Solving slow DNS.... Help!

Hi!

Mods, I'm not sure where to post this, so feel free to move my post. (sorry about that)

I live in the US, specifically in Southern California. I have Time Warner Cable (TWC) as my service provider. Everyday, every 6-10pm I get slow connections and can intermittently connect to a website like Yahoo!, Google, and alike. I've done a little researching, and it seems that TWC is experiencing DNS issues when the peak hours arrive.

The issue is the same for connecting to a Dlink DIR-655 and connecting directly to the modem they have provided. I also tried to reach a TWC agent, but no luck.

I guess my question is, does anybody know of a good alternative DNS provider that is secure and reliable? I've heard of OpenDNS, but is it risk-free?

I would like to stay away from DNS poisoning and whatnot.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

OpenDNS is safe, in fact, I use it myself (as well as put all businesses that my company does IT work for on it). There are other alternatives, but OpenDNS is generally the most popular.

I actually came into this topic and was going to suggest OpenDNS until you mentioned it yourself.

 

The real issue here is probably not DNS (though OpenDNS is a good service and the only "drawback" is that improperly typed URLs are redirected to their search page--not sure that is a drawback, just noting it.)

Anyway, give you are on cable, I think it is far more likely your issue is simply network segment congestion.

Of your two primary broadband services (cable and dsl), cable is a little more likely to experience network congestion due to the way it works. With cable, your network segment is basically your neighborhood. Everyone in your neighborhood is on the same network or network segment. When all your local teenagers are flooding the network with p2p traffic between 6-10pm, your network segment is saturated.

(DSL works a little different--for DSL, the congestion occurs at the head office, but since they can better monitor that, they are more quick to address it).

By all means, try OpenDNS and see if it makes a difference, but if that doesn't do it get your neighbors to complain and they will eventually re-segment your neighborhood (hopefully) to reduce the saturation (or they will start throttling high bandwidth users)

 

Hep's right about OpenDNS - good and reliable. But if your problem is bandwidth related, using an alternate DNS provider won't make much difference. If their bandwidth is getting bottlenecked and overloaded, you're better off just going to another ISP if you have that option.

Also, even though you mentioned you've got an N router, you said nothing about your system adapter. If it's a G or B adapter it's going to run slower than your Router is capable of anyway - if you have a B/G adapter and your Router and adapter settings aren't matched properly, you'll have the same kind of problems you're describing. What I'm saying is that just because you found that TWC has slowdowns at peak periods, don't just arbitrarily blame them - look at your own setup first. Usually the problem is much closer than you think.

With an N router and a different adapter, the Router needs to be set to Mixed or G. Same for the Adapter.

Also, I'd check your network to see if you've got someone piggybacking on your signal. Usually regional peak bandwidth slowdowns aren't felt that much locally. Usually it's only when you've got someone else on your network hogging your bandwidth (kids downloading MP3's, wife talking to her boyfriend, etc.) that you really notice it like you're describing. If you don't have a unique SSID, change it to one you know you can recognize, then do a network scan and see if there's anything else in range. If you're not using WEP/WPA encryption or MAC Filtering anyone can connect to your network and steal your bandwidth, like the punk next door downloading at the same time you are. N routers broadcast a pretty good range so it's not inconceivable you've got a tick on your network.

 

Hey thanks for the suggestions!

@Hep!

Yeah, I think I'll switch to OpenDNS just for that time period. Is there any way that I can set to use my ISP, then when the "lag" period comes or when I'm experiencing it, that it automatically switches to use another DNS address?

@gerryf19

I had DSL before at my old apartment and I never had this issue. I honestly am considering on going back to DSL.

Do you know of a good bandwidth scanner? Or is it useless since the network segment congestion is inevitable?

@CyberVisions

I would like to stay with my current ISP due to the price they offered me. I got a quote from another ISP and they're more expensive by $20 with less features. I would like to go with Verizon FiOS, but they don't have the service in my city yet.

I am currently using Wireless-N mode and my router is set to Mixed 802.11n and 802.11g, currently getting 130Mbps at 94% signal strength, using Auto (WPA & WPA2) on TKIP and AES.

I actually tried to remove the router out of the equation and connect my laptop directly to the modem but the issue is still there.

 

Why would you want to only use OpenDNS part of the time?
Some routers allow you to have different IP settings at different times of day, but most [read: 99%] will not.

You can run a bandwidth check with a site like speedtest.net. Compare results of during the day to when you have the issues. If numbers are close (excluding initial ping), then it's a DNS issue. If they're not, then it's a bandwidth issue.

 

I am currently conducting tests from speedtest.net, and 11 out of 16 it worked just fine. The other 5 tries were tests that didn't push through due to the "lag" problem connecting to websites.

I'll continue to conduct these tests til around 10pm (PST). I'll post them in a lil bit.

Thanks again!

 

If it is DNS, Here is my recommendation:

Don't use OpenDNS or DNSAdvantage. There's nothing unsafe about them, but they reroute every incorrectly typed address to their server. This is bad when you are using firefox, because it disables the website guessing feature (typing notebookreview instead of notebookreview.com). I found an awesome alternative: go to http://www.dnsserverlist.org/ and use the servers it has as the top 3 calculated for you. That's what I'm currently doing, and it is lightning fast. All of the servers on there have to have a certain response time to make it on that list, so it's a really good list.

(I did a LOT of research on this a few weeks ago, because I had a slow DNS as well)

 

The problem with DNSserverlerlist is those DNS servers tend to come on and go off line. OpenDNS is always going to be there, so you don't have to worry about typing in a web url and if it doesn't work, wondering what is going on,

 

Is there a way to disable that feature? Like when a link is dead then it automatically redirects you to their search web page. I've read somewhere that OpenDNS' revenue comes from the ads posted on their search web page. I don't think I like that idea. I registered an account with them and I cant seem to find the option to disable it. I've disabled the typo correction thingy and it still does it.

 

Try go into your wireless routers setup and change
the channel settings for your wireless.

I have the Linksys WRT610N this is my setup.


On the Wireless Tab try this.

5GHz Wireless settings:

Network Mode: Mixed
Network Name (SSID): This is up to you
Channel With: 40MHz only
Wide Channel: 151
Standard Channel: 153-5.765GHz
SSID Broadcast: This is up to you

2.4GHz Wireless settings:

Network Mode: Mixed
Network Name (SSID): This is up to you
Channel With: 40MHz only
Wide Channel: 6
Standard Channel: 8-2.44GHz
SSID Broadcast: This is up to you

On the Setup Tab -> Basic Setup

First Checkout this video:
OpenDNS Video

OpenDNS Homepage:
OpenDNS Homepage

Then add OpenDNS to your Router

Static DNS 1: 208.67.222.222
Static DNS 2: 208.67.220.220

This works for me, and I average about 300Mbps

I hope this helps you

 

^^ Hey thanks for the tip!

I'll try it out when I get home from work.

I actually have DIR-655 so I'll be only doing the 2.4GHz setting.

 

To the best of my knowledge, you cannot disable--but, in fairness, they are offering you a very valuable service. They are generating revenue the same way Google generates revenue. Why deprive them?

 

^^ LOL! True.