Guide
How to change your IP address
Practical ways to get a new IP address — rebooting your router, switching to mobile data, using a VPN or proxy — and which tricks do not actually work.
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Restart your router
The classic fix: unplug your router (and modem, if separate) for 30–60 seconds and power it back on. When it reconnects, your ISP re-negotiates a DHCP lease — often (not always) handing out a different address.
Two caveats. First, some ISPs pin addresses to your router's MAC address, so a reboot quietly returns the same one. Second, if your lease is not yet expired the provider may keep the same address for up to 12–24 hours. A change usually means one of: your lease expired naturally, the ISP's pool is large, or you asked them to re-issue it.
Switch networks or ask your carrier
The most reliable free method is to change networks entirely: toggle airplane mode on and off, or flip a phone to mobile data and run a check — you are now behind your carrier's address, not your home router's. Turning your phone into a hotspot makes your laptop inherit the carrier's IP too.
If you genuinely need a different residential address on the same line, contact your ISP's support and ask them to re-issue the dynamic address; many will do it within an hour.
VPN and proxy — instant change
A VPN is the fastest option: connect and your visible IP becomes the provider's server address in seconds, in whatever country you choose the server. A proxy does the same for a single app or browser profile.
The trade-off is that you swap a residential address for a datacentre IP — which is good for privacy but the kind of address websites flag with CAPTCHAs and streaming blocks. Compare the verdicts before and after on the checker.
What does NOT change your IP
| Common trick | Why it fails |
|---|---|
| Incognito / private window | Only isolates local cookies and history — the IP is unchanged. |
| Clearing cookies or browsing data | None of it is stored at the IP level. |
| Changing or flushing DNS | DNS decides what an address a name maps to; it does not change which address you send from. |
| Restarting the browser or phone | The address is assigned at the router/carrier level, above your device. |
The CGNAT catch
If you are behind carrier-grade NAT, rebooting your router will not change your public IP at all — your router's "public" address is a shared carrier allocation, and only the carrier re-shuffles it. On a CGNAT line, your levers are mobile data, a VPN, or asking the ISP for a unique IPv4 or IPv6.
Verify, don't guess: run the checker before and after any attempt. The address, the ISP name and the country must all differ for the change to be real — and the IPv6 row must differ too, or you still "leak" your old identity over IPv6.
Frequently asked questions
How long until my IP changes after rebooting the router?
Sometimes instantly, sometimes not for 12–24 hours. It depends on your ISP's DHCP lease behaviour and whether it pins addresses to your router's MAC address.
Will a VPN change my location too?
Yes — a VPN connects you to a server in the country you pick, so sites see that location. That is also why geo-blocked streaming and some fraud systems react to VPNs.
Why is my new IP in a different city than where I live?
ISPs draw addresses from regional pools. A re-issued address is usually still in your area, but the edge of the pool can mean a nearby (or occasionally distant) city in the geolocation data.
Keep reading
- What is an IP address?
- Public vs private IP addresses
- IPv4 vs IPv6
- How to hide your IP address
- How to check your IP address on a phone
- What is CGNAT?
- Why does my IP address keep changing?
- How to find a website's IP address
- What is a datacenter IP?
- IPv6 privacy extensions
- What is an ASN?
- How IP geolocation works
- What is a local IP address?
- Why am I getting blocked or stuck on CAPTCHAs?
- What is IP reputation?
- How websites detect VPNs and proxies
- What is a DNS leak?
- What is a WebRTC leak?
- Proxy vs VPN
- How to check if your VPN actually works
- Static vs dynamic public IP
- How to find out who owns an IP address
- IPv6 in 2026
- Check my public IP address
Check any other IP address
Investigating a suspicious login, a spam email header or a server log entry? Run any IPv4 or IPv6 address through the same geolocation and proxy checks.