Note: This post has been guest authored by Paul Carillo, who is a cybersecurity and web development geek from Detroit Michigan.
Perhaps over time, you have heard about how DNS servers can give you better responsiveness when you are looking to log into the site among other things that you are doing online. The reality is this is a true statement. Something simple like Google’s Public DNS is a great way to make your lie on the internet that much easier to do. There are so many tasks each day that it feels like you don’t have time, however, if you are going to use the internet for your job or for your entertainment, having a Third-Party DNS Service is the ideal way to spend your time online.
Before getting into reasons why this is a smart decision first thing is to know what a DNS server is. A DNS server is what translates the semantic name of a domain, e.g. Google.com, into the IP address – the place where the site is actually located. The DNS is how your computer manages to get on the information superhighway and go to the right destination. Now, when you have an alternate or third-party DNS, this enhances your ability to navigate. Still, you need to pay attention to what you are getting. For your site, the reality is that free DNS provided by even top domain registrars are very slow; this means it is hard for your site to be visible when another DNS is trying to connect. That is why configuring a third-party DNS is the best course of action for not just browsing but hosting also.
Possibility of Browsing Speed Increase
Everyone in the world wants to have a faster browser. This is not any different from how you feel. The thing about browsing is that you always know when it takes too long to open a page. But never notice when things go really fast. This is the paradox of the internet services. Everyone loves a fast browser, but they don’t appreciate the speed until they don’t have it. With a third-party DNS server, you will hear a lot of things about how speed is improved on the browser. There is some truth to this but you can’t expect that a third-party DNS will magically make things go quicker.
There are a couple of reasons. If you have a fast third-party DNS but a slow broadband connection, then the speed of your DNS is blunted. That said, let’s pretend that we all have equivalently fast ISPs. The DNS affects how quickly domain names are resolved. This is actually quite important. If you have an ISP that has no trouble connecting to a third-party DNS, then it will be easy to enjoy the benefits of having a DNS that connects quickly to sites. Namebench is a great tool to use to see which third-party DNS is ideal for your ISP’s speed.
Increase in Reliability in Third-Party DNS Servers
The bottom line is whatever you do make sure that you are using the tools that are most reliable. If you are constantly inundated with pages on your browser saying that it can’t find a certain page means that the DNS is not doing its job. This is a problem, and if it is your ISP’s issue with a bad DNS, that is especially frustrating. The good thing about a third-party DNS is that these servers are all about making sure that you are getting connected to the sites you need to visit right away. There is no complacency because these DNS servers are in the business of making sure connections are made. That is why if you encounter your DNS not knowing where it needs to go, a wise option is connecting to a third-party DNS as they are usually the most reliable services on the market.
Increased Security
The sad part about your ISP’s DNS server is that it is not very secure. This causes a whole mess of problems for you, especially because you have nothing to do with how secure your ISP’s DNS is and if there are problems, you are affected by it but can’t do anything about it. So, when it comes to putting together a secure DNS, naturally Google’s Public DNS took the lead and has done an excellent job in providing security for their DNS server. The same holds true as well for OpenDNS. There are plenty of third-party DNS’s available that provide great security besides the two that are mentioned here. The bottom line is your IP address connects to a DNS. If you connect to a corrupted DNS, that corruption will infect your computer and lead to all sorts of problems. There are so many bad things that can happen with a corrupted DNS, it makes little sense why ISPs don’t invest more in the securing of their DNS servers.
Censors in Your Country? No Problem!
Unfortunately, there are many countries that don’t allow their ISPs to give you free rein to navigate to the sites that you want. This is a troublesome issue as the internet was supposed to be something that brought the world together, but instead, thanks to censorship, the world seems to be farther apart than ever. This problem is because the DNS server at an ISP in a country is heavily censored. There are several ways to get around this, the best place to start is with a third-party DNS. This means you could be right in the middle of a country like China – famous for its Great Firewall – and connect to a third-party DNS and have access to all the sites that you want to see. This is perhaps the greatest selling point of a third-party DNS. It allows you to be the digital nomad you always wanted to be. Avoiding censorship is one of many ways a third-party DNS allows to have a better internet experience.