Hey there! So I got a new home network, and I can access the network settings to adjust everything such as network name, password, firewall, etc. through the IP address 192.168.0.1. Back when I had some basic networking classes, I was told this was essentially the IP of the router usually.
What I don’t understand is this: I can also see the device list, and there is one called “LocalHost” under IP 192.168.0.218. What exactly IS this? Does the router have two IPs? If it helps, my router is both a router and modem in one.
At some point, one of the devices on your network likely got the name ‘localhost,’ which should not normally be assigned as a hostname. Time to figure out what device it is by cross-checking your device list with their IPs.
No router has two gateway IPs. 192.168.0.1 is indeed your router IP (as it is for most default setups). It’s possible that during configuration, this IP was assigned to a device (like your PC or phone), and for some reason, it got labeled ‘localhost.’ Is the device online? Can you ping it? What’s the IP of the device you used to set up the router?
Localhost address ranges from 127.0.0.0 to 127.255.255.255 and is reserved for internal device communication, not something seen on LAN devices. If your device at 192.168.0.218 is being labeled as ‘localhost,’ it’s likely an improper labeling issue or some LAN protocol defaulting to that name for the device. This doesn’t usually indicate a problem, just a mislabeling.
Try using a tool like ‘Advanced IP Scanner’ (free tool) to scan your network. It will give you more details about the devices connected, which might help you identify what ‘localhost’ actually is. It’s handy for figuring out IP addresses and device names on your network.