Is it usefull to use a certain DNS?

[Christoffer]

This morning I was Googling tips on how to make the internet run smoother on your computer. I found several articles claiming that using a certain DNS would help solve the problem of a slow internet connection.

Have any of you guys any experience regarding DNS or any solutions regarding slow internet connection?

Best regards

Christoffer

 

[particleman]

I know my ISP DNS servers are notoriously slow so most use different DNS. Figure out what DNS you are using and ping it then find some others that you may want to try and ping those. Whoever pings the lowest wins.

 

[OhSnapWord]

I use OpenDNS as they are more secure than the ISP's.

Keep in mind that DNS servers won't make your internet connection any faster or slower. If it takes an hour to download a linux distro, changing DNS settings won't have any effect on that. A faster DNS server will resolve requests faster which would make the internet feel snappier, it won't turn DSL into fiber optic.

 

[root]

I assume that the article said use 8.8.8.8?

The idea is that your ISP don't know what they are doing that they have a load of customers and don't have the right infrastructure to support that, or that they purposefully have slow machines as they don't want to take profits and invest in infrastructure...

IF you find that DNS is slow to resolve, then changing to a different DNS server will reduce the time it takes for the browser to understand where the page that you;re looking for is, and hence connect and start downloading it faster.

 

[_michaelm]

It is also worth mentioning that it may also be high packet-loss between you and your DSL exchange, typically these issues are amplified the further away from your exchange you are. The number of consumers using the same copper telephony network can also aggravate this.

To check whether DNS is indeed partly contributing to your sub-optimal network performance take a look at this: https://www.grc.com/DNS/BENCHMARK.HTM - An excellent utility with knowledge of several DNS servers. Don't forget, geographic position does play a significant part when it comes to DNS latency, as the packets won't have to travel through as many hops (typically).