Change Your Router's IP Address

The most common reason to change your router's gateway IP is a subnet conflict with a corporate VPN. When your home network and your employer's VPN use the same IP range, connecting the VPN breaks local network access or internet routing. A two-minute change in your router's LAN settings eliminates the conflict permanently.

Why VPN Subnet Conflicts Happen

Every router ships with a default local subnet. The overwhelming majority of consumer routers default to either 192.168.0.0/24 (gateway 192.168.0.1) or 192.168.1.0/24 (gateway 192.168.1.1). Corporate VPNs frequently use these exact same ranges for internal networks, because the same router manufacturers use these defaults in offices too.

When you connect a VPN, your device adds routes for the corporate subnets. If the corporate subnet overlaps with your home subnet (both use 192.168.1.0/24), your operating system cannot determine whether 192.168.1.x addresses should go through the VPN tunnel (to reach corporate devices) or stay local (to reach your home devices). The result is that local devices become unreachable, or the VPN itself cannot establish a stable connection.

The fix is permanent and simple: change your home router to use a subnet that corporate VPNs almost never touch, like 10.0.0.0/24 or 172.16.0.0/24.

Choosing a New Subnet

Three private IP ranges are defined for home and internal use:

• 10.0.0.0/8 — 16.7 million addresses. Corporate networks use portions of this range, but specific /24 blocks like 10.0.0.0/24 or 10.10.0.0/24 are less likely to conflict than the 192.168.x.x space.
• 172.16.0.0/12 — covers 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255. Rarely used by consumer equipment defaults, making it a good conflict-free choice.
• 192.168.0.0/16 — the most common home router range. Avoid 192.168.0.x and 192.168.1.x. If your corporate VPN is known to use specific 192.168.x.x ranges, consult your IT team for which ranges to avoid.

Recommended choices for home use: 10.0.0.1/24, 10.10.0.1/24, or 172.16.0.1/24. Any of these will resolve conflicts with the vast majority of corporate VPN configurations.

How to Change the LAN IP

The setting is in your router's LAN configuration section. Paths by brand:

• ASUS: LAN → LAN IP → IP Address → change to 10.0.0.1 → Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0 → Apply
• TP-Link: Advanced → Network → LAN → IP Address → change to 10.0.0.1 → Save
• Netgear: Advanced → Setup → LAN Setup → IP Address → change to 10.0.0.1 → Apply
• Eero: App → Settings → Network Settings → Advanced → DHCP & NAT → enter the new subnet
• Ubiquiti UniFi: Settings → Networks → Default → Gateway IP/Subnet → update to 10.0.0.1/24

After saving, the router applies the change and briefly drops all connections. Your devices will automatically request new DHCP leases in the new subnet. Access the admin panel at the new IP address (e.g., http://10.0.0.1) after reconnecting.

Update the DHCP Pool

The DHCP address pool must be in the same subnet as the new gateway. When you change the gateway IP, check that the DHCP pool is updated to match. If the gateway is 10.0.0.1 with a /24 subnet, valid DHCP addresses are 10.0.0.2 through 10.0.0.254. A typical pool configuration: start address 10.0.0.100, end address 10.0.0.200, leaving the lower range for static reservations.

Most routers update the DHCP pool automatically when you change the LAN IP. Verify the pool settings before saving the change — if the pool still shows 192.168.1.x addresses after the gateway change, update it manually.

Update DHCP Reservations

Any DHCP reservations you have set up (for a NAS, printer, or server) will reference IPs in the old subnet. After changing the subnet, update each reservation to use the equivalent address in the new subnet. For example, a reservation for 192.168.1.50 becomes 10.0.0.50 after moving to the 10.0.0.0/24 subnet.

If you have port forwarding rules that reference internal IP addresses, update those too. Forwarding rules pointing at 192.168.1.x addresses will not work after the subnet change.

Verify the Fix

After the change, confirm that:

• Your devices reconnect and receive IPs in the new subnet (run ipconfig on Windows or ifconfig / ip addr on Mac/Linux)
• Internet access works normally without the VPN
• Connecting the corporate VPN no longer disrupts access to local devices
• DHCP reservations and port forwarding rules have been updated