How to change your IP address

Your IP address is assigned by someone else: your internet provider for the public one, your router for the private one. Changing it means either getting a different assignment from them or routing your traffic through a server that has its own. Each method does something different, takes a different amount of time, and changes a different amount of what websites see. This guide covers all 7, what to expect from each, and how to confirm the change actually happened.

First, know which address you are changing

Most "change my IP" requests are about the public address, the one websites see. It belongs to your provider's pool, and only a provider or a relay server can give you a different one. The private address, such as 192.168.1.23, belongs to your own network and is trivial to change but invisible to the internet. If you are not sure which one you have, the walkthrough on finding your IP address shows both on every platform; note the public one from the homepage before you start so that you can compare afterwards.

The 7 methods compared

Method	Changes	New address comes from	Time	Cost	Location and type
Reconnect or restart the modem	Public	Your provider's pool	Seconds to hours	Free	Same city, same residential type
Router MAC change	Public	Your provider's pool	Minutes	Free	Same city, same type
Mobile data	Public	Your carrier's pool	Seconds	Free	Same country, mobile type
VPN	Public, for all traffic	The VPN server	Seconds	Usually paid	Any country, datacenter or VPN type
Proxy	Public, for one app or browser	The proxy server	Seconds	Usually paid	Any country, depends on the proxy
Tor	Public, for the Tor Browser	A Tor exit relay	Seconds	Free	Random country, Tor exit type
Ask the ISP	Public	Your provider's pool	Days	Free or a monthly fee	Same city, residential

1. Reconnect, or restart the modem

Consumer connections use dynamic addresses leased for a period. Ending the connection and starting it again asks for a new lease, and on many providers that means a new address.

1. Turn off the modem or router at the power switch, or unplug it.
2. Wait. 30 seconds is enough to force a new session; several hours or overnight is what it takes if the provider holds the old lease for you.
3. Power it back on and check the homepage.

Whether this works depends on the provider. Connections that authenticate each session, common on DSL and fiber lines in many countries, usually get a fresh address every time. Cable and some fiber providers tie the lease to the modem's hardware address and return the same IP for days or weeks, which is where the next method comes in. Whatever address you get, it is from the same pool: same provider, same city, same residential IP classification. That is what you want if the goal is simply a different number, for example because the current one is on a blocklist.

2. Change the router's WAN MAC address

Providers that bind the lease to a hardware address will issue a new one when they see a new hardware address.

1. Log in to the router's admin page.
2. Find the internet or WAN settings and the option called MAC clone, MAC address or Spoof MAC.
3. Change the last 2 digits, save, and let the router reconnect.

Some providers register the modem's MAC on the account and will refuse an unknown one; if the connection does not come back, restore the original address. On a combined modem-router from the provider the option may not exist at all.

3. Switch to mobile data

The quickest change on a phone: turn airplane mode on, wait 10 seconds, turn it off. Carriers assign addresses from a shared pool on each attach, and the public address you get after reconnecting is usually different. Because the address passes through carrier-grade NAT it is shared with many other subscribers at the same time, which is also why sites rarely block mobile addresses outright.

Tethering a laptop to the phone gives the laptop the same address. This is the simplest way to put a computer on a mobile address for a moment, at the price of speed and data allowance.

4. Use a VPN

A VPN client encrypts all of your device's traffic and sends it to a server operated by the VPN provider; websites see that server's address. It is the easiest way to appear in a different country and the most complete, because it covers every application on the device rather than one browser.

Two things to understand before relying on it:

• The type changes. VPN servers live in datacenters, so your address becomes a datacenter IP, and often one that detection systems have on file as a VPN provider's. Reading content works everywhere; logging in to accounts and making payments draws more scrutiny than from home.
• The tunnel can leak. WebRTC, DNS and IPv6 can each expose your real address around the tunnel. After connecting, run the IP leak test: all 4 rows should show the VPN's address or nothing. A VPN that passes it has changed your address; one that fails it has only changed part of it.

5. Use a proxy

A proxy changes the address for whatever you point at it: one browser, one profile, one application. Everything else on the device keeps your real address. Proxies come in the 3 network types, residential, mobile and datacenter, and the type determines how websites treat the address exactly as it would for a real connection. A proxy is the right tool when you need different addresses for different browser profiles, or a specific type of address, and the wrong tool for hiding the whole device.

The same leak rules apply, more so: browser proxies carry only the connections the browser hands them, so WebRTC over UDP and DNS lookups bypass them unless the browser is configured otherwise. The pre-login checklist in how to check a proxy is working covers every setting.

6. Use Tor

Tor Browser routes traffic through 3 volunteer relays and exits from a relay anywhere in the world. It is free, it changes your address on every circuit, and it is the strongest anonymity option on this list. It is also the most recognizable: the exit relays are published, so every site that cares knows it is talking to a Tor exit node. Expect captchas, blocked logins and slow pages. Tor is for reading and for anonymity, not for accounts that expect a consistent identity.

7. Ask your provider

Your provider controls the pool, and support can do 2 things.

• Reset the lease so that you get a new dynamic address, useful when restarting did not work.
• Assign a static address, usually as a paid option on home plans. A static address never changes, which is what you want for running a server or for remote access, and the opposite of what you want for privacy.

If the reason you want a new address is that the current one is placed in the wrong city by location databases, a new address from the same pool will probably be placed there too. In that case the fix is a correction with the database providers, which the glossary entry on IP geolocation explains, rather than a new address.

Changing the private address

The private address only matters inside your own network, for port forwarding, printers and local servers. Three ways to change it:

• Renew the lease. Windows: ipconfig /release then ipconfig /renew in a terminal. macOS: System Settings > Network > your connection > Details… > TCP/IP > Renew DHCP Lease. Linux: sudo dhclient -r && sudo dhclient, or disconnect and reconnect in NetworkManager.
• Set a static address on the device, in the same TCP/IP settings, choosing an address outside the router's DHCP range so that nothing else is handed the same one.
• Create a DHCP reservation in the router, which pins a chosen address to the device's hardware address. This is the cleanest option because the device stays on automatic configuration and still gets the same address every time.

Realistic expectations

A new address changes less than people hope.

• From the same provider, it changes only the number. City, provider, network type and time zone stay the same. A site that recognized your network will recognize it again.
• Through a relay, it changes the location and the type. You appear elsewhere, but as a datacenter, VPN or Tor address unless the relay is residential or mobile, and the location only holds if nothing leaks.
• It does not change your browser. Cookies, local storage and the browser fingerprint are unaffected, and sites that tied a decision to them will make the same decision on the new address.
• It does not clean a reputation. Listings follow the address, so a fresh address can arrive with someone else's history. Run it through the IP checker before assuming it is clean, and through the blacklist check if you send mail.
• It does not lift account-level actions. A ban on an account, a device or a payment method is not an IP ban.

Changing your address is legal almost everywhere, but using the change to evade a ban, breach a site's terms or commit fraud is not, and that is governed by the site's rules and local law rather than by the method.

Confirm the change

Open the homepage again and compare the address with the one you noted at the start. Then run the leak test if you used a VPN or proxy, and the IP checker for the type and reputation of the new address. For an address that is not your own, the IP lookup shows the same profile. Only when the address, the leak rows and the type all say what you intended has the change really happened.