Question: Recently I had to reset my router and was unable to log into my network.

There were some networks around me when I was out of my network and had to reset my router to defaults, even though it's highly impossible that I had connected to others' networks (with coincidentally the same password and the same SSID, and possibly changed the homepage's settings because they matched). How can I absolutely confirm that I'm connected to my own network?

*I've tried* the *non-technical* way with confirming by switching the router on/off, but, **is there a more precise way** of confirming that I am connected to my own network?

Answer: 
Check the *BSSID*, that is, the access point's MAC address.

At home you'll usually have only one access point that's built into your router, so compare the MAC with the one written on the sticker on its bottom. (It might differ by a single digit in some cases.)

You didn't mention the OS you use, so I'll assume Linux:

```

$ **iw wlan0 link**
Connected to **24:a4:3c:ce:d2:16** (on wlan0)
    SSID: eduroam
    freq: 2462
    ...

```

Or you could check whether a scan detects multiple APs with the same name:

```

$ sudo iw wlan0 scan | egrep "^BSS|SSID"

$ nmcli -f in-use,ssid,chan,bars,security,bssid dev wifi list

```

There are various "Wi-Fi scanner" apps for Windows and macOS as well – can't recommend any, but most of them are able to display a basic "network list" including channels, BSSIDs, and all that. There's one from [Nirsoft](http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wifi_information_view.html), and probably heaps of other freeware.

If you're on Windows (7 or later), the same can be done via `netsh`:

```

C:\> **netsh wlan show interface**
There is 1 interface on the system:
    ...
    SSID                   : eduroam
    BSSID                  : **24:a4:3c:ce:d2:16**
    Network type           : Infrastructure
    Radio type             : 802.11n
    ...

```

(I can't remember offhand what's the command to request a scan, but it's also under `netsh wlan show <something>`.)

On macOS, [this post](https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/80191/6069) suggests:

```

**/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/A/Resources/airport -I en1**
              ...
      link auth: wpa2-psk
          BSSID: 24:a4:3c:ce:d2:16
           SSID: eduroam
            MCS: -1        channel: 6

```

On FreeBSD, all that should be under `ifconfig`.

Android has quite a few "Wi-Fi analyzer" apps; at the time of posting, [this one](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vrem.wifianalyzer) worked well.

---

The *homepage*, however, is not a network setting. Only your web browser cares about that.
If you have a Linux machine (I assume you can do this on Windows too), you can run `arp <gateway address>` to get the MAC address of the router (labelled HWAddress). Compare this to the MAC address that is printed on the sticker on the router (or at least, should be). E.g.

```
[root@server~]# arp 192.168.1.1
Address                  HWtype  HWaddress           Flags Mask            Iface
gateway.domain.com ether   XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX   C                     eth0

```

[EDIT]the Windows syntax is:

```
arp -a <ip address>

```