Performance problems on your Mobile Internet connection? Try this!

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

[teaser]- Do you use the internet on your device and sometimes find it a bit slow to first load websites?

- Does your phone often 'wait' on the 'Locating...' stage in Pocket IE?

If you answered YES to these questions, then this may be the answer. I have been doing some testing / research on both T-Mobile AND Orange GPRS/EDGE/3G connections, and it appears that the DNS servers on both networks are rather slow to respond sometimes. Therefore, this tweak will change your DNS servers from the T-Mobile settings to the public free OpenNIC servers.

Here's what you need to do (screenshots from a Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone / PPC device at the end of this post if you need them):

Pocket PC

- From the Start Menu, select 'Settings', then select the 'Connections' tab

- Select the 'Connections' option

- Select the first of the two 'Manage Existing Connections' options

- Highlight your main Internet connection, and click edit

- Click 'Next'

- This page should say 'general.t-mobile.uk' on T-Mobile UK, 'orangeinternet' on Orange UK, or something different if you're with someone else :D Click 'Next'

- Click 'Advanced'

- Click 'Servers'

- Click 'Use specific server address' and enter DNS as '217.115.138.24', Alt DNS as '83.217.93.246'. You can leave both WINS settings as '0.0.0.0' at this stage.

- Click 'OK'

- Click 'Finish'

Smartphone

- From the Start Menu, Select 'Settings'

- Select 'Connections'

- Select 'GPRS'

- Ensure your main GPRS Internet connection is selected, and press 'Menu' then 'Edit'

- Modify the Primary DNS entry to read '217.115.138.24'

- Modify the Secondary DNS entry to read '83.217.93.246'

- Press 'Done' 4 times

You should note at this stage that if you have an existing GPRS connection active, it will drop. This is necessary to pick up the new DNS settings.

Now try browsing the web etc., and report back if it responds differently. This change has massively, massively improved the responsiveness of Pocket IE for me, hence this post.

To reverse this change, simply follow the steps above and set the DNS settings back to automatic.

Enjoy! :D

P

Edit: I now seem to be getting EVEN BETTER performance with the 'Level 3' DNS servers @ 4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.2 - give them a go!

[/teaser]

Pocket PC:

Smartphone:

[Guest rickwookie]

That's a cool idea.

I used to have no end of trouble with our BT broadband connection because of the slow response from their DNS servers and changing these made a huge difference. Pages came up almost instantly.

I'm still waiting for the delivery of our Vario IIs today, so I'll let you know if we get this issue and if the DNS change resolves it.

[Edit:] They've just arrived!!! :D

Edited August 22, 2006 by rickwookie

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

The settings above btw are using the OpenNIC Germany and Belgium servers, the UK server doesn't seem to be responding atm.

I don't claim to be a DNS expert, so if anyone has any input as to better / different servers to use and why, please reply :D

P

[Guest Pondrew]

Paul, a question. If you're lucky enough to have a Vario II on Web N Walk with HSDPA enabled will this be able to take advantage of the higher speed? Changing this address doesn't bypass T-Mobiles HSDPA network?

Forgive the question but there are gaps in my knowledge of such things...

[Guest rickwookie]

Just connected to WnW on my Vario II and sure enough, 'Locating...' for over a minute!!!

[Guest jimbouk]

Shouldnt do surely! The HSDPA bit is the connection between your handset and the network. The DNS servers are way beyond that - down the networks great big pipe onto the World Wide Interwebby thing.

Edited August 22, 2006 by jimbouk

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

This won't affect anything like that.

A DNS server is what internet devices use to look up addresses.

For example, when you type 'www.google.com' in Pocket IE, the device then looks to the DNS server to tell it what the IP address is for that name (i.e. 66.102.9.99). Pocket IE is then finished with the DNS server, and goes directly to the IP address to retrieve the content.

It seems that the default DNS servers, assigned dynamically by your operator when you make your connection, are rather slow for some reason. This tweak replaces them with free public alternative DNS servers, that are much more performant!

P

[Guest rickwookie]

Paul, a question. If you're lucky enough to have a Vario II on Web N Walk with HSDPA enabled will this be able to take advantage of the higher speed? Changing this address doesn't bypass T-Mobiles HSDPA network?

Forgive the question but there are gaps in my knowledge of such things...

No, DNS servers are used to resolve addresses such as www.modaco.com into IP addresses. They don'y affect the network at all. In fact the devices has to connect to whichever DNS server over the same network. It's like a big phone book for the internet.

[Guest Pondrew]

Cool. Thanks guys :D

[Guest Dade]

I can see the difference already! Good work Paul!!

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

We aim to please :D

Indeed, the more I use it post-tweak the more I'm convinced it's made a huge difference, hence i've moved this post to news :D

P

[Guest jimbouk]

Just tried it with the DNS servers posted above and no improvement. In fact it seemed to take longer to locate modaco than via O's server assigned ones...

[Guest travisb]

Definitely seems quicker,especially when loading a site like newsnow.co.uk. I'm using Opera by the way

[Guest ndryer]

My MDA Pro is about 75% quicker, pages now load after about 8 seconds :D

(Using PIE)

Edited August 22, 2006 by ndryer

[Guest Pondrew]

Maybe one particularly for the T-Mobile users then... at least until they improve the performance of their servers...

[Guest gazbert]

Wow! What a difference!

This is fantastic. My internet performance has shot up.

I'd always put the slowness down to being on GPRS (I'm on T-Mobile web-n-walk unlimited).

This has made a huge difference.

Thanks Paul.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

:D

P

[Guest robt]

Paul

This is superb. I was suffering the same as everyone else, half the time when accessing web pages the connection seemed to "hang". This has cured it completely and the internet is as blazingly quick as I had hoped.

Thanks a lot.

Rob :D

[Guest jimbouk]

Can those of you on Orange who noticed an improvement stick your hands in the air, please?

[Guest Jakaroe808]

Great Tweak.. I have just entered in the settings and poof.. seems snappier on Cingular. Not sure how this could be, but I'm recording the fastest EDGE speeds I have ever seen.. 174kbps, 158kbps, 167kbps.. :D Testing at dslreports.com/mspeed

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

If u are in the US, you could probably improve performance further by visiting the OpenNIC Server Page and changing the values to geographically closer servers.

Ping them to make sure they're up first tho :D

P

[Guest Snoopstah]

Does anyone know what IP ranges T-mobile use? I have my own personal DNS server that I'd like to open up to my T-mobile phone...

(Sorry, I'm not going to release the address - it's running on my ADSL line and while it'll be fine for my own personal use, it's definitely not up to becoming publically accessible)

[Guest Pigo]

does this have a inflluence on dutch server as well or is this UK bound?

Pigo

[Guest jfran]

Does anyone know what IP ranges T-mobile use? I have my own personal DNS server that I'd like to open up to my T-mobile phone...

(Sorry, I'm not going to release the address - it's running on my ADSL line and while it'll be fine for my own personal use, it's definitely not up to becoming publically accessible)

I am not too sure of the ranges, however one of their servers obtained from wap settings is 149.254.001.010.

Hope that helps

Jim

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

does this have a inflluence on dutch server as well or is this UK bound?

Pigo

Should work fine!

P