124 replies to this topic

[vluther]

Paul (MVP), on Aug 22 2006, 12:10, said:

So in summary (vluther is DNS guru btw), what i'm doing makes sense?

I chose the 2 servers I did as they give me lowest ping time from the UK

P

I'm no guru, but you're on the right track, these tweaks are similar to the "web accelerators" that dial up services offer. Having a hosts file or a less visited dns server than say T-mobiles will give you the impression of things being faster as there is less overhead. For the people who are now experiencing an increase in transfer speeds, I have no idea what changed.. the time to download a file doesn't change as by that point the dns resolution has already taken place, and does not happen again.
I didn't check all the screens Paul posted so maybe he made you change some other settings as well, but dns alone doesn't make the interweb go faster .

[mcwarre]

Two questions:

1.    Has anyone tried this on UK Vodafone?
2.    Does this make any diference to wi-fi?

[vluther]

mcwarre, on Aug 22 2006, 12:32, said:

Two questions:

1.    Has anyone tried this on UK Vodafone?
2.    Does this make any diference to wi-fi?

I can't answer for #1 as I'm in USA, but for #2, these tweaks will work with any internet connection, whether it be on your phone (gprs/edge/evdo) is irrelevant, DNS is used from a TCP/IP, UDP stance.

It will also speed up surfing on your desktop/laptop(the impression atleast).

It's OS independant, Linux, Windows, OS X all benefit, as the dns layer the same across all systems that have tcp/ip implemented (pretty much everything).

[Monolithix]

1 - Dunno about Voda
2 - Nope, not at all.  For reference, check out the OSI Network level standards.  Wifi/HSDPA/GPRS/Ethernet is the physical layer, and absolutely nothing to do with DNS servers, which form part of the network (?) layer.

[Monolithix]

Also - shouldnt this be in WM news? ;p

[vluther]

Monolithix (MVP), on Aug 22 2006, 12:45, said:

1 - Dunno about Voda
2 - Nope, not at all.  For reference, check out the OSI Network level standards.  Wifi/HSDPA/GPRS/Ethernet is the physical layer, and absolutely nothing to do with DNS servers, which form part of the network (?) layer.

There you go, someone knows his OSI stuff, I was drawing a blank on how to best describe it.

It may look like our posts are conflicting, but they are not. You can implement this tweak over wifi/edge/gprs
but it won't make wifi/edge/gprs any faster, just the dns resolution speeds up.

If you're downloading files at 150K/sec, this will not make the files be downloaded faster.

[jfran]

vluther, on Aug 22 2006, 18:32, said:

I'm no guru, but you're on the right track, these tweaks are similar to the "web accelerators" that dial up services offer. Having a hosts file or a less visited dns server than say T-mobiles will give you the impression of things being faster as there is less overhead. For the people who are now experiencing an increase in transfer speeds, I have no idea what changed.. the time to download a file doesn't change as by that point the dns resolution has already taken place, and does not happen again.
I didn't check all the screens Paul posted so maybe he made you change some other settings as well, but dns alone doesn't make the interweb go faster .

I am wondering if those servers may also act as proxy servers with appropriate caches, hence speeding up the time taken for the sites to load??

Jim

[vluther]

jfran, on Aug 22 2006, 12:54, said:

I am wondering if those servers may also act as proxy servers with appropriate caches, hence speeding up the time taken for the sites to load??

Jim

If someone has installed squid and configured the proxy, then sure, it's possible. But, DNS does not equate to proxy, and just because you changed your dns server, doesn't mean your browser's proxy settings have changed.


They may have the dns resolution cached for a longer period of time than some others, so the lookup is instantaneous.  So it seems even fasterER .

[PaulOBrien]

Talk about over complicating things

- The tweak will work on any network anywhere in the world, whether you notice a difference will depend on whether the new DNS server is faster than the old one

- The tweak will only affect the connection you make the edit on

Oh, and i'll move to WM news now

P

[jimbouk]

There we go. Simple.

The basics surely: if you click a link or try to open a favourite and your browser spends a few seconds saying "locating" then it may be worth doing.

You could change your wifi's dns servers - but you would do that on the router.

[PaulOBrien]

Or, like on T-Mo sometimes, tens of seconds... hence my joy at this tweak! hehe

P

[jimbouk]

Paul (MVP), on Aug 22 2006, 19:18, said:

Or, like on T-Mo sometimes, tens of seconds... hence my joy at this tweak! hehe

P

No wonder they give their web access away so cheaply then!

[PaulOBrien]

I'm pondering a 'MoDaCo global newsletter' to tell people about this, with the emphasis for our T-Mo UK members.

It makes me wonder why the T-Mo UK DNS is so bad!

P

[PaulOBrien]

jimbouk, on Aug 22 2006, 19:22, said:

No wonder they give their web access away so cheaply then!

Don't care when it's so easily fixed

P

[proindigo]

I am a part time dns freek, I recommend opendns to my clients, they have dedicted servers which everyone is welcome to use.  It sped up my home internet connection by about 30% so I am sure it will do the same on the phone.  

I will try it when my phone comes for those that want to try it on their home computer/router or toaster.

the domain is http://www.opendns.com/

The dns servers are :      
*  208.67.222.222
* 208.67.220.220

[jimbouk]

Paul (MVP), on Aug 22 2006, 19:56, said:

Don't care when it's so easily fixed

P

Am picturing a lot of t customers visiting here when google bots pick up:

TMobile Customers speed up your webnwalk internet browsing with one simple setting change


Might be worth including a note that users may need to change these ip addresses if their internet access fails in the future (if the servers disappear ?

[PaulOBrien]

proindigo, on Aug 22 2006, 20:05, said:

I am a part time dns freek, I recommend opendns to my clients, they have dedicted servers which everyone is welcome to use.  It sped up my home internet connection by about 30% so I am sure it will do the same on the phone.  

I will try it when my phone comes for those that want to try it on their home computer/router or toaster.

the domain is http://www.opendns.com/

The dns servers are :      
*  208.67.222.222
* 208.67.220.220

Good call!

That looks excellent, i'll give it a try, and if it's nice and fast / stable, i'll update the instructions.



P

PS Now using it at home too and it DOES seem quick!

[jimbouk]

Just replaced pipex's auto set DNS with those opendns ones above and am enjoying a definite boost.

Blisteringly fast!

WOW!

[PaulOBrien]

So I put the OpenDNS settings in my TyTN, and still end up with a latency of, say a few seconds. The other settings give me a latency of under a second for sure... so I conclude the OpenNIC servers are faster than the OpenDNS ones.

So, for fun, I put the DNS settings from the first post in my home internet router too. OMG! FAST!

P

[jimbouk]

OpenDNS faster than pipex at home, slower than Orange on 3100.