Open DNS & Browser observations

Post by **FZ1** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:29 pm

I was messing with open DNS (http://www.opendns.com) to see if it had an impact on my bandwidth and page loading speeds. I couldn't really see much of a difference. However, what I did notice is the speed difference between the browsers.

I have Firefox, Opera and IE7 (all latest non-beta versions). Testing using the bandwidth meter here (http://reviews.cnet.com/7004-7254_7-0.html) my average Kbps with Opera was ~ 3400 Kbps but with Firefox and IE7 were around 4400 Kbps. I didn't want to spend a lot of time moneying with it but I was wondering if anyone else noticed this or can test it and compare?

Post by **dicecca112** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:48 pm

is Firefox Speed Tweaked either manually via about:config or with an extension

Post by **FZ1** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:51 pm

Yes...I forgot about that...I'm using FasterFox. I wonder if there is a similar tweak for Opera?

Post by **FZ1** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:59 pm

I found a few tweaks for Opera:

opera:config
- Performance
-- Max Connections Server: 16
-- Max Connections Total: 64
-- Network Buffer Size: 32
-- Uncheck --> Reduce Max Persistent HTTP Connections

Also, Go to Tools --> Preferences --> Advanced --> Browsing --> Try Redraw instantly (loading zone)

Doing this kicked my avg Kbps to ~3900

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:12 pm

IF your ISP keeps their DNS records upto date on fast server(s) there should be no need for opendns.......@ least not for speed. Their anti-phishing system is not a bad idea though.

DNS will not speed up your connection...per say. You will find the webpages sooner.
Most people don't know that win2k & xp stores your dns queries in an internal cache on your hdd. It can (sometimes) speed up web searches, since the OS only has to query it's own cache instead of doing a lookup via your internet connection. Of course this only works with sites visited before.
The problem with this is, the cache gets big and outdated (sites, mail servers etc. can change their IP) and it takes xp longer to query it's (incomplete & outdated) cache than querying your isp's server. Plus if xp's cache is outdated, it will still need to lookup via your isp.

I recommend every XP / Win2k user to run the following command about once every 2mths.

Start / Run / Type "ipconfig/flushdns"

This will delete the internal (crappy) cache in XP.
Give it a try........you should see a nice boost ;) (download speeds will be un-affected, other tweaks are needed there)

You should run the above command between your speed tests with different browsers too. Also manually specifying your isp's DNS server address's on your lan/wlan connection would help alot.

Sorry to go on, but I deal with this kinda stuff all day in work and I'm learning DNS @ the mo'.

Post by **FZ1** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:17 pm

kenc51 wrote: Start / Run / Type "ipconfig/flushdns"

This will delete the internal (crappy) cache in XP.
Give it a try........you should see a nice boost ;) (download speeds will be un-affected, other tweaks are needed there)[/i]

Good tip but I couldn't get that to work?

Post by **FZ1** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:18 pm

Ahhhh...type CMD <enter> then ipconfig/flushdns

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:19 pm

FZ1 wrote:Ahhhh...type CMD <enter> then ipconfig/flushdns

Dohh....Sorry forgot that