192.168.1.2 is a Common Home Network IP Address

192.168.1.2 is a private IP address that is the default for certain models of home broadband routers typically sold outside of the United States. It is also frequently assigned to individual devices within a home network when a router has an IP address of  192.168.1.1. As a private IP address, 192.168.1.2 does not need to be unique across the entire internet, but only within its own local network.


While this IP address is set as default by the manufacturer for some routers, any router or computer on a local network can be set to use 192.168.1.2.

How Private IP Addresses Work

There is no special meaning or value to individual private IP addresses — these are simply designated as "private" by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), the global organization that manages IP addresses. A private IP address is used on a private network only, and cannot be accessed from the internet, but only by devices on the private network itself. This is why modems and routers can operate easily using the same, default, private IP address. To access a router from the internet, you must use the router's public IP address.

The range of addresses reserved by IANA for use on private networks is in the range of 10.0.x.x, 172.16.x.x and 192.168.x.x.

Using 192.168.1.2 to Connect to a Router

If a router is using address 192.168.1.2 on the local network, you can log into its administrative console by entering its IP address into a web browser's URL address bar:

http://192.168.1.2/

The router then will prompt for an administrator username and password. All routers are configured with default usernames and passwords by the manufacturer. The most common default usernames are "admin", "1234" or none.  Similarly, the most common passwords are "admin", "1234" or none, along with "user".


The default username/password combination is usually stamped on the bottom of the router.

It is usually not necessary to access the router's administrative console, but might be useful if you are having connection problems.


Why is 192.168.1.2 So Common?


Manufacturers of routers and access points must use an IP address within the private range. Early on, mainstream broadband router manufacturers like Linksys and Netgear chose the 192.168.1.x as their default. Although this private range technically begins at 192.168.0.0, most people think of a number sequence as starting from one rather than from zero, making 192.168.1.1 the most logical choice for the beginning of a home network address range.

With the router assigned this first address, it then assigns addresses to each device on its network. The IP 192.168.1.2 thus became the most common initial assignment.

A networked device does not gain improved performance or better security from its IP address, whether it is 192.168.1.2, 192.168.1.3 or any other private address.


Assigning 192.168.1.2 to a Device

Most networks assign private IP addresses dynamically using DHCP. This means that a device's IP address can change or be reassigned to a different device.

Attempting to assign this address manually (a process called "fixed" or "static" address assignment) is also possible but can result in connection issues if the network's router is not configured accordingly.

Here's how IP assignment works:

Each local router that uses DHCP is configured with a range of private addresses it can allocate to clients.

On a home router with 192.168.1.1 as its default local address, the default set of client addresses ranges from 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254. Most routers will assign IP addresses to network devices starting at the beginning of the range, so you will rarely see an IP address on your network in the higher ranges.

A router will generally not check whether 192.168.1.2 (or any other address in this range) has already been assigned to a client manually before assigning it to a client automatically. This can cause an IP address conflict in which two devices on the same local network attempt to use the same one IP address.

An IP address conflict will disrupt the network communication of both devices.

For these reasons, it's usually recommended that you allow your router to control the assignment of IP addresses within your home network.