A method of supporting location privacy of a mobile station includes receiving, from a base station, a temporary station identifier (TSTID) during an initial ranging procedure; transmitting a registration request (REG-REQ) message requesting a registration to the base station, the REG-REQ message including a real medium access control (MAC) address of the mobile station; and receiving, from the base station, a registration response (REG-RSP) message including a station identifier (STID) assigned to the mobile station. The TSTID is temporarily used to protect a mapping between the real MAC address of the mobile station and the STID, and the TSTID is used until the STID is assigned to the mobile station.