How To Turn Off WiFi Router From Phone - Easy 3 Steps In 2022 Mesh Wifi Hub

For your information: When you buy through links on Mesh Wifi Hub, we may earn a commission.

In today’s society, this is a frequent criteria to meet. We often use smaller devices that are unable to connect to a network through a LAN line; thus, how can we access the router’s settings and switch it off fully, or at the very least turn off the Wi-Fi, from a portable device that can only connect wirelessly, such as a smartphone?

As it turns out, the procedure is fairly simple, and it can be completed through Wi-Fi from any device as long as it is linked to the router’s wireless network.

Here are the quick steps:

Connect the phone to your router’s Wi-Fi
Type your router’s IP address into any browser address bar
IP is often 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.254
Type in the admin/password
Check the back of the router for login details
Find settings to turn off power/wireless/internet
You may need to disable each Wi-Fi band separately

In addition, it should be noted that you may not always be able to totally switch off the router from inside the configuration menus (it varies with each router model what you can and cannot do remotely). However, at the absolute least, you should be able to turn off the Wi-Fi, which is likely what the majority of customers are looking for when they ask this issue.

Let’s go through the procedure in greater depth, step by step, to see how it works.

The first step is to locate the login information for your router. If you have physical access to your router, this is simple; just look for a sticker on the back of the device that has all of the necessary login information.

In this case, the format should be something like this:

The wireless name/SSID and password shown at the top of the page are used to connect to the router’s Wi-Fi network. If you haven’t already, connect to the router’s network. You’ll need to be connected to the router’s network in order to log in.

The router login IP/admin/password is what you need to note down, as this is what’s needed to get access to the router setting to modify them. If someone’s changed them from these defaults, you’ll have to get the details off them or do a full factory reset of the router to restore all login details to the defaults.

Even if you do not have physical access to the network to verify the sticker, it is frequently feasible to log in even if the situation is more complicated. You only need to use some educated guesses or do some web research to discover the default login credentials for your router.

Let’s list some common values you can try.

Router login IP – In the English speaking western world, the default router login is often 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.254. More rarely, it may be 192.168.1.2 or 10.0.0.1 or some close variant. Try typing in these IP addresses into the browser address bar of your phone that is currently connected to the router. If a pair of admin/password boxes pop up, you know that this at least is right.
Username/Admin – The default router admin is often just admin or administrator
Password – The default router password can sometimes be just password or password1, but is often something else nowadays for security reasons, like the router serial number. This can often be the sticking point – you can guess the router login IP and admin, but can’t guess the password. But admin and password (small case) can sometimes work.
Sometimes the admin and password are BOTH ‘admin’ (common) or BOTH ‘password’ (less common), so you can try this as well.

Here are some regularly used login passwords for prominent Internet service providers in major English-speaking nations, as provided by the URLs below:

America – Comcast/Xfinity defaults are username/password, see here and here, Verizon here, AT&T here. Sometimes the password is ‘password’ or ‘password1’; other times it is a unique value like the serial number of the router, in which you’ll need physical access to get it.
UK – Click the links for common default login details for BT, Virgin Media, Sky, TalkTalk, Plusnet
Canada – Click the links for Bell, Shaw, Telus and Rogers common router login details.
Australia – Click the links for Telstra, Optus and TPG router login details.

Following the receipt of the login credentials, just launch any browser on your phone (e.g., Opera, Safari, Firefox, etc.) and do the following steps:

Using any browser on your phone, enter the IP address of your router (for example, 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1) to log into it, as long as your phone is connected to the router’s Wi-Fi network.

Type in the admin and password in the boxes that pop up – again will be on the router somewhere or online.
See our complete troubleshooting guide if you’re struggling to access your router settings page.

Step #3 – Turn Off Your Router or Wi-Fi

Upon logging into your router, you should search for an option that allows you to switch off the router, internet access, or Wi-Fi bands, depending on what you are attempting to do. As a result, there isn’t a universal solution to this problem since various routers handle this option in a variety of ways. However, we’ll go through some general examples of what you can do from inside the router to stop certain features.

It will most likely be located either in the Wireless or Advanced Settings sections.

In scenario #1, you may be able to remotely turn off the whole device from inside the router’s configuration. Alternatively, there may be a Power On/Off button hidden away in a menu someplace, or some other apparent means to turn off the whole router itself. It should be noted that this is a less regular occurrence. If you want to do this, it’s more probable that you’ll have to turn off a physical switch on the router itself, or unhook it from the wall, which will take more time.

Scenario #2 – Some routers do have the option of disabling Internet connectivity. Look for an Internet On/Off toggle/switch or a box that can be unchecked to turn off the internet connection. This is another less popular option, but keep in mind that doing so will block all internet connections on your router, including both wired and wireless connections. Some routers may also have a more sophisticated feature that allows you to switch off internet connection for a certain period of time each day (eg. at night).

Most routers have the ability to stop one or both Wi-Fi bands, or even turn off wireless completely, all with the use of a single button, switch, or box. This indicates that you may continue to use the router for wired LAN/ethernet connections, but not for Wi-Fi connections, as previously stated. Once again, the manner in which this parameter is presented varies depending on the router brand and type. Some routers feature a simple Wi-Fi On/Off toggle switch hidden inside the menus, which you may use to turn off the Wi-Fi and internet on the router when necessary.

Something like this:

Others include checkboxes that must be unchecked in order to turn all wifi on and off with a single switch. Depending on your device, you may need to go into the settings menus for both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands and deactivate each frequency independently.

Something like this:

Dual band routers may display the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands separately, and you can toggle one or both of them off. Like this:

Obviously, this does not completely switch off the router – you’ll need to physically disconnect it to do that – but it does stop the Wi-Fi, which is likely why so many people are attempting to do so. Many people have health worries regarding wireless technology, and it is possible that they will wish to turn it off at night at the very least.