I thought I had a pretty good handle on what was connected to my home network. Then I actually made a map of it, and suddenly my router’s device list looked less like a tidy inventory and more like a drawer full of cables I swear I had already sorted. (I do actually have a drawer full of networking gear, but that’s beside the point.)

A network map is just a list of everything connected to your home network, plus enough detail to tell those devices apart later. You don’t need enterprise software for this: start with your router’s device list (found in the app or the admin page), then write down each device name, IP address, MAC address, connection type, room, and what it actually is. From there, walk around your home and match entries to real hardware, using device settings, router apps, MAC address lookups, or simple “turn it off and see what disappears” strategies.

Doing all that revealed that I had let years of devices just pile up on my connected list without knowing. Here are some of the biggest culprits, most of which I promptly got rid of (from the network, not from my house).

An old phone I forgot was still connected

The drawer phone never left

Credit: Cory Gunther / How-To Geek

This wasn’t a very surprising discovery, in all fairness. But it was also a good reminder of why the map was worth making in the first place.

Old phones are easy to forget because they don’t feel like active devices anymore. They sit in drawers, live on nightstands as backup alarms, or get handed around the house to relatives who don’t need a top-of-the-line phone. But they still know the Wi-Fi password from years ago, and while never changing your Wi-Fi password is dangerous, many people (myself included) neglect to do so.

The annoying part is that your phone may not always show up with a name you’ll recognize. Depending on the router, an old phone might appear as a vague Android device, a manufacturer name, or an old hostname.

Ultimately, old phones don’t need to be part of your network. If it’s a rarely-used backup, remove it.

A smart plug from a setup I no longer use

Tiny gadget, permanent lease

Credit: Tim Brookes / How-To Geek

I’m not a huge smart home person, so I tend to forget some of that stuff even exists. It’s very easy to forget that you’ve set something up and given it access to Wi-Fi, only to never revisit the topic. Meanwhile, said gadget retains access to your entire network. It could be a smart plug, a lamp, a fan, Christmas lights, or a short-lived automation experiment.

It might not be doing anything important anymore, but as far as your network is concerned, it still lives there.

These are also frustrating to identify because they rarely come with names that are easy to identify. You might get a chipmaker, a generic IoT name, or, if you’re unlucky, a string of letters and numbers. In any case, I advise purging your home network of IoT devices that aren’t actively being used.

A streaming stick I stopped thinking about

The TV had roommates

Credit: Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek

Streaming sticks are deceptively easy to forget about. You don’t think of them as those separate little computers with internet access, although that’s what they are. I unearthed an old Amazon Fire TV Stick still connected to my network thanks to this little investigation.

Mine was fairly easy to identify on the network map, but they aren’t all easy to track. If you can’t figure out what’s what, you can always open the network settings on the device itself and compare the MAC address.

The printer I forgot still worked

Poor thing is practically e-waste at this point

Credit: Nick Lewis / How-To Geek

I have a printer, but it’s more of an ugly dust collector. I can’t remember the last time I had to print anything, and as it’s an inkjet printer, it probably can’t even do it anymore due to dried-up ink.

But hey, it’s a Wi-Fi printer, so there it was, haunting my network long after I forgot it existed (it’s currently buried underneath a pile of books).

A printer can be confusing because it might support Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Wi-Fi Direct, and sleep modes. That means it can appear under a generic name, disappear for a bit, then come back just when you’ve decided it doesn’t matter. If you actually use it, this is one of the few devices worth giving a clearer label and possibly a DHCP reservation so its IP address stops changing.

My own phone in a trench coat

Randomized MAC addresses strike again

Credit: Cory Gunther / How-To Geek

This one was unexpected. My own, very much current, phone confused me a lot when I found it on my network map. Modern phones, laptops, tablets, and watches can use private or randomized Wi-Fi addresses, which is good for privacy, but mildly maddening when you’re trying to build a clean home network map.

That doesn’t mean you should turn the feature off everywhere. Private Wi-Fi addresses are useful, but on your own home network, they can make a lot of things a nuisance. The fix is to check the Wi-Fi details on the device, compare the address with the router entry, and decide whether you want to keep private addressing enabled for that network.

Not everything needs to be on your main network

A home network doesn’t need to be robust, but they often are. For that reason, it helps if it exists somewhere outside of your router’s confusing device list. A basic spreadsheet or notes document with the device name, room, owner, MAC address, IP address, connection type, and purpose is enough to give yourself some clarity.

9/10

Supported standards

802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be

Speeds

5.7 Gbps

The better the router, the higher the chance it’ll be able to juggle dozens of devices and still do a good job. UniFi’s Dream 7 is one such router.