Control IP addresses on your Wyze Mesh Router like a pro!
What is DHCP?
Think of DHCP as a friendly host at a party at your home. When your friends (devices) arrive, the host (DHCP) gives them a fancy name tag (IP address) so they can easily find and talk to each other. This makes it super easy for your devices to join the Wi-Fi party without you having to assign each one a name tag yourself. Plus, if a friend leaves early or a new one shows up, the host takes care of it by handing out or taking back the name tags as needed. So, DHCP is like a helpful buddy that makes managing your home network a breeze!
OK, that was a cheesy analogy, what's the real definition?
DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. It is a network protocol that allows your Wyze Mesh Router to automatically assign IP addresses to your laptops, tablets, Wyze Cams, and any other devices (clients) when they connect to your Wi-Fi or wired network. The main purpose of DHCP is to simplify the management of IP addresses and make it easier for devices to join and leave a network without manual intervention. When a device connects to a DHCP-enabled network, it requests an IP address from the DHCP server software running on your Wyze Mesh Router (specifically the root router), which then assigns an available IP address to the device for a specific period of time, known as a lease.
What is a DHCP reservation?
A DHCP reservation is a way to make sure a specific device always gets the same IP address when it connects to a network which makes it easier to find and manage on the network. Without a reservation, each device will get a randomly assigned IP address from the list of available addresses on your Wyze Mesh Router's network.
Note: While your Internet service provider (ISP) may provide you with a static IP address for your WAN port (which connects to your cable modem or fiber box), we don’t recommend using this for the LAN port of your Wyze Mesh Router. Instead, we recommend creating a DHCP reservation to assign an IP address to your device.
To create a DHCP reservation:
- In the Wyze app, select your Wyze Mesh Router.
- From the Network Overview page, tap on the router’s settings in the upper right-hand corner.
- Tap Advanced Settings > IP Address.
- Tap Add Reservation.
- A list of all the devices connected to the router, both wired and wireless, will appear. Select the device you want to have a fixed IP address and choose Next.
- If you don't see your device listed, scroll all the way to the bottom of the list and choose Custom. You can then type in the device’s MAC address and IP address manually.
- You can either accept the suggested IP address or tap IP Address to enter a new one.
- If you choose a different IP address than the one suggested, make sure there aren’t any devices currently using that address.
- Once you've verified that the MAC address of the device is correct, tap Save.
To delete a DHCP reservation:
- From the IP Address page, tap on the device with an existing reservation you want to delete.
- Tap Delete Reservation at the bottom of the screen.
Note: While it's not possible to edit an existing reservation, you can delete the current reservation first and then create a new one by following the steps in the sections above.
What is the DHCP IP address range for my Wyze Mesh Router?
The LAN side of your Wyze Mesh Router by default will issue dynamic addresses (IP addresses that change each time they connect to the network or over time) in this private IP address range: 192.168.50.xxx.
Most times you’ll never need to change these settings, but if you're upgrading from an older system and want to keep the same set of IP addresses and reservations by creating a custom DHCP range, follow these steps:
- In the Wyze app, tap on the Home tab then tap on your Wyze Mesh Router.
- Tap on the settings in the upper right-hand corner.
- Tap on Advanced Settings > IP Address > LAN IP.
- Tap on Manual DHCP IP and then enter the Starting IP, Ending IP, and Subnet Mask you'd like to configure. Then tap Save.