Possibly solved - just spoke to my Internet provider; they tested the line and found some errors including DNS problems. So it looks like it was intermittent hardware problems in my providers network.
** Changed in: bind9 (Ubuntu) Status: New => Invalid -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Server Team, which is subscribed to bind9 in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/748887 Title: DNS resolving seems to be failing often and is taking way too long. -- Ubuntu-server-bugs mailing list Ubuntu-server-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-server-bugs