How do I change my public IP address?

Power off your router for several minutes and check again — on many ISPs the DHCP lease expires or the session resets and you come back with a new address. On mobile, toggling airplane mode usually gets a new one immediately. If the address never changes, your ISP pins it and you'd need to ask them (or use a VPN for an instant different address).

Why didn't my IP change after restarting the router?

Your ISP re-issued the same lease — common when the router reconnects quickly or the ISP maps addresses to your modem's hardware ID. Try a longer power-off (hours, or overnight). Some ISPs effectively never rotate; that's their assignment policy, not a fault.

How do I change my local (192.168.x.x) IP?

That's a different address entirely — release and renew the DHCP lease (ipconfig /release then /renew on Windows, or reconnect the interface), or set a static LAN address in the router. Changing it has no effect on the public IP websites see.

Does changing my IP make me anonymous?

No. It's rotation, not concealment — the new address still belongs to your ISP and geolocates the same. And cookies, logins and fingerprints re-identify you immediately. For hiding rather than changing, that's a VPN or Tor.

How to change your IP address

On most home connections you can get a new public IP by making your ISP re-assign the lease — usually a router power-cycle with a real pause — and on mobile it's as easy as airplane mode. What you can't control is the ISP's policy: some rotate on every reconnect, some pin the address for months, and no amount of rebooting argues with that. Here's every method in escalating order, why each works, and the check that tells you whether it did.

Maintained by the ipconfig.io team · Reviewed 1 July 2026

First: record the before

bash

curl ipconfig.io

Save the answer — every method below is judged by whether this changes. (If you're wondering why it isn't permanent in the first place: static vs dynamic explains the lease model.)

The methods, in escalating order

1. Toggle the connection (mobile: this is the whole trick). Phones get a fresh address from the carrier's pool on nearly every data reconnect — airplane mode on, wait ten seconds, off. Done.

2. Power-cycle the router — with a real pause. A quick reboot often reconnects fast enough that the ISP hands back the same lease. Unplug it and wait — minutes at minimum, and if that fails, hours or overnight, which lets the lease actually expire. Reconnection with an expired lease frequently draws a new address from the pool.

3. Force a WAN release/renew. Router admin pages usually have a Release/Renew under the WAN or Internet section — the deliberate version of method 2. (On the machine itself, ipconfig /release && /renew — that renews your private LAN address, which only matters for local problems; websites never saw it.)

4. Change the identity the ISP keys on. Some ISPs map the lease to your equipment's MAC address; routers with a "MAC clone" setting can present a new one, drawing a genuinely new lease. Setup-specific, but it's the reliable trick where reboots keep returning the same address.

5. Ask the ISP. Support can force a re-assignment; a modem re-provision often does it as a side effect. If you're behind CGNAT, this is also where you'd learn that — the "your" in "your IP" was already plural.

6. Use a VPN — the instant, temporary version. Connecting swaps the visible address immediately and reverses on disconnect. Different tool though: rotation changes which ISP address you hold; a VPN changes whose address the world sees.

Then verify: curl ipconfig.io again. New number = success. Same number = the ISP re-issued your lease; escalate a step.

What changing it does — and doesn't — get you

A new address shakes off per-IP state: a rate limit, a "too many requests" wall, a stale geolocation record, a stranger's bad reputation inherited through CGNAT. It does not make you anonymous — the new address still names your ISP and city, and cookies, logins and fingerprints reconnect the dots in one page load. One caution worth stating plainly: cycling addresses to evade a ban a service imposed on you tends to violate its terms and rarely ends well — the durable fixes for privacy are hiding, not rotating.

Frequently asked questions

How do I change my public IP? Mobile: airplane-mode toggle. Home: power off the router long enough for the lease to lapse; escalate to WAN release/renew, MAC clone, or the ISP.

Router restart didn't change it? Same lease re-issued — wait longer between unplug and reconnect, or change the MAC the ISP keys on.

And the 192.168.x.x one? DHCP release/renew or router settings — local only; the internet never sees it.

Does a new IP make me anonymous? No — same ISP, same city, same cookies. That's rotation, not hiding.

Next steps

Static vs dynamic IP addresses — the lease mechanics behind every method here.
How to hide your IP — when the goal is concealment, not a fresh lease.
Monitor your public IP for changes — catch the rotations you didn't ask for.

How to change your IP address ​

First: record the before ​

The methods, in escalating order ​

What changing it does — and doesn't — get you ​

Frequently asked questions ​