d6jg wrote: > I think the assumption that the "internal network is Ok" may be only > half true. A lot of the BBC rebuffering / stuttering issues are to do > with poorly performing DNS. > > I think it is fair to say that most people dont really understand the > importance of DNS or how it works (or more accurately doesn't work) in > certain situations. > > A "normal" home network has its DNS settings for all the clients > provided by the DHCP server in the router (that was probably provided > FOC by your ISP and its ability reflects the cost). > > Assuming your router is 192.168.1.1. > If you bring up a command prompt and do "ipconfig /all" you will > probably see that your assigned DNS server is the same IP - 192.168.1.1. > So your PC is using your router as its means of resolving IP addresses - > except it isn't. The router is acting as a DNS relay and behind the > scenes is sending your request to your ISPs DNS servers. Your PC and the > router may also be doing some caching. > > The problem here is a) the Router is usually a low cost device and the > DNS relay can often fail or be very slow and b) your ISPs DNS servers > may not be the best in terms of speed. > > Bring up the command prompt again and do "nslookup" and hit enter - if > you see 192.168.1.1 or whatever your router's IP address is then you > have the above config. > > Now type at the new > you see - "www.bbc.co.uk" and hit enter. > > Judge for yourself the response time as the router goes off to your > ISP's DNS server and passes on the result. > > Now type at the > prompt "server 8.8.8.8" and hit enter. > > What you are doing is switching your PC to temporarily use Google's > public DNS server. > > Type "www.bbc.co.uk" at the > at hit enter. > > It is highly likely that you will see the speed difference for > yourself. > > Ignore " marks - these are just for emphasis. To exit from nslookup type > exit and hit enter and close the command prompt window. > > The upshot of all this is that you will almost certainly get better > results if you use Google's public DNS servers - 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. > You can change the network settings on your PC from "Get DNS servers > automatically" to these IPs or you could change the DHCP settings in > your router if it allows you to do so. > > You may be very surprised at just how much faster the "whole internet" > becomes just by changing DNS servers. > > NB Some other DNS servers are as a quick as Google's but don't assume > your ISP's ones are.
This was very informative and useful. I am currently using my BT Router as my DNS Server. Google was slightly quicker (I think) certainly no slower. I will try out when the network is more busy. Many thanks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLACforever's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=65019 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=106230 _______________________________________________ plugins mailing list plugins@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/plugins
