June 5, 2009

  • Found something useful!

    Open DNS

    Open DNS is quite possibly the most useful thing you can use to speed up your home network.  And it's free.  All you gotta do is plug in their DNS server addresses into your TCP/IP settings and you're good to go.

    "But Rai," I hear you asking, "what is DNS anyway?"

    In the simplest terms, DNS is the internet's phone book.  It translates URLs and hostnames into IP addresses for your network card to use to connect to other systems.  See, your network card doesn't understand, oh say, http://www.xanga.com  Instead, it uses DNS to translate the URL into Xanga's IP address, which it then uses to connect to the website.

    "But Rai," I hear you asking, "doesn't my ISP already provide me with a DNS service?"

    Yes they do.  Is it secure?  Is it thorough?  They might say it is.  But that could very well be a marketing ploy to get more money out of you.

    Open DNS is thorough and secure.  They provide you with an often updated database of hostnames, domains and their corresponding IP's in order to provide you with a more secure and faster internet experience.  I'm serious about that too.  I have cable internet at home, and I plugged OpenDNS into my router and even I noticed an increase in speed.  It even works with mobile broadband.  I plugged OpenDNS into the DNS settings in the mobile connection for my Sprint Mobile Broadband device and I've noticed a serious speed increase when accessing websites.

    But read up on it for yourself, and try it out.  It's free.  No sign up, no registration, no nothing required.  They provide the DNS server addresses at the bottom of each page of their site.