Basic Internet Connectivity And Modem Help

[DigitalReign]

Does anyone have the DNS Server Names i.e.; DNS1.comcast.net

I have a router and it works faster if I put in the DNS names in the router, rather that have dynamically assign them. Trust me, I know that dynamically assigned works, but for some odd reason the

LinkSys WRRT150NV1 does resolve faster if they are manually entered in the setup. I know it dowsn't make sense, but hold your flames back please  

Thanks for any help in advance.

[EarlyOut]

Um, if you enter a name for the DNS server, instead of an IP address, how can you possibly access that DNS server without resolving its name to an IP address?  Traffic on the Internet relies on IP addresses.  Every name has to be translated into an IP address before any communication can take place.  That's what a DNS server does.  If you don't have an IP address for the DNS server itself, you're dead in the water.

If you want to use faster, more reliable DNS servers than the ones Comcast assigns, use the OpenDNS servers, 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.

[BTK]

Different parts of the country have different Comcast DNS servers.  Try running start -> run -> cmd -> ipconfig /all and it should show the DNS server IP addresses you are currently using.  One problem with hard coding Comcast DNS addresses is that they seem to change occassionally. 

Another issue is that the Comcast DNS servers don't always work as they should.  I recommend the OpenDNS servers at 208.67.220.220 and 208.67.222.222.  The IP addresses are static and they seem to work consistently.

[DigitalReign]

Thanks BTK, I'll test those as well. What is the BTK stand for? Hopefully not like the serial killer BTK...

Yes, of course EasyOut. I was going to ping the name to get the IP address. But thanks for the info. I found a list of DNS servers and they had some Comcast DNS servers in Huntsville, Ala. that had some quicker response times. The one for speakeasy in Atlanta had 20ms response times compared to 40-50ms for my current comcast DNS servers. BTW, I tested my connection (Vista Ultimate, Intel P4 3.4GHz, 2G PC 3700, N-Band MIMO Wireless) through the speakeasy.net speed test site, http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ , and got 17,634kbps.

United States DNS Servers:

Adelphia
67.21.13.4 Los Angeles, CA
67.21.13.2 Los Angeles, CA
24.48.217.226 Santa Monica, CA
24.48.217.227 Santa Monica, CA
68.168.1.42 Florida
68.168.1.46 Florida

Bellsouth Fast access DSL:
Georgia
205.152.37.23
205.152.37.24
205.152.37.25
205.152.144.24
205.152.144.25

Comcast (pick the nearest!)
68.87.66.196 Comcast (national) Primary DNS Server.
68.87.64.196 Comcast Secondary DNS Server.
68.57.32.5 (Virginia)
68.57.32.6 (Virginia)
216.148.227.68 (Denver, Colorado)
204.127.202.4 (Denver, Colorado)
68.42.244.5 (Taylor, Michigan)
68.42.244.6 (Taylor, Michigan)
68.62.160.5 (Huntsville, Alabama)
68.62.160.6 (Huntsville, Alabama)
68.87.96.3 (Pennsylvania)
68.87.96.4 (Pennsylvania)

Speakeasy (pick any two!)
66.93.87.2 (Washington state and Oregon)
216.231.41.2 (Washington DC - probably)
216.254.95.2 (NY, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania)
64.81.45.2 (Los Angeles, California)
64.81.111.2 (Denver, Colorado)
64.81.127.2 (Dallas, Texas)
64.81.79.2 (Sacramento, California)
64.81.159.2 (Baltimore and Washington DC)
66.92.64.2 (Boston, Massachusetts)
66.92.224.2 (Philadelphia)
66.92.159.2 (Washington DC)
216.27.175.2 (Atlanta, Georgia. Serves Florida too)

Adelphia
67.21.13.4 Los Angeles, CA
67.21.13.2 Los Angeles, CA
24.48.217.226 Santa Monica, CA
24.48.217.227 Santa Monica, CA
68.168.1.42 Florida
68.168.1.46 Florida

Bellsouth Fast access DSL:
Georgia
205.152.37.23
205.152.37.24
205.152.37.25
205.152.144.24
205.152.144.25

Comcast (pick the nearest!)
68.87.66.196 Comcast (national) Primary DNS Server.
68.87.64.196 Comcast Secondary DNS Server.
68.57.32.5 (Virginia)
68.57.32.6 (Virginia)
216.148.227.68 (Denver, Colorado)
204.127.202.4 (Denver, Colorado)
68.42.244.5 (Taylor, Michigan)
68.42.244.6 (Taylor, Michigan)
68.62.160.5 (Huntsville, Alabama)
68.62.160.6 (Huntsville, Alabama)
68.87.96.3 (Pennsylvania)
68.87.96.4 (Pennsylvania)

Speakeasy (pick any two!)
66.93.87.2 (Washington state and Oregon)
216.231.41.2 (Washington DC - probably)
216.254.95.2 (NY, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania)
64.81.45.2 (Los Angeles, California)
64.81.111.2 (Denver, Colorado)
64.81.127.2 (Dallas, Texas)
64.81.79.2 (Sacramento, California)
64.81.159.2 (Baltimore and Washington DC)
66.92.64.2 (Boston, Massachusetts)
66.92.224.2 (Philadelphia)
66.92.159.2 (Washington DC)
216.27.175.2 (Atlanta, Georgia. Serves Florida too)
) and had 17,630kbps to Atlanta<Ga

United States of America

Adelphia
67.21.13.4 Los Angeles, CA
67.21.13.2 Los Angeles, CA
24.48.217.226 Santa Monica, CA
24.48.217.227 Santa Monica, CA
68.168.1.42 Florida
68.168.1.46 Florida

Bellsouth Fast access DSL:
Georgia
205.152.37.23
205.152.37.24
205.152.37.25
205.152.144.24
205.152.144.25

Comcast (pick the nearest!)
68.87.66.196 Comcast (national) Primary DNS Server.
68.87.64.196 Comcast Secondary DNS Server.
68.57.32.5 (Virginia)
68.57.32.6 (Virginia)
216.148.227.68 (Denver, Colorado)
204.127.202.4 (Denver, Colorado)
68.42.244.5 (Taylor, Michigan)
68.42.244.6 (Taylor, Michigan)
68.62.160.5 (Huntsville, Alabama)
68.62.160.6 (Huntsville, Alabama)
68.87.96.3 (Pennsylvania)
68.87.96.4 (Pennsylvania)

Speakeasy (pick any two!)
66.93.87.2 (Washington state and Oregon)
216.231.41.2 (Washington DC - probably)
216.254.95.2 (NY, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania)
64.81.45.2 (Los Angeles, California)
64.81.111.2 (Denver, Colorado)
64.81.127.2 (Dallas, Texas)
64.81.79.2 (Sacramento, California)
64.81.159.2 (Baltimore and Washington DC)
66.92.64.2 (Boston, Massachusetts)
66.92.224.2 (Philadelphia)
66.92.159.2 (Washington DC)
216.27.175.2 (Atlanta, Georgia. Serves Florida too)

Message Edited by DigitalReign on 06-05-200702:43 PM

Message Edited by DigitalReign on 06-05-200702:46 PM

[EarlyOut]

Just remember that using another provider's DNS servers, unless they have explicitly made them public, can be considered theft of service.  That's why I suggested the OpenDNS servers.

[DigitalReign]

Wow,

didn't know using DNS servers that were not 'explicitly public' was considered theft of service! Thanks for pointing out that little bit of information. 2 of those are Comcast's servers, but speakeasy I will have to find out about. Again, thanks for all of your assistance, it is much appreciated!

Message Edited by DigitalReign on 06-05-200708:10 PM

[EarlyOut]

---

DigitalReign wrote:

didn't know using DNS servers that were not 'explicitly public' was considered theft of service!

---

A fine point, admittedly, and something that's probably never actually pursued.  But if you launched a nationwide campaign to get everyone to use, say, the Level3 DNS servers, they might come after you!

[EG]

If these providers really wanted to keep their DNS Servers from being accessed by the public, they could easily do so... 

[Barmar]

I used to work at Level(3). "could do so" is true, but "could easily do so" is probably not. Making a list of all the customer addresses can be difficult. Unlike residential ISPs, Level(3) customers don't always get addresses from the ISP's address blocks. Many of Level(3)'s customers are large businesses and smaller ISPs, who have their own address blocks. When I worked there we had no central list of all of them, and I'll bet this hasn't changed.

And even if the list can be generated, it would be huge. I'm not sure if BIND's access list checking is designed to handle enormous lists efficiently, so this could be a severe performance problem. So rather than try to configure an inclusive ACL, we dealt with abuse on a case-by-case basis when necessary.

[jimwest]

There seems to be a strange problem from time to time with the Comcast assigned IP addresses. You might try automatically forcing the Comcast DHCP system into assigning you another IP address. For detailed information on this particular problem and solution see the article: Forcing Comcast to New IP Address

http://jimwarholic.com/2007/05/forcing-comcast-to-new-ip-address.php

[EG]

---

Barmar wrote:
I used to work at Level(3). "could do so" is true, but "could easily do so" is probably not. Making a list of all the customer addresses can be difficult. Unlike residential ISPs, Level(3) customers don't always get addresses from the ISP's address blocks. Many of Level(3)'s customers are large businesses and smaller ISPs, who have their own address blocks. When I worked there we had no central list of all of them, and I'll bet this hasn't changed.

And even if the list can be generated, it would be huge. I'm not sure if BIND's access list checking is designed to handle enormous lists efficiently, so this could be a severe performance problem. So rather than try to configure an inclusive ACL, we dealt with abuse on a case-by-case basis when necessary.

---

Understood and agreed Barmar. My usage of the term "easily" was likely used out of context. 

[j2raw85]

EarlyOut,

I'm very interested in OpenDNS but I wasn't sure about all the hype and if it really worked. What I mean is does it really improve our ability to resolve sites faster or does it work so well that we don't even notice it?

[EarlyOut]

---

j2raw85 wrote:

EarlyOut,

I'm very interested in OpenDNS but I wasn't sure about all the hype and if it really worked. What I mean is does it really improve our ability to resolve sites faster or does it work so well that we don't even notice it?

---

They claim better speed, but that will depend a lot on where you are, and which Comcast DNS servers you would otherwise be connected to.  The real advantage is that the Comcast DNS servers have established a reputation for being wildly unreliable.  For a while, they were refusing to resolve the IP addresses for certain Microsoft download sites!!  This doesn't seem to happen with OpenDNS.

In any event, it's not a marriage - you can plug in those servers and try them for a while.  You can always go back to the automatic assignments from Comcast.

[Barmar]

---

EarlyOut wrote:
In any event, it's not a marriage - you can plug in those servers and try them for a while.  You can always go back to the automatic assignments from Comcast.

---

I'm sorry, Comcast DNS servers, it's just not working out between us. I value our friendship, but I've fallen for another DNS service.

[DigitalReign]

I have tried the OpenDNS servers (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220) that EarlyOut and BTK recommended and their performance (and legality) are much better than comcast's name servers.

Again, thanks for the replies and information!

OpenDNS website:   http://www.opendns.com/