Q. What is my router’s address?

There are two addresses associated with a router, there is the external WAN (Wide Area Network) address that it  gets from the broadband modem, which is what webservers and the outside Net sees.

To find your WAN IP address, you can type “What’s My IP” in a Google search in your Web browser, and Google will display it at the top of the search results. Or for more detailed information http://www.whatsmyip.org/

Then, there is the internal network number that it has on the network created for your household or office.  The internal network uses reserved IP address blocks, and the router (also called a Gateway) is usually the .1 machine of that block.  So for example, the router may be 192.168.0.1 – therefore all of the devices on that internal network would need to be in the range of 192.168.0.2 through 192.168.0.255  Note that the first three numbers are the same, this defines these addresses as being in the same sub-net.

The default IP address of the router is set at the factory, below is a list of common default IP addresses from http://www.techspot.com/guides/287-default-router-ip-addresses/

Keep in mind that the router’s IP address can be changed in the administrative settings. Another way to find your router’s internal IP is to check the network settings of a machine that is connected to it (in Control Panels, os System Preferences, or at the commandline C:>ipconfig  {return}). The Router or Default Gateway address is the IP of your router.

To adjust the settings of the router, you need to log onto the Administrative interface. This is done through a web browser by typing in the router’s internal IP address. It will challenge for a username and an Admin Password.  This is not your WPA wireless password. The factory defaults are usually some variation on admin or administrator for the user and blank for the password or vice versa. Check your router’s Owner’s Manual.

The Admin password however should be changed as soon as a router is installed, so yours may be different.  I tell my clients to write the new Admin password into the inside cover of the router’s manual.  If it is your router, and you don’t know what the Admin password was changed to, or for links to instructions for changing it, go here.

Common Default  router IP addresses: