@ -16,7 +16,11 @@
 package com.fasterxml.uuid;
 
 import java.io.Serializable;
+import java.net.DatagramSocket;
+import java.net.InetAddress;
+import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
 import java.net.NetworkInterface;
+import java.net.SocketException;
 import java.security.SecureRandom;
 import java.util.Enumeration;
 import java.util.Random;
@@ -271,10 +275,7 @@ public static EthernetAddress fromInterface()
             while (en.hasMoreElements()) {
                 NetworkInterface nint = en.nextElement();
                 if (!nint.isLoopback()) {
-                    byte[] data = nint.getHardwareAddress();
-                    if (data != null && data.length == 6) {
-                        return new EthernetAddress(data);
-                    }
+                    return fromInterface(nint);
                 }
             }
         } catch (java.net.SocketException e) {
@@ -282,7 +283,73 @@ public static EthernetAddress fromInterface()
         }
         return null;
     }
-    
+
+    /**
+     * A factory method to return the ethernet address of a specified network interface.
+     */
+    public static EthernetAddress fromInterface(NetworkInterface nint) 
+    {
+        try {
+            byte[] data = nint.getHardwareAddress();
+            if (data != null && data.length == 6) {
+                return new EthernetAddress(data);
+            }
+        } catch (SocketException e) {
+            // could not get address
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * A factory method that will try to determine the ethernet address of
+     * the network interface that connects to the default network gateway.
+     * To do this it will try to open a connection to one of the root DNS
+     * servers, or barring that, to adresss 1.1.1.1, or finally if that also
+     * fails then to IPv6 address "1::1".  If a connection can be opened then
+     * the interface through which that connection is routed is determined
+     * to be the default egress interface, and the corresponding address of
+     * that interface will be returned.  If all attempts are unsuccessful,
+     * null will be returned.
+     */
+    public static EthernetAddress fromEgressInterface() 
+    {
+        String roots = "abcdefghijklm";
+        int index = new Random().nextInt(roots.length());
+        String name = roots.charAt(index) + ".root-servers.net";
+        InetSocketAddress externalAddress = new InetSocketAddress(name, 0);
+        if (externalAddress.isUnresolved()) {
+            externalAddress = new InetSocketAddress("1.1.1.1", 0);
+        }
+        EthernetAddress ifAddr = fromEgressInterface(externalAddress);
+        if (ifAddr == null) {
+            return fromEgressInterface(new InetSocketAddress("1::1", 0));
+        } else {
+            return ifAddr;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * A factory method to return the address of the interface used to route
+     * traffic to the specified address.
+     */
+    public static EthernetAddress fromEgressInterface(InetSocketAddress externalSocketAddress) 
+    {
+        DatagramSocket socket = null;
+        try {
+            socket = new DatagramSocket();
+            socket.connect(externalSocketAddress);
+            InetAddress localAddress = socket.getLocalAddress();
+            NetworkInterface egressIf = NetworkInterface.getByInetAddress(localAddress);
+            return fromInterface(egressIf);
+        } catch (SocketException e) {
+            return null;
+        } finally {
+            if (socket != null) {
+                socket.close();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Factory method that can be used to construct a random multicast
      * address; to be used in cases where there is no "real" ethernet
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/uuid/Generators.java b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/uuid/Generators.java
index 35515e0..88b8542 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/uuid/Generators.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/uuid/Generators.java
@@ -40,6 +40,11 @@ public class Generators
      * synchronization but no external file-based syncing.
      */
     protected static UUIDTimer _sharedTimer;
+
+    /**
+     * The default egress network interface.
+     */
+    protected static EthernetAddress _egressIfAddr = null;
     
     // // Random-based generation
     
@@ -116,6 +121,18 @@ public static NameBasedGenerator nameBasedGenerator(UUID namespace, MessageDiges
     
     // // Time+location-based generation
 
+    /**
+     * Factory method for constructing UUID generator that generates UUID using variant 1
+     * (time+location based). This method will use the ethernet address of the interface
+     * that routes to the default gateway. For most simple and common networking configurations
+     * this will be the most appropriate address to use. The default interface is determined
+     * by the calling {@link EthernetAddress#fromEgressInterface()}.
+     */
+    public static TimeBasedGenerator egressTimeBasedGenerator()
+    {
+        return timeBasedGenerator(egressInterfaceAddress());
+    }
+
     /**
      * Factory method for constructing UUID generator that generates UUID using
      * variant 1 (time+location based).
@@ -238,4 +255,12 @@ private static synchronized UUIDTimer sharedTimer()
         }
         return _sharedTimer;
     }
+
+    private static synchronized EthernetAddress egressInterfaceAddress() 
+    {
+    	  if (_egressIfAddr == null) {
+    	      _egressIfAddr = EthernetAddress.fromEgressInterface();
+    	  }
+    	  return _egressIfAddr;
+  	}
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/uuid/EthernetAddressTest.java b/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/uuid/EthernetAddressTest.java
index 6e06308..59bcd01 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/uuid/EthernetAddressTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/uuid/EthernetAddressTest.java
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 
 package com.fasterxml.uuid;
 
+import com.fasterxml.uuid.impl.TimeBasedGenerator;
+import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
 import junit.framework.Test;
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 import junit.framework.TestSuite;
@@ -1307,6 +1309,45 @@ public void testFromInterface() throws Exception
         assertNotNull(addr.toString());
     }
 
+    public void testFromEgressInterfaceRoot() throws Exception
+    {
+        InetSocketAddress extAddr = new InetSocketAddress("a.root-servers.net", 0);
+        EthernetAddress ifAddr = EthernetAddress.fromEgressInterface(extAddr);
+        assertNotNull(ifAddr);
+        assertNotNull(ifAddr.toString());
+    }
+
+    public void testFromEgressInterfaceIp4() throws Exception
+    {
+        InetSocketAddress extAddr = new InetSocketAddress("1.1.1.1", 0);
+        EthernetAddress ifAddr = EthernetAddress.fromEgressInterface(extAddr);
+        assertNotNull(ifAddr);
+        assertNotNull(ifAddr.toString());
+    }
+
+    public void testFromEgressInterfaceIp6() throws Exception
+    {
+        InetSocketAddress extAddr = new InetSocketAddress("1::1", 0);
+        EthernetAddress ifAddr = EthernetAddress.fromEgressInterface(extAddr);
+        assertNotNull(ifAddr);
+        assertNotNull(ifAddr.toString());
+    }
+
+    public void testFromEgressInterface() throws Exception
+    {
+        EthernetAddress ifAddr = EthernetAddress.fromEgressInterface();
+        assertNotNull(ifAddr);
+        assertNotNull(ifAddr.toString());
+    }
+
+    public void testDefaultTimeBasedGenerator()
+    {
+        TimeBasedGenerator generator = Generators.egressTimeBasedGenerator();
+        EthernetAddress ifAddr = generator.getEthernetAddress();
+        assertNotNull(ifAddr);
+        assertNotNull(ifAddr.toString());
+    }
+
     public void testBogus() throws Exception
     {
         // First, two using pseudo-random; verify they are different