[TriLUG] ATT gigabit internet quick review

[Scott Chilcote via TriLUG]

Hi All,

Just a quick pointer...  If you're choosing your own DNSes, you can use
google code's namebench utility to benchmark  free/open DNS servers to
see which one(s) give the fastest results for your location and service
provider.  I found that while they're easy to remember, google's DNSes
are typically a few rows down in the results for my TWCBC service.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16372/find-a-faster-dns-server-with-namebench/

   Scott C.

<http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16372/find-a-faster-dns-server-with-namebench/>
On 12/05/2016 01:15 AM, Wes Garrison via TriLUG wrote:
> Thanks for pointing that out, David.
>
> Sorry, I meant that TWC/Charter doesn't limit your ability to use
> nameservers of your choice, but I think I was answering the wrong question.
>
> I also use Google's nameservers, or Verizon's old Level3 DNS (4.2.2.2 and
> 4.2.2.1).  OpenDNS (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220) is another
> alternative, but some people feel that it messes with DNS too much, similar
> to the problems discussed above.
>
> I have found TWC DNS servers to be slow and unreliable in the past (often
> went down for hours at a time) but have had fewer problems with them
> recently.
>
> -Wes
>
>
>
> _________________________________
> Wesley S. Garrison
> Network Engineer
> Xitech Communications, Inc.
> phone:  (919) 260-0803
> fax:       (919) 932-5051
> __________________________________
> "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from email."
>
> On Mon, Dec 5, 2016 at 12:37 AM, David Burton <ncdave4life at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> TWC has been doing this for a long time. That's why I've configured my
>> router to use Google's nameservers (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4).
>>
>> *C:\>nslookup insert-bogus-name-here.com
>> <http://insert-bogus-name-here.com>*
>> *Server:  google-public-dns-a.google.com
>> <http://google-public-dns-a.google.com>*
>> *Address:  8.8.8.8*
>>
>> **** google-public-dns-a.google.com
>> <http://google-public-dns-a.google.com> can't find
>> insert-bogus-name-here.com <http://insert-bogus-name-here.com>:
>> Non-existent domain*
>>
>> *C:\>nslookup insert-bogus-name-here.com
>> <http://insert-bogus-name-here.com> 209.18.47.62*
>> *Server:  dns-cac-lb-02.rr.com <http://dns-cac-lb-02.rr.com>*
>> *Address:  209.18.47.62*
>>
>> *Non-authoritative answer:*
>> *Name:    insert-bogus-name-here.com <http://insert-bogus-name-here.com>*
>> *Addresses:  198.105.244.228*
>> *          198.105.254.228*
>>
>> *C:\>*
>>
>>
>> Guess what you see when you go to http://198.105.244.228/ or
>> http://198.105.254.228/? Advertising, of course, with the revenue going
>> to TWC/Spectrum.
>>
>> Dave
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Dec 4, 2016 at 10:58 PM, Wes Garrison via TriLUG <
>> trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
>>
>>> I've never had Charter or TWC mess with DNS, but anything's possible
>>> nowadays.
>> *...[snip]... *
>>
>>>>> On Sun, Dec 4, 2016 at 10:15 PM, ac via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org>
>>>>> wrote:
>>> *...[snip]... *
>>>>>> For normal users though, ATT forcing only their own DNS servers
>>>>>> means that the ATT service is not an "Internet" but an "Intranet"
>>>>>> as ATT also answers for non registered (or not yet registered)
>>>>>> domains, they can also decide to answer anything in any way they
>>>>>> choose and normal users would not know.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> For example they could answer questions for insert-name-here.com as
>>>>>> att.com, or just say "not found" - normal users would be clueless.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When providers interfere and control the Internet egress to this
>>>>>> degree
>>>>>> - it is no longer an 'internet' (its like the Intranet in China
>>>>>> where users also have to do some interesting routing to be able to
>>>>>> have some temporary privacy)
>>


-- 
Scott Chilcote
scottchilcote at ncrrbiz.com
Cary, NC USA