How To Enter Wifi Router Settings

How to Change Your Router Settings

To get the most out of your router, y'all need to acquire how to alter your WiFi router settings, and we are here to teach yous.

David Morelo

December 21, 2022

If yous've never paid much attention to your router, you might be wondering why you should bother learning how to change router settings in the showtime place. After all, if it's been working fine so far, why risk breaking something?

Why Should I Learn How to Change My Router Settings?

The answer is unproblematic: because you have a lot to proceeds and nothing to lose. Much like information technology's well-nigh impossible for you to physically harm your computer by clicking on a wrong link or messing with its settings, so are modernistic routers designed to be fool-proof.

Probably the worst thing that can happen is you change your wireless router settings in a way that makes it easier for others to steal your personal information. A much more likely scenario is, withal, that you learn how to alter your wireless router settings to protect your personal information as much equally possible.

Knowing how to change your router settings also enables you to have full reward of some of the more avant-garde features of your router, many of which you might not fifty-fifty be enlightened of at the moment. Don't worry: even if you lot consider yourself to be a estimator neophyte, y'all'll exist able to larn how to modify router settings in no time.

How to Proceeds Access to a Router

To play with your router's settings, you need to learn how to admission information technology as an administrator. If you lot're on the same network as the router (i.due east., y'all're either connected to the router with an Ethernet cable or are continued to a wireless network created by the router), yous tin attempt the simple method kickoff:

Open your favorite web browser.

One past one, enter the post-obit IP addresses into the URL bar: 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1, 192.168.2.1, x.0.i.i, 10.0.0.ane, 10.10.i.i.

If you see a login window or a welcome page, yous're in luck and can processed to the next chapter of this article. If you're unable to access your router using any of the IP addresses listed to a higher place, endeavour the adjacent method:

Click the Windows logo located on the left side of the taskbar.

Choose Network & Internet.

Click View your network backdrop.

Curlicue down and look for "Default gateway."

The number next to information technology is your router's IP accost.

Type the address into the URL bar of your favorite web browser.

If you see a login window or a welcome page, you lot've successfully accessed your router.

The next footstep is to log in every bit administrator. If you haven't changed your router'southward admin countersign, there's a skilful run a risk that "admin" volition piece of work. If it doesn't, expect at the information sticker on the bottom or back of the router. Router manufacturers sometimes print the default username and password on it.

If you're all the same unable to access your router, nosotros recommend y'all long-printing the reset button on its back and try again. Should even this neglect to grant you admission to your router's admin interface, endeavour searching for help online. At that place are many websites, such as this i, that list routers and corresponding admin login information.

How to Alter Your Router's Login Information

The first affair yous should do afterwards gaining admission to your router is change the default password to something more secure. If you were to go out the default password as it is, someone else could just walk up to your router and mess with its settings. The person could, for example, disable your wireless security and capture your personal data without you knowing well-nigh information technology.

To change your router's password:

Enter your router's IP accost into your favorite web browser.

Select Change Router Password or a similar option.

Remember that a strong password is at least eight characters long and consists of a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters.

How to Change Router IP Address

Before we explicate how to modify router IP address, we want to clarify the difference between public and local IP address.

As the name suggests, a public IP address is the accost computers and servers outside your network meet when y'all connect to them. Information technology's likewise the address you encounter when you visit a website like What Is My IP?, which is a leader in providing IP address lookup services.

Your public IP address is assigned to you by your internet service provider, and yous typically take no control over it. Some ISPs provide static IP addresses to their customers, merely the chances are that you take a dynamic IP address that changes from fourth dimension to time on its own or afterward a asking.

Your local IP address, on the other hand, is the address assigned to your router and all other devices backside it, and you can modify it equally you lot come across fit. This is how to practise information technology on D-Link routers, and routers from other manufacturers won't be much unlike.

Enter your router's IP address into your favorite web browser.

Type in the router'southward new IP address under Router Settings.

After you lot've inverse your router'southward IP accost, you will no longer be able to access it using the old address. This is something to remember as it could throw you off the next time yous make up one's mind to change your router's settings.

How to Modify Your SSID

SSID (Service Set up Identifier) is actually just a fancy term for network name. Equally you're probably aware of, all Wi-Fi networks are uniquely identified past a sequence of characters. If you lot've never inverse your wireless router settings before, the chances are that your Wi-Fi has a very generic name. To change it to something more memorable, there are a couple of steps y'all must go through:

Enter your router's IP address into your favorite spider web browser.

Cull Wireless Settings.

Salvage the new settings and look for your router to restart.

When choosing a name for your Wi-Fi network, stay away from anything that might be interpreted as offensive. We also recommend you don't endeavor to make it seem equally if your network is a public hotspot. Using a false name for your Wi-Fi really doesn't do annihilation for your privacy and security, but it tin dramatically slow downwardly your download and upload speeds.

How to Configure Multi-SSID and Invitee Wi-Fi

Many modern wireless routers can broadcast multiple admission points at the same time. Typically, 1 accessed bespeak is used to connect known devices to the network, and a completely separate access betoken is created for guests. The main benefit is that you don't need to share your main Wi-Fi password with strangers and hope they won't publish it anywhere.

To create a guest Wi-Fi with a Netgear router, follow the instructions below. The process should be very like for routers from other manufacturers.

Enter your router'south IP address into your favorite web browser.

Enter the router user proper name and countersign.

Ensure that the Enable SSID Broadcast check box selected.

Requite the guest network name.

Select a security option.

Click the Apply push button to salve your settings.

How to Change the Wireless Aqueduct and Band

Wireless routers back up different 802.11 standards, which provide several singled-out radio frequency ranges, also called bands, for use in Wi-Fi communications, with each ring beingness split into multiple channels.

If yous take a newer router, the chances are that it supports the ii.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Because the v GHz band is less mutual than the two.four GHz band, it tends to be less crowded, making it a keen choice for densely populated urban areas where Wi-Fi networks are present in massive concentrations.

When it comes to choosing the most suitable Wi-Fi channel, a network analyzer such as NetSpot can provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision.

Download and install NetSpot.

Launch the awarding and activate Discover mode.

Await a curt while for NetSpot to collect information about surrounding Wi-Fi networks and present wireless data as an interactive tabular array.

Click the "Channels 2.iv GHz" header to see where Wi-Fi channels are overlapping.

Look for the channel with the least number of networks present on it.

If you lot're selecting a channel in the two.4 GHz band, try to choose the channel 1, 6, or 11. These are and then-called non-overlapping channels, which means they don't overlap with one another.

How to Prepare Up Parental Controls

Parental controls are features that assistance you reduce the risk of your child beingness exposed to inappropriate content online. These controls can exist divided into two broad categories: filtering and monitoring. With filtering, y'all can limit access to historic period inappropriate content and place time-limits on usage. Monitoring allows yous to see exactly what your child is doing online, so yous can intervene in time if y'all sense that information technology might exist in danger.

Parental controls are typically located under router settings, but they may also have their own category. Because children will become to a higher place and across to circumvent whatsoever content restrictions you put in place to protect them, information technology's highly recommended to fix a PIN for parental controls.

How to Activate Remote Management

If you have a capable router, you don't fifty-fifty need to be at home to monitor its activity. Thanks to remote management functionality, y'all can monitor it from anywhere using your smartphone or estimator.

To admission your router from an outside network:

Enter your router's admin panel.

Become to settings and look for Remote Direction.

Turn on Remote Management and save your settings.

The reason why remote management is turned off past default is that it represents a certain security take a chance. Hackers might effort to break your router password and utilise remote management to compromise your security. That'southward why we recommend y'all turn remote management off when you know you won't be using information technology for a while.

How to Run across Who Is Connected to My Router

Have y'all noticed that your cyberspace speeds fluctuate upwards and down regardless of your activity? There'southward a adventure that someone else besides you is connected to your router and stealing your bandwidth. To find out if that's really the instance, you need to go to your router's administrative panel:

Find out your router'southward IP address.

Type in that IP accost in a browser window.

Look for an option chosen "My Network" or "Fastened Devices" or something similar.

If yous run into a device that shouldn't exist connected to your router, kick information technology off your network and ban its MAC address.

Conclusion

Routers are intricate machines with a plethora of different settings that you can play with and customize to your liking. In this article, nosotros've explained how to access router and alter router settings, including wireless router settings. Of class, it's incommunicable for us to talk almost all router settings, just the crucial ones are covered in this commodity.