Learn the Purpose of the 192.168.1.254 Router IP Address

Router and modem default IP addresses

Wireless router
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by Bradley Mitchell
An MIT graduate who brings years of technical experience to articles on SEO, computers, and wireless networking.
Updated November 12, 2018

The IP address 192.168.1.254 is the default private IP address for some home broadband routers and broadband modems. 

Common routers or modems that use this IP include 2Wire, Aztech, Billion, Motorola, Netopia, SparkLAN, Thomson, and Westell modems for CenturyLink.

About Private IP Addresses

192.168.1.254 is a private IP address, one of a block of addresses reserved for private networks. This means that a device within this private network cannot be accessed directly from the internet using this private IP, but that any device on a local network can connect to any other device also on that network.

While the router itself has the private IP of 192.168.1.254, it assigns any devices in its network a different, private IP address. All IP addresses on a network should have a unique address within that network to avoid IP address conflicts. Other common private IP addresses used by modems and routers are 192.168.1.100 and 192.168.1.101.

Accessing the Router's Admin Panel

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The manufacturer sets a router's IP address at the factory, but you can change it at any time using its administrative interface. Entering http://192.168.1.254 (not www.192.168.1.254) into a web browser address bar provides access to your router's console, where you can change the router's IP address as well as configure several other options.

If you don't know your router's IP address, you can locate it using a command prompt:

  1. Press Windows-X to open the Power Users menu.

    If you don't see Command Prompt in the Power User Menu, your computer may be configured instead to show Windows PowerShell. If that's the case, type cmd in the search bar and then select Command Prompt from the search results that appear. Then skip to Step 3 below.

  2. Click Command Prompt (or type cmd in the search bar then click Command Prompt).

    Screenshot of Command Prompt in Search results from Windows 10

  3. Enter ipconfig to display a list of all your computer's connections.

  4. Find Default Gateway under the Local Area Connection section.

    Screenshot of Windows command prompt app showing Default Gateway of 10.0.1.1

    Your active network connection may not be called Local Area Connection. If you don't see that in your ipconfig results, scroll through what did come up and look for any connection with a Default Gateway.

  5. The IP address you see here is your router's IP address.

Default Usernames and Passwords

All routers are shipped with default usernames and passwords. The user/pass combinations are fairly standard for each manufacturer. These are almost always identified by a sticker on the hardware itself. The most common are:

2Wire: Username: blank, Password: blank

Aztech: Username: "admin", "user", or blank, Password: "admin", "user", "password", or blank

Billion: Username: "admin" or "admin", Password: "admin" or "password"

Motorola: Username: "admin" or blank, Password: "password", "motorola", "admin", "router", or blank

Netopia: Username: "admin", Password: "1234", "admin", "password" or blank

SparkLAN: Username: blank, Password: blank

Thomson: Username: blank, Password: "admin" or "password"

Westell: Username: "admin" or blank, Password: "password", "admin", or blank

After you have access to your router's administrative console, you can configure the router in several ways. Be sure to set a secure username/password combination. Without that, anyone can access your router's panel and change its settings without your knowledge.

Routers usually allow users to change other settings, including the IP addresses they assign to devices on the network.