All of us hail the internet! Some of us access it through data connections in our mobiles and others through routers/modems. To identify every router/ modem in that network, it is assigned an IP address. IP addresses are assigned and registered by IANA (Internet Assigned Network Authority).

Background Check

IP addresses are categorized into five classes namely A, B, C, D and E. D is for broadcasting and E class addresses are reserved for special purposes. Class A and B are used by larger networks and C class addresses are used by smaller networks as it contains lesser Host IDs. But sometimes the host available are not enough for companies, so network is further divided into subnets. IP addresses ranging from

0.0.0 –              10.255.255.255
16.0.0 –              172.31.255.255
168.0.0 –              192.168.255.255
are reserved for private networks. Since you are accessing the internet through modem/router, your network is a private one. Generally, 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255 range is assigned to home networks.

Admin Login

192.168.1.1 is admin login for many brands. It means that the stated IP is the main login page for configuring the router/modem. 192.168.1.0 is used to identify the network, therefore it cannot be used. 192.168.1.1 is used for the admin login. Remaining addresses are available as Host IDs, 65536 addresses to be precise. 192.168.1.1 is used by the following brands as admin page:

Certain models of Linksys routers/modems
Alcatel modems
Westell DSL modems
3Com routers/modems
Billion routers/modems
Netopia Cayman Gateways
One limitation of 192.168.1.1 is that it can be utilized by networks with IPv4 version. It isn’t supported by IPv6.

Steps to Configuration:

Before we begin, please ensure that values set for subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 only. And IP address of the router should be same as that of the default gateway. To configure your router, type the IP address (https://192.168.1.1) in the address bar of your browser. A window will pop up with title “Authentication Required” and will ask for username and password. Enter your password and username and new window will open displaying the options available to you.

Once you have accessed your device you can perform a lot of settings such as network management, protocol settings, PHCP client, DSL to IP address blocking, virtual routing, WLAN Settings and many more adjustments. All these features are available, it doesn’t matter if you are using a wired or a wireless device.  Go ahead, Explore!