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DNS drops out multiple times per day.

searcher

For months I've been having a problem where I can't connect to any web sites at random times throughout the day. These outages may only last a few minutes. Recently these events have become more frequent and more aggravating. The internet connection is not lost. I can connect using the IP address and any streaming activity in progress will continue to function. I have two computers wired to the dsl modem and one wireless laptop. They all exhibit the same symptoms at the same time so I know without a doubt that it is not related to my computer's hardware or configuration. There is also no doubt that the problem is DNS related.

A frustrating call to technical support resulted in the "technician" trying to lead me through flushing my DNS cache on one of my systems. It didn't matter that I told him that at that moment the system was functioning, and it wasn't related to this single computer. When the command he told me to enter failed to function as he expected, I was told that DNS issues were beyond the scope of this level of technical support and that I probably had a hardware problem with my computer. I was told that I could talk to "Expert Care" for a fee. I then asked to be given the phone number, email address or mailing address of a manager that I could talk to about this issue. He would not answer. I then requested the number for "Expert Care" and was told that he can't give me that number until I agree to pay a fee. He asked me to hold on while he contacted "Expert Care." When he returned, he told me that "Expert Care" didn't have the resources to handle DNS issues. He had no answer for where I go from here. He once again said I probably had a hardware problem with my computer. This leaves this community as the only option for some answer.

I have a Westell A90-750015 provided by Verizon as my DSL modem. This must be set up as the DNS proxy since all of my systems have this device DHCP configured as the DSL. The problem must be here or in Verizon's DNS server or servers. The actual DNS IP address was another piece of information that support wouldn't give me.

Can anybody provide some insight on how to get this problem resolved?

Accepted answers

somegirl

You might try changing your DNS servers to something different. I've heard suggested that OpenDNS is a good way to go, but haven't tried it personally. I have occasionally set 4.2.2.1 or 4.2.2.2 as my alternate DNS server when I'm having trouble. If you need assistance in how to change these settings let me know. (Tech support *should* be able to walk you through it, but I certainly can't make any promises.)

All comments

somegirl

searcher

Good idea! Thanks. I set up one of my systems to use the free level of OpenDns. The initial connection is much slower with this, but it does work. For now I'll use the dsl modem DNS proxy for the primary DNS and OpenDsl as a secondary DNS. That should take care of the daily aggrevation of not be able to connect. I wished I could switch my ISP to somebody other than Verizon, but for me they are the only game in town. With tech support like they have, they don't deserve to have customers.

Mata

Thanks your efforts to get this Internet slowdown question solved, because I haven't been able to get past "the DSL speed is just fine." Could you tell me if the DNS problem would affect access to email via Windows Mail?

jmw1950

DNS issues will slow down the initial connect to the POP3/SMTP servers, because the initial connection depends upon name resolution provided by the DNS. However once the name has been resolved, the DNS usually doesn't impact mail delivery.

The exception is the display of mail which contains images hosted on the web (as opposed to being sent as attachments). Each URL needs name resolution from a DNS somewhere. So a non performing DNS can make it take a long time to start downloading your email, or displaying any embeded web content in the mail.

Basically a slow, or non-performing DNS pretty well 'gums up' the works of anything that names URL to IP resolution.

I gave up on Verizon's DNS service a long time ago, and went to openDNS. They are much more reliable.

2way

I've had issues w/losing the DNS server w/FiOS as well. The Router records a failover warning in the Log. I also can't traceroute to anything using the Router's internal Troubleshooting Tools when this happens. However, the computer that is hard-wire ethernet connected to the router and is set up as DMZ isn't troubled by this problem at all when I lose the DNS. From all that I can tell, that connection is set to use the same DNS. So, this makes very little sense to me.

I may set up OpenDNS as the secondary as some of you others have and see if it, at least, prevents toally losing browsing.

tomnlhe

I have the same problem. Tried customer support multiple times with no luck.

I also tried various public DNS servers and that didn't improve things either. (I have 6 different DNS servers in my ip config)

As far as I can figure out it happens when there is a flood of DNS requests at one time. Pages that pull content from a lot of different servers. MySpace pages seem to be the worst.

I'll keep trying other dns servers but I think there might be a problem with the westel modem. When I load up a MySpace page and then run nslookup from the cmd prompt, I see the request trying to go through all different dns servers in my config one by one and failing.

I have the black wireless westell 327w or something like that. What routers are you using?

searcher

I have a Westtell A90, but I haven't had any more problems since adding the Open DNS IP address as my secondary DNS server.

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