Why bother with Google DNS (or any other third party DNS resolver)?
The web is hot with news of a new, free DNS resolver service powered by Google. A DNS resolver will answer requests from your computer or router and translate names (such as www.geekzone.co.nz) into IP addresses such as 210.48.73.74 - the actual address servers are known by on the Internet.
This is not the first third party DNS resolver server around - other well known services include OpenDNS and DynDNS Internet Guide. These services already offer more feature than Google's free resolver - including automatic blocking of known malware sites, adult sites, custom configuration based on account and your network.
Most users will probably be interested in getting quicker replies to their DNS requests - after all a webpage may contain many invidual items and each will require access to a server, so ultimately just loading a single webpage may require many DNS requests. Obviously this applies to first visits to a domain - most OS or routers will cache DNS responses locally.
But are these third party DNS resolvers faster? I used the DNS Benchmark program to test my ISP's own DNS resolver (TelstraClear), an alternative TelstraClear DNS resolver (old Paradise servers), Telecom DNS resolver, WorldxChange DNS resolver, OpenDNS, DynDNS and Google DNS.
The results, from a New Zealand perspective, are below. As you can see Google DNS is certainly not the fastest of the bunch. Actually both Google DNS resolvers are slower than everything else, except for one of the DynDNS servers (the other DynDNS server is actually faster than Google's).
Another important thing to consider when using a third party DNS is how well your ISP work with services that use a CDN (Content Distribution Network). A CDN uses geographically distributed servers to bring content closer to users. This means when you access content from microsoft.com you might be accessing a server in Singapore, while people in London will access the same content from a server in Europe.
For this to work the DNS resolver will give your computer the DNS to the closest location. When you use a third party DNS resolver, one sitting in the U.S. for example, you will get the wrong "closest" location. On TelstraClear for example this will cause problems with their stateful firewall. Your computer will request some elements from Facebook for example targeting a server in the U.S. but the response comes from a server in Singapore. At this moment their firewall will block the connection - and your browser will be there waiting forever (or for a very long time).
So it's not always great to use a third party DNS resolver - unless you know exactly why and how.
Final benchmark results, sorted by nameserver performance:
(average cached name retrieval speed, fastest to slowest)
203. 96.152. 12 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name | 0.010 | 0.012 | 0.020 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.154 | 0.198 | 0.325 | 0.043 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.156 | 0.226 | 0.334 | 0.062 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
kirsty.paradise.net.nz
TelstraClear Ltd
203. 96.152. 4 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name | 0.010 | 0.013 | 0.017 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.151 | 0.197 | 0.328 | 0.042 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.151 | 0.261 | 0.338 | 0.066 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
rachel.paradise.net.nz
TelstraClear Ltd
58. 28. 6. 2 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name | 0.019 | 0.021 | 0.025 | 0.001 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.019 | 0.021 | 0.026 | 0.001 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.019 | 0.022 | 0.027 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
ns2.wxnz.net
WorldxChange Communications
203. 97. 78. 43 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
+ Cached Name | 0.019 | 0.021 | 0.025 | 0.001 | 100.0 |
+ Uncached Name | 0.147 | 0.188 | 0.302 | 0.032 | 100.0 |
+ DotCom Lookup | 0.150 | 0.257 | 0.332 | 0.069 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
ns1.acld.clix.net.nz
TelstraClear Ltd
203. 97. 78. 44 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
+ Cached Name | 0.019 | 0.022 | 0.028 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
+ Uncached Name | 0.148 | 0.191 | 0.319 | 0.040 | 100.0 |
+ DotCom Lookup | 0.148 | 0.230 | 0.338 | 0.061 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
ns2.acld.clix.net.nz
TelstraClear Ltd
202. 27.158. 40 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name | 0.019 | 0.022 | 0.028 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.153 | 0.209 | 0.332 | 0.046 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.147 | 0.168 | 0.208 | 0.019 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
dnsc1.xtra.co.nz
Telecom Xtra ISP.
202. 27.156. 72 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name | 0.018 | 0.026 | 0.186 | 0.024 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.150 | 0.209 | 0.327 | 0.045 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.146 | 0.172 | 0.209 | 0.021 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
dnsc2.xtra.co.nz
Telecom Xtra ISP.
216.146. 35. 35 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name | 0.146 | 0.149 | 0.154 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.150 | 0.210 | 0.322 | 0.056 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.151 | 0.225 | 0.312 | 0.055 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
resolver1.dyndnsinternetguide.com
Dynamic Network Services
208. 67.222.222 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name | 0.146 | 0.149 | 0.157 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.148 | 0.212 | 0.345 | 0.057 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.150 | 0.267 | 0.336 | 0.056 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
resolver1.opendns.com
OpenDNS, LLC
208. 67.220.220 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name | 0.146 | 0.149 | 0.158 | 0.003 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.148 | 0.230 | 0.588 | 0.091 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.149 | 0.248 | 0.321 | 0.060 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
resolver2.opendns.com
OpenDNS, LLC
8. 8. 8. 8 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name | 0.177 | 0.192 | 0.477 | 0.046 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.181 | 0.245 | 0.485 | 0.074 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.192 | 0.297 | 0.386 | 0.066 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
google-public-dns-a.google.com
Level 3 Communications
8. 8. 4. 4 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name | 0.177 | 0.198 | 0.399 | 0.053 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.182 | 0.259 | 0.485 | 0.079 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.193 | 0.301 | 0.402 | 0.068 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
google-public-dns-b.google.com
Level 3 Communications
216.146. 36. 36 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- Cached Name | 0.212 | 0.214 | 0.219 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
- Uncached Name | 0.214 | 0.282 | 0.492 | 0.062 | 100.0 |
- DotCom Lookup | 0.231 | 0.277 | 0.335 | 0.034 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
resolver2.dyndnsinternetguide.com
Dynamic Network Services
58. 28. 4. 2 | The DNS server at this IP address is
actively refusing to answer queries made by this client.
It should not be used for normal client-based resolution.
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
ns1.wxnz.net
WorldxChange Communications
UTC: 2009-12-05, from 04:51:33 to 04:52:26, for 00:52.613
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Comment by foobar, on 7-Dec-2009 06:05
I have found that there are several sites, which I cannot access when I go through my ISP's DNS. For example, while I may be able to access my LinkedIn profile, I won't be able to send messages on that site or accept invitations ... until I switch to something like OpenDNS. I'm assuming any overseas DNS might do in that case.
Likewise, a few days ago I suddenly could not connect to python.org anymore. Again, a switch to OpenDNS solved this.
I'm not quite certain why that is the case for me, but that's what's been happening for quite a while now.
All of this was annoying enough for me to permanently configure OpenDNS for my network connections now. Like you I compared the response times for Google's DNS to OpenDNS. Google was slower, so I saw no reason to switch.
Comment by Cory von Wallenstein, on 7-Dec-2009 16:03
Great writeup Mauricio. It's always great to see users putting together real data, analysis and reports from the field.
We're turning up a few more datacenters for DynDNS.com Internet Guide in the next 2 weeks, so stay tuned for even faster query resolution.
Cory von Wallenstein
VP, Product Management
Dynamic Network Services Inc.
Comment by d3Xt3r, on 12-Dec-2009 21:55
Any ideas how DNS Advantage fares?
I've always prefered it over OpenDNS due to their larger global spread. They have a server in Sydney so I think it should compare more decently with a local ISP's DNS server..
Comment by Athlonite, on 24-Dec-2009 01:20
the 58.28.4.2 ip returns a ping of
Ping statistics for 58.28.4.2:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 49ms, Maximum = 51ms, Average = 49ms
and i find thatt some sites are a wee bit slower to load using OpenDNS but it's most reliable and blocks stuff i don't want my 9yr old son having access to
Comment by Max, on 18-Mar-2010 23:25
Compared to Telecom DNS, Big Time, I've noticed using Google DNS does improve load times for international traffic, at the moment Telecom is having huge issues, from Pro to Big Time, for example, Steam would login/load much faster, compared to Telecom DNS, you have to wait 30 or more seconds, or Gmail actually loading.
If I'm editing or working on a site, with the host located somewhere in the USA, it seems Google DNS is better, with page load times etc.
What the hell is wrong with Telecom, suddenly everything goes slow...
Comment by Andrew, on 19-Sep-2010 21:08
Hi,
Hope someone might be able to help.
Ive been playing around and changing the DNS on my Ipad and when using Google DNS 8.8.8.8 I find youtube definitely buffers more quickly ( a lot quicker) - however, the app store and numerous web sites dont work - Im guessing its definitely related to the issue Mauricio raised with telstraclear.
Has anyone else noticed this / has a fix ? From the various forums Ive read outside NZ, no one has a similar problem, so Im guessing its a telstraclear/NZ prob
Thanks - Andrew
Comment by Andrew, on 20-Sep-2010 17:48
Thanks for the response.
I was hoping there might be some solution to get youtube working faster ... it may not be TCL problem but appears strange that youtube runs slower using their DNS.
At the moment, whenever I watch a youtube video, I change DNS to 8.8.8.8 - hardly ideal, but at least I dont need to wait for ever for it to buffer :-)
Thanks again.
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Comment by naggyman, on 5-Dec-2009 18:18
FYI: The ip address you have takes you to http://www.iis.net/