Comments on: Quick Benchmarks of Google Public DNS v. My Default Comcast Settings: I’m Switching Back http://www.crazyhawt.com/2009/12/03/quick-benchmarks-of-google-public-dns-v-my-default-comcast-settings-im-switching-back/ Technology. Travel. 100% Original Content Wed, 02 Mar 2011 23:22:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Philstuf http://www.crazyhawt.com/2009/12/03/quick-benchmarks-of-google-public-dns-v-my-default-comcast-settings-im-switching-back/comment-page-1/#comment-599 Philstuf Mon, 18 Oct 2010 01:28:43 +0000 http://www.crazyhawt.com/?p=423#comment-599 Wishing no offense, this test is basically invalid. The reason I say this is that DNS, for lack of a better term, is basically the Yellow Pages for the internet. DNS does nothing more than resolve "www.sitename.com" to an IP address. You internet connection and all the routers in between do all the travel. A helpful analogy: The bandwidth test performed above is the equivalent to finding a restaurant's address and seeing how quickly you can drive there. Whether you find the address by looking at the Yellow Pages or by asking a friend will in no way affect the amount of time it takes you to drive from one point to another. If Google was telling your machine the route to the website, then I could see this as an issue, but that is not what DNS does; DNS tells our machines where the destination is, not how to get there or what router through which to hop. Additionally, DNS is like learning where a restaurant is in another way: Once you know the address, you will remember it for a bit (Unless your memory is like mine). This is because DNS lookups are cached on client computers. Windows XP caches DNS lookups for 5 minutes by default, then "forgets" it. After 5 minutes, it has to ask where the site is again. Wishing no offense, this test is basically invalid. The reason I say this is that DNS, for lack of a better term, is basically the Yellow Pages for the internet. DNS does nothing more than resolve “www.sitename.com” to an IP address. You internet connection and all the routers in between do all the travel.

A helpful analogy: The bandwidth test performed above is the equivalent to finding a restaurant’s address and seeing how quickly you can drive there. Whether you find the address by looking at the Yellow Pages or by asking a friend will in no way affect the amount of time it takes you to drive from one point to another.

If Google was telling your machine the route to the website, then I could see this as an issue, but that is not what DNS does; DNS tells our machines where the destination is, not how to get there or what router through which to hop.

Additionally, DNS is like learning where a restaurant is in another way: Once you know the address, you will remember it for a bit (Unless your memory is like mine). This is because DNS lookups are cached on client computers. Windows XP caches DNS lookups for 5 minutes by default, then “forgets” it. After 5 minutes, it has to ask where the site is again.

]]> By: Kevin Hanson http://www.crazyhawt.com/2009/12/03/quick-benchmarks-of-google-public-dns-v-my-default-comcast-settings-im-switching-back/comment-page-1/#comment-310 Kevin Hanson Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:36:19 +0000 http://www.crazyhawt.com/?p=423#comment-310 <a href="#comment-309" rel="nofollow">@juanjux </a> Thanks for the feedback. When I get home, I will update with more relevant tests. That being said, Google mentions that browsing should be snappier, and in nearly all cases, it was slower.... @juanjux
Thanks for the feedback. When I get home, I will update with more relevant tests. That being said, Google mentions that browsing should be snappier, and in nearly all cases, it was slower….

]]> By: juanjux http://www.crazyhawt.com/2009/12/03/quick-benchmarks-of-google-public-dns-v-my-default-comcast-settings-im-switching-back/comment-page-1/#comment-309 juanjux Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:35:50 +0000 http://www.crazyhawt.com/?p=423#comment-309 Pretty stupid test. DNS doesn't affect the transfer rates - it does only affect the latency, the time where the page starts to load, and we're speaking of miliseconds differences here. Pretty stupid test. DNS doesn’t affect the transfer rates – it does only affect the latency, the time where the page starts to load, and we’re speaking of miliseconds differences here.

]]> By: Kevin Hanson http://www.crazyhawt.com/2009/12/03/quick-benchmarks-of-google-public-dns-v-my-default-comcast-settings-im-switching-back/comment-page-1/#comment-308 Kevin Hanson Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:24:54 +0000 http://www.crazyhawt.com/?p=423#comment-308 Interesting - I could run those benchmarks in a week when I get home from business travel, but Google indicated that I should have a faster browser experience. The tabs taking nearly double the time to load isn't faster! That doesn't seem like natural variances. What are your thoughts? Interesting – I could run those benchmarks in a week when I get home from business travel, but Google indicated that I should have a faster browser experience. The tabs taking nearly double the time to load isn’t faster! That doesn’t seem like natural variances. What are your thoughts?

]]> By: Andrew http://www.crazyhawt.com/2009/12/03/quick-benchmarks-of-google-public-dns-v-my-default-comcast-settings-im-switching-back/comment-page-1/#comment-307 Andrew Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:00:50 +0000 http://www.crazyhawt.com/?p=423#comment-307 Changing your DNS won't make a difference to your download/upload speeds, in this case any differences are just natural variances with your connection. All the DNS does is translate the address (google.com for instance), into an IP so the request can go to the appropriate server. What you should be measuring is the response time of the DNS server to your requests. Changing your DNS won’t make a difference to your download/upload speeds, in this case any differences are just natural variances with your connection. All the DNS does is translate the address (google.com for instance), into an IP so the request can go to the appropriate server. What you should be measuring is the response time of the DNS server to your requests.

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