# Default DNS vs 3rd party choices and YOU!



## EastCoasthandle (Dec 8, 2009)

I've been looking into this for sometime now and wanted everyone's opinion about using DNS's.  There are a myriad of chooses out there which can either decrease or increase  cached/uncached dns results.  But in some cases the differences are tenths of a ms.  At times it can be in the hundredths of a ms.  Changing your DNS lookup may really depend on how well your default DNS setup is with your ISP.   PCMag.com did their own review to see which of the three is faster.  You can see their results here.  However, keep in mind that their results may not be the same as your results.  

Now what is a DNS? DNS means Domain Name System. The purpose of DNS is to translate the actual host name (ex: www.hostname.com) into a numerical (binary) identifier (ex: 200.70.190.60). It  acts like a switchboard operator who locates and connects your call to the correct designation.  The faster the DNS finds and connects your request the faster the page will appears on the screen, the faster your emails are delivered/received and, the less lag you experience playing games online.     

 Google has released their own public DNS to try for yourself.  However it's not clear what they will do with your information.  What google as you to do is use their IP 74.125.45.100 and then use their DNS of 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.  Now again it's not clear what they will do with your information but some seem not to care and believe that's faster.  

Others are using OpenDNS.  Which is a little bit more involved as you 1st have to sign up, choose a package (either free or paid service) then follow their instructions on how to setup your DNS.  The difference between this and the former is that with Google it's free and simple to setup.  However, some people believe that OpenDNS is simply better in speed and protection then what Google or your ISP offers.  However, some do not and simple don't touch their DNS.  

So to give people an idea of how well their DNS is there is a simple easy to use tool benchmark program called DNS Benchmark that will (you guessed it) benchmark your current DNS (you can change it to get results from other DNS).   From my understanding of this benchmark is that you have to run it a few times to get an idea of which is really better.  And, what's better for one person may not be better for someone else.  So keep that in mind.   Also note there maybe other DNS services out there not mentioned like DynDNS, etc.  Ultimately the choice to change your current DNS setup will be up to you.


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## Mussels (Dec 8, 2009)

at first, i thought this post was not relevant to me. then you mentioned a DNS benchmark 









It seems to like my router (and thusly, my ISP's DNS server)


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## RejZoR (Dec 8, 2009)

I'm using this order on my router:

1st - My ISP DNS
2nd - OpenDNS
3rd - Google DNS

This way, chance of DNS resolving failure is nearly impossible. Unless something goes really wrong. Like severing all international lines at once...


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## Mussels (Dec 8, 2009)

RejZoR said:


> I'm using this order on my router:
> 
> 1st - My ISP DNS
> 2nd - OpenDNS
> ...



run the benchmark, see what it thinks


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## AsRock (Dec 8, 2009)

My ISP was the faster for one of the DNS ips and second was OpenDNS.  The slowest one of my ISP came 11th which i just changed to OpenDNS.

In my case pretty dam pointless really.


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## Boyfriend (Dec 8, 2009)

I always prefer OpenDNS. It is reliable, safe, and never has caused any problem for me. Even without making any account, you can get it's benefits.


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## RejZoR (Dec 8, 2009)

Where did you download this tool. I can't seem to find it on grc.com (i know Steve Gibson for ages).

Btw, i mostly have 3 such DNS in case of a failure. Speed isn't really that problematic.


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## AsRock (Dec 8, 2009)

RejZoR said:


> Where did you download this tool. I can't seem to find it on grc.com (i know Steve Gibson for ages).
> 
> Btw, i mostly have 3 such DNS in case of a failure. Speed isn't really that problematic.



http://www.grc.com/dev/DNSBench.exe


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## Mussels (Dec 8, 2009)

my DNS has only ever failed on me once, and that was with a crappy ISP having hardware troubles.


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## Flak (Dec 8, 2009)

I use an old spare laptop as a dns (it runs treewalk + confetch).  Also have some family and friends pointed to it as well.  And as someone else said, with OpenDNS you only need to setup an account if you want things blocked at the DNS level (porn/warez/etc).


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## Fitseries3 (Dec 8, 2009)

i used to use openDNS but it never seemed any faster than my ISPs DNS. i guess i have a decent ISP.


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## v12dock (Dec 8, 2009)

OpenDNS


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## TheCrow (Dec 9, 2009)

Cool i just ran the benchamrk and my isp's (virgin) servers are fastest, good to know tho!


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## Jstn7477 (Dec 9, 2009)

My ISP sucks, so I just switched to OpenDNS a few days ago. Much faster, and my router doesn't seem to lock up anymore when playing TF2.


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## WarhammerTX (Dec 9, 2009)

good program helped me my isp stinks


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## ShRoOmAlIsTiC (Dec 30, 2009)

I ran the benchmark,  it gave me 4.2.2.5 and 4.2.2.1 as the fastest.  Is it ok just to use those or are the legal reason why I cant.  I tested them out and they are a hell of alot quicker then google and my default.  Just wanted to make sure im not doing anything illegal.


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## Easy Rhino (Dec 30, 2009)

i find that the default DNS from my ISP is faster than anything else at the moment.


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## FordGT90Concept (Dec 30, 2009)

15/16 were faster than my ISP's DNS so I changed it to OpenDNS primary and Google Secondary.  Now it says it is faster than them all.

The only X I have now is that I only have on DNS configured (my router).  I figure if I can't reach the router, I got bigger problems than DNS. XD


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