192.168.1.1
192.168.1.1 is an IP address that is within the private IP address range: 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255
These IP addresses are special, because they can be used many times over on different networks. In other words, two people can have 192.168.0.0/16 networks at the same time.
The downside is that private IP address ranges are considered non-routable. What does that mean? that private IP addresses cannot communicate on the Internet without the use of Network Address Translation (NAT).
There are three private IP address ranges defined by RFC 1918:
- 10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255
- 172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255
- 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255
When 192.168.1.1 is used as a Default IP Address
Some network devices, use 192.168.1.1 as their default IP address. For example: LinkSys routers.
Since two devices on a network cannot share one IP address, this can create difficulties. One person can have one device on the network at the IP address 192.168.1.1 and another person can have a different device on another network at the IP address 192.168.1.1, but neither of them can have two devices on the same network if both use the 192.168.1.1 IP address.
So, when you add a new device to your network, make sure that its default IP address is not already in use.
The Internet RFC’s define 192.168.1.1
RFC 1918 officially defines 192.168.1.1 in: RFC 1918: Address Allocation for Private Internets:
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) has reserved the following three blocks of the IP address space for private internets:
- 10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255 (10/8 prefix)
- 172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255 (172.16/12 prefix)
- 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix)
Other Private IP Addresses in Common Use
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