Thread: Slow BroadBand speed due to DNS - A myth?

Hi All

Very frequently I have come across suggestions in this (and other forums) to switch to 'OpenDNS' or other DNS servers in place of the BSNL DNS to overcome slow broadband speeds.

IMHO this is a myth and can someone explain how this is going to increase the 'Throughput'?? Given the fact that a DNS server is nothing but a database which resolves the hostname to an IP address i.e when you type microsoft.com in your browser, you are redirected (internally) to some IP such as 61.2.59.45 by the DNS server. Granted that due to a slow/unresponsive DNS server the first time you are getting your hostname resolved could be slow and also granted that if you very frequently browse to different urls on different hosts then each time the DNS lookup (if slow) is going to take time, due to which your browsing experience can be quite slow.. however... Can some one explain that if I am downloading from a site say rapidshare.com why would the throughput (i.e download speed) get any better if I use OpenDNS instead of the BSNL DNS???

What we need to understand is that the 'throughput' i.e download speed is what we need to look at - this is a factor of so many things - your modem / PC condition, distance from exchange, any 'cap' on bandwidth if set, Line conditions such as attentuation (which is mostly fixed and depends on your homes distance from exchange) and SNR (which can vary depending upon line conditions and also equipment- modem/pc conditions, internal wiriing etc)

Even if you have an excellent connection the server from which you download may not be responsive/may have high traffic so that the actual download speed you get is very less. Torrents download depend upon the number of people downloading/uploading simultaneously and the 'share' allocated to you (which in many cases depends upon the amount of Upload you have done!)

Having said that - I had been experiencing very low throughput on by Home500 (min 256 Kbps max 2Mbps) since last few months. Calls to BSNL did not help at all as they kept saying that some problem was there in their server and now they have fixed it!! Couple of days back I changed my setup (Huwaei MT800 modem) from Bridge mode (using a PPoE dialer) to auto dial (always on mode) (PPoE mode). I tested my download speeds during 6.30 AM to 7.30 AM and did a consistend download for one hour and averaged 1 Mbps (1000 Kbps +) speed over 60 minutes (one massive download). My Attentuation was high at 14/16 and SNR low 9/8. (figures downstream dB/Upstream Db) connection speed was showing as 512 Kb in the modem.

Not sure why it should matter- will try out other possibilites and update

My Attentuation was high at 14/16 and SNR low 9/8. (figures downstream dB/Upstream Db) connection speed was showing as 512 Kb in the modem.

Not sure why it should matter- will try out other possibilites and update

2mbps speeds can be easily achieved with an attn around 35 too.as for SNR being low check in your modem that connection standard/operational mode is G.dmt & not ADSL2.if after all this your line rates still remain low call bsnl to get your line checked.

absolutely correct!!DNS servers only improve browsing speed not your download speed..

Originally Posted by whitestar_999

2mbps speeds can be easily achieved with an attn around 35 too.as for SNR being low check in your modem that connection standard/operational mode is G.dmt & not ADSL2.if after all this your line rates still remain low call bsnl to get your line checked.

@whitestar_999 - Thanx for the tip. I did what you suggested - changed operational mode to G.dmt from Multi mode (there was no ADSL2 mode ) on my Huwei MT 800 modem - saved and rebooted - I did see an improvement in SNR - went up to 20 db downstream / 15 dB upstream. But one thing I noticed was that the ADSL link LED - which should be steady green was steady ORANGE ! (no I am not confusing with the LAN link which if steady green means you are connected at 10Mbps and if orange 100 Mbps). The Huwei manual does not have a mention about theh ADSL link LED being orange !! I could not find an answere to this by googling either !!

Download/thruput has not changed much. Still getting about 1 Mbps download average between 6-8 AM - Max speeds around 1800 Kpbs on my Home 500 connection.

Switched to Bridged mode again (using XP2 built in PPoE dialer) - now I could not connect to the internet with standard/operational mode G.dmt - so had to switch back to the default 'Multi' mode. SNR again dropped back to original values (10 db/ 6 dB downlstream /upstream)- Throughput remained the same. i.e 1 Mbps average.

i am not sure about this but how old is your modem.i think that Huwei MT 800 needs a firmware update because when it was launched BSNL was still using the old networks & didn't started giving 2mbps at all places.i will ask some one who may have some information about this & will post here the exact reply alongwith the link to firmware update if needed.in the meantime if possible get some other modem to check your line & confirm that problem is with modem.try to get a modem which is not more than 1/1.5 years old.MT882 i think works fine.

yes MT882 is fine.. You dont need a firmware upgrade to get 2mbps for this..

@@whitestar_999

My modem details are given below:
Model: MT800 S/W Version: V100R006C01B020SP01
Is this the latest firmware? If not pls do provide link to the latest firmware.
This modem was supplied by BSNL - not sure if they will replace the same with MT882 free of cost!

found this link---
DataOne User Manual

download the firmware upgrade file.it also contains the guide.according to guide this firmware is 21/4/2005 so confirm in the firmware upgrade page that current firmware date is older than this(like 2004 for example as shown in guide).firmware version date is also shown in summary page where its code is also shown.

Originally Posted by whitestar_999

found this link---
DataOne User Manual

download the firmware upgrade file.it also contains the guide.according to guide this firmware is 21/4/2005 so confirm in the firmware upgrade page that current firmware date is older than this(like 2004 for example as shown in guide).firmware version date is also shown in summary page where its code is also shown.

Hi @whitestar_999

Thanx for the same - but not sure if I can use this as my modem is MT800 and the link provides f/w upgrade for MT880.

Yes KayGeeBB you are right.. switching to a more responsive DNS would not increase download speeds but when browsing your page loading times are reduced substantially.

sorry but i couldn't find any firmware updates for MT800.it's a very old modem & only updates i found were in chinese so can't recommend those to you.

Originally Posted by whitestar_999

sorry but i couldn't find any firmware updates for MT800.it's a very old modem & only updates i found were in chinese so can't recommend those to you.

hi

plz give me that chinese ones . they worth more than nothing