September 9th, 2006 at 11:51 pm
For simplicity sake, there are two factors that make your internet browsing experience faster:
- your physical network connection (wiring/cabling and type of connection i.e. ADSL/DSL, Cable Modem etc.)
- a good Domain Name System (DNS)
What exactly is DNS?
DNS, or Domain Name System, translates the human addresses of websites and servers (e.g. like thefoologs.com, google.com, yahoo.com) to the numerical IP addresses used by computers (e.g. 207.142.131.203). In essence, the internet is made up of IP addresses, and since not everyone can remember a string of numbers as well as Einstein does, DNS makes it easier by allowing us to remember names instead.
Therefore, every time you send an email or visit a web page, you are using DNS services. It is estimated that most people make at least 100 DNS requests every day. By default, most people’s DNS settings are pointing to their ISP or other large organizations (like Microsoft) which run DNS servers.
So how does DNS make your browsing experience faster?
Well, DNS services run on large servers and big caches. A cache is a virtual storage mechanism that stores information/data so that it can be quickly retrieved. In this case, information on a particular website that is stored in the server’s cache will in theory load up faster on your web browser. So the bigger the cache, the more information is stored, the faster the site is loaded.
Now, I stress the fact that this is a “very simplistic” view on the principle of DNS services and caches. I don’t really want to go into the nuts and bolts of it as I don’t think it is particularly relevant to this post nor do I believe it is interesting enough to keep you awake.
Lets get to the point!
Now that I got those explainations out of the way, I want to concentrate on the main purpose of this post i.e. that is to share with you a Free DNS service called OpenDNS. You can see in detail how OpenDNS makes you have a better surfing experience here.
I have been experiencing in the past couple of years with my DSL provider, that some of my browsing experiences have been slower than usual and I have that occasional “hiccup” where it takes more than the usual time to load up. Although it could have been a mixture of factors, I have kind of narrowed it down to DNS and have looked into ways to optimize this area. I have been wanting to setup my own DNS system at home for years (yes, the geek in me) but I just don’t want to spend the time trying to maintain it etc.
I was recently delighted to find OpenDNS, a California based company which allows free access to their huge DNS system across the globe. So by tweaking your internet router settings to include their DNS addresses i.e. 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220, you are essentially bypassing the DNS system of your ISP and using theirs instead. With the advantage of them having bigger caches, a global network system and partnerships with other big network providers, it allows for a faster web browsing experience.
2 more advantages of it is that by using OpenDNS:
- It makes your internet surfing safer. OpenDNS can identify and stop sites trying to phish (steal) your personal information or money. The OpenDNS phishing protection works with all operating systems and browsers, and complements any other security measures already in use, such as a firewall and anti-virus software.
- It makes your browser smarter. OpenDNS makes corrections for common spelling mistakes, on the fly. That means when you are typing fast and type yahoo.cmo instead of yahoo.com you still get there. No annoying pop-ups or evil spyware installed because you made a typo.
I have just started using OpenDNS in the last couple of days and have experienced tremendous improvement. Two examples, 2 websites that are in my “daily surfs” Blogexplosion and ESPN.com have been very slow in loading up (to the extent that they sometimes timeout on me) but since I have used OpenDNS, I have not seen any “hiccups” (yet). I am interested to compare the timing latencies of using OpenDNS against not using it - I’ll do it when I have more time.
So how do you use it?
There is no software to install and your firewall, antivirus, spam installation can still stay in place, so those are plus points. First thing is to note down what DSL or Cable modem router you are using. Then you can go to the OpenDNS “Get Started” page to choose the set of instructions tailored to your specific router model. Save your router settings, restart your browser and visit http://welcome.opendns.com to test your new settings.
You should see the Welcome page from OpenDNS, as shown below.
From then on … you just enjoy a painless and fast internet connection!
Troubleshooting
If you see the “Oops” page, please try two more tests, in case the Welcome page was improperly cached.
- First, visit our demonstration site internetbadguys.com. If you were successful in switching to OpenDNS, it should be blocked as a phishing site. Otherwise, it will tell you that it’s a demonstration site.
- Second, make a deliberate typo in the TLD, like craigslist.og and see if it resolves to craigslist.org. If you are using OpenDNS, you will be taken to the classifieds site. If you are not, you will get your default browser error page.
Final Toughts
OpenDNS is just super! I am not particularly sure how they do it and how they can provide such an invaluable service to the customer even when they claim to get money like almost every other free service out there on the internet - advertising. Bottom line is that I don’t care, I am not complaining and I am going to continue using it for a long time - it is after all FREE!
(Source information and graphics courtesy of OpenDNS)
7 Responses to “OpenDNS: Speed up your browsing experience”
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Mark said: @ 9:51 am
September 10th, 2006
Thanks for being my tenant this week! I’ve been having some template issues and wasn’t able to do any new work so far this weekend. ( Here’s hoping I get some idea’s in a hurry! ) If this has a dramatic impact on your rental stats at all, I’ll gladly refund your credits at the end of the week.
Regards
Mark
P.S. … nice blog!
Grins said: @ 12:13 pm
September 10th, 2006
Welcome to the Dinner Party Foo!
kristarella said: @ 11:19 pm
September 10th, 2006
Gee, sounds scary. I feel like I’ve been signing up for things, downloading things, and installing things left right and center (I realise OpenDNS only covers 1/3 of these things). Of course safer, faster internet is not something to sniff at, unless you like the smell of safety :P
John Roberts said: @ 2:06 pm
September 13th, 2006
Not sure how I missed this until now, but thanks for the kind words and complete writeup. If you do run benchmarks of any kind, please tell us (and the world) about them — we’re interested in real-world numbers about the differences in speed.
Cheers,
John Roberts
OpenDNS
The Foo said: @ 2:18 pm
September 13th, 2006
Hi John, OpenDNS is excellent!!!! I have not had a single “hiccup” so far. Everything is loading up more efficiently. I know which websites were “slower” before and now they are just loading up seemlessly. Haven’t come across a phishing site yet though - maybe I am just “lucky”. I do have to run some test just to appease myself when I have the time and yes I will publish it without hesitation. I have no doubts that it would show vast improvements in load times. Please put me on your mailing list for updates as they come around - I am a big fan. You guys are giving me a “priceless” service.
John Roberts said: @ 2:21 pm
September 13th, 2006
We don’t have a mailling list, per se, but we post pretty regularly at http://blog.opendns.com/ which has (of course) a feed.
Cheers,
John
OpenDNS
The Foo said: @ 2:23 pm
September 13th, 2006
Thanks. The blog has just been put on my RSS reader.