Map Your Home Network

Fill in what you know, and this page draws your home network for you: every device, how it connects, and where it lives.

We tend to fixate on the shiny screens we can see. But the most important part of your family’s digital life is invisible: your home network. It’s the foundation everything else sits on, from homework to your home office to Friday movie night.

Back in the office, IT folks like me draw a network topology diagram: a map of everything that’s connected and what each piece does. You don’t need fancy software or a single straight line. Fill in the boxes below, leave blanks where you’re not sure (the gaps tell you where to go look), and your invisible foundation becomes something you can actually see.

Your Internet Service

Your ISP (internet service provider) brings the internet to your house, and your modem is the Translator: it turns their signal into something your devices understand.

Internet provider Connection type Plan speed Megabits, not megabytes. 1,000 Mbps is 1 Gbps. Support phone number Account number Modem make and model Usually on a sticker on the box Is your provider’s box also your Wi-Fi router?

Your Router and Wi-Fi

The router is the Traffic Cop. It sends data to the right device and acts as your home’s first line of defense. It’s also the device that works the hardest in your house: on and broadcasting around the clock.

The router

Router make and model Wi-Fi generation Newer generations handle more devices at once How you log in The router’s app, or an address like 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 (check the sticker on the bottom) Admin username

Admin password

Changed from the default password? Automatic updates turned on? Mesh points or extenders, and where they are

Your Wi-Fi networks

Main Wi-Fi name

Main Wi-Fi password

Guest or IoT Wi-Fi name

Guest or IoT Wi-Fi password

Known dead zones Anything else on your network A network switch, a second router, a smart home hub

Passwords never leave this screen. They aren’t saved in your browser, so they disappear when you close the page, and they only print if you ask them to. Keep the real copies in your password manager.

Want the guest network to work harder? Use it for more than visitors. Put your smart home gadgets there, so if one ever has a bad day, the trouble stays on its side of the fence, far from the laptop with your tax returns. Your kids’ friends can join it too, and many routers let you set rules for everything on it.

Storage (NAS)

A NAS (network attached storage) is a home for your files and photos, so the things you’d be heartbroken to lose live in more than one place. Don’t have one? Leave this blank.

NAS make and model How it connects What’s on it How you log in Its app, or its address Username

Password

Your Devices

Tap a device to add it, then give it a real name, like “Liam’s Switch.” Most homes have way more than people expect. Your router’s list of connected devices is a great place to find the ones you forgot.

Nothing here yet. Tap a device above, or add your own.

Mystery device in your router’s list? Name things as you go: connect one device at a time and name whatever just popped up. Or play detective with the MAC address, a device’s digital fingerprint. Find it in the device’s network settings (or in the app, for smart home gadgets with no screen) and match it to your router’s list.

See your map

Your Home Network Map

This builds itself from everything above. Solid lines are wired, and dashed lines are Wi-Fi.

What your map is telling you

When the Internet Just Stops

It’s movie night, the Wi-Fi dies, and four people are staring at you like you personally unplugged the world. Run this drill before you call. It fixes the vast majority of outages.

Do the reset right. Unplug both the modem and the router, and wait a full sixty seconds (count it out). Plug the modem back in first and let it fully wake up before you power the router.
Is it you, or is it them? Turn off Wi-Fi on your phone and check your provider’s outage page or app on cell data. If the whole neighborhood is down, no amount of button-pushing at your house will fix it.
Check the lights. A red or dark light where there’s usually steady green or blue is a big clue. Snap a photo of it before you call.
Then, and only then, call your provider. You’ll sound like a pro, because you can tell them exactly what you already tried and which lights are wrong.