Differences between a public and internal IP address
The public IP address of your network is a unique number assigned by GFiber. All incoming and outgoing traffic (such as email, texts, web searches, and so on) uses that externally facing public IP address.
The internal (private) IP address of a device on your network is a unique number that is assigned by your router when that device connects to your GFiber home network. All devices on your network — including those wired to the router and those connected wirelessly — are assigned a local IP address by the router.
The router assigns IP addresses in numerical order (for example, 192.168.1.2, 192.168.1.3, and so on) and reassigns IP addresses after they are released by devices that are turned off or leave the area covered by the network. (So the IP address of a particular device is not necessarily the same every time it connects.)
Generally, you do not need to know the IP address of a device. However, you can determine the IP address of any device on your network or your public IP address, if you’d like to do so. You might need your device’s internal IP address if you’re applying advanced settings for a particular device. And you might need your network’s public IP address if you’re troubleshooting or accessing your home network while you’re away.
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Open a web browser (such as Chrome, Firefox, or any browser of your choice).
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Visit one of the following websites:
- Either of these web pages will detect and display the public IP address of your network.
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Open a web browser (such as Chrome, Firefox, or any browser of your choice).
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Sign into your GFiber account with your email and password. Please note that the email addresses you use to sign in to your Google account and your GFiber account may be different.
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Select the Network tab, then click Devices to view devices that are or have been on your network.
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Select the device for which you wish to find the local IP address.
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The details about the selected device are shown.
Please note that these are advanced settings – you won't need to view or change these settings for typical use of your network.
You can view your router’s local DHCP IP range by clicking the Network section > Edit network > Advanced network settings, then selecting the Addresses tab. Your router’s local IPv4 address, subnet mask, and DHCP start and end addresses are shown.
You can also use the Google Fiber app to look up a GFiber device’s internal IP address.