01 Find It on Your Device
Android menus differ by phone maker. If you do not see Gateway, open the network details and choose Advanced or View more.
Who owns your network?
A router has two addresses: a private one inside and a public one outside. The Network Route panel shows who owns the public one.
Pick your device above for the steps. This table shows the exact line to read, using 192.168.1.1 as the example. Your address may differ. To find another device on your network instead of the router, see the guide to finding the IP address of any device.
| System | Run or open | The line to read |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | ipconfig in Command Prompt | Default Gateway . . . : 192.168.1.1 |
| Mac | route -n get default in Terminal | gateway: 192.168.1.1 |
| Linux | ip route | grep default | default via 192.168.1.1 dev wlan0 |
| iPhone and iPad | Settings, Wi-Fi, the info icon | Router 192.168.1.1 |
| Android | Settings, Network & internet, Wi-Fi, gear icon (Advanced or View more) | Gateway 192.168.1.1 (some phones: Router) |
02 What the Router Address Really Is
When your device wants to reach anything outside your own network, it hands the traffic to one address: the default gateway. On a home network that is your router, so the router address and the default gateway are the same thing. Sending off-network traffic to a default gateway is standard host behaviour (RFC 1122). The router has a private address facing your devices and a public one facing the internet. The difference between them is covered in What Is an IP Address?
| Term | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Router (LAN) address | The router's address inside your network | 192.168.1.1 |
| Default gateway | Where your device sends outside traffic. The same as the router LAN address | 192.168.1.1 |
| Public (WAN) address | The address the internet sees, from your ISP | 203.0.113.7 |
03 Reading ipconfig Without Getting Lost
On Windows, ipconfig prints every adapter, including ones that are not connected. Find the adapter that has an IPv4 address and a Default Gateway. When IPv6 is on, the gateway appears twice: an address beginning fe80:: (an IPv6 link-local address, defined in RFC 4291) and the IPv4 address on the next line. The IPv4 line is the one you type into a browser.
04 If You Cannot Check a Device
The router label is the most reliable source. If you cannot read it, the addresses routers most often use are 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1, 10.0.0.1 and 192.168.1.254. These are conventions, not rules, and an ISP box may use something else. Typing a wrong private address into a browser is harmless: it simply fails to load.
05 When the Router Page Will Not Open
If the address does not load, the fault is usually on your side of the connection. Check in this order.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Page times out | Phone is on mobile data or a VPN | Turn off mobile data and any VPN, and join the router's Wi-Fi or use a cable |
| Page does not load | Wrong address typed | Use the Default Gateway from your device, not a guess |
| Certificate or security warning | Router uses https with its own certificate | Try http:// first, or continue past the warning on your own router only |
| Works in one browser only | Cache or an extension is interfering | Use a private window or another browser |
| Nothing responds | Router needs a restart | Power it off for 30 seconds and try again, ideally over a cable |
06 Login Details and Resetting a Router
Many routers print the admin name and password on a label. Some units print a unique password and others use a shared default, which is unsafe, so change it after you sign in. If you changed it and lost it, the reset button returns the router to factory settings.
Before you reset: a reset erases your Wi-Fi name and password and any ISP login details. Have your ISP account details ready, and expect to set the router up again from scratch.
Once you are signed in, the router is also where you change DNS for every device on the network: see how to fix slow DNS lookup.
07 Double NAT and Carrier-Grade NAT
If two routers each translate addresses, you have double NAT. It usually breaks port forwarding and can make online games report a strict connection. To check, sign in to your router and read the address on its Internet or WAN page. A private address there (192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x or 172.16.x.x to 172.31.x.x, the ranges in RFC 1918) usually means another device is translating in front of yours. An address from 100.64.0.0 to 100.127.255.255 means your ISP uses carrier-grade NAT (RFC 6598), and only the ISP can change that.
The usual fix is to put the ISP box in bridge mode, or to set your second router to access-point mode.
08 The Router Address Is Not the Address Websites See
The router address you found here is the private side. The address websites see is your public address, shown in the Network Identity panel.
Many ISP boxes combine the modem and the router in one device, and the gateway for your devices is the router part. If you are looking for a printer rather than the router, use the printer IP guide.
09 IPv6 Gateways Look Different
On IPv6 the default gateway is often a link-local address beginning fe80::. It works, but it is not what you type into a browser. Use the IPv4 gateway shown in the same output to open the router page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Thirteen questions on router addresses, gateways, logging in and double NAT.
Define the term first (router address equals default gateway), show the exact line to read on each device, then cover what goes wrong: a page that will not open, a lost login, double NAT, and the private versus public mix-up.
Commands and menu names follow the default behaviour of current Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android. Phone menus vary by maker and version, so the page names the label to look for. The ipconfig behaviour is described in Microsoft's reference. Default addresses are listed as conventions only. Steps were not tested on every router or phone model.