# Default subnets
<a name="default-subnet"></a>

By default, a default subnet is a public subnet, because the main route table sends the subnet's traffic that is destined for the internet to the internet gateway. You can make a default subnet into a private subnet by removing the route from the destination 0.0.0.0/0 to the internet gateway. However, if you do this, no EC2 instance running in that subnet can access the internet. 

Instances that you launch into a default subnet receive both a public IPv4 address and a private IPv4 address, and both public and private DNS hostnames. Instances that you launch into a nondefault subnet in a default VPC don't receive a public IPv4 address or a DNS hostname. You can change your subnet's default public IP addressing behavior. For more information, see [Modify the IP addressing attributes of your subnet](subnet-public-ip.md).

From time to time, AWS may add a new Availability Zone to a Region. In most cases, we automatically create a new default subnet in this Availability Zone for your default VPC within a few days. However, if you made any modifications to your default VPC, we do not add a new default subnet. If you want a default subnet for the new Availability Zone, you can create one yourself. For more information, see [Create a default subnet](work-with-default-vpc.md#create-default-subnet).