Chris Pirillo » internet-connection

How to Speed up Your Internet With Your DNS Settings

Chris Pirillo — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 03:05:03 +0000

How to Speed up Your Internet With Your DNS Settings

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Recently, someone asked on Lockergnome about the fastest type of DNS server. We’ve talked in the past about DNS – what it means, and why it could be important to you.

We exist within our Internet speed. Heck, some of us measure our worth by our connection and how quickly we can get our information. You can have a huge pipe coming into your home, but if your DNS server sucks your lookups between your IP address and the domain name could be slowing you down.

How do you know if your current DNS settings are optimized to their maximum capability? You can check out a good open-source project called namebench is a fantastic little tool that will hunt down the fastest DNS servers for your computer to use. It will run a very thorough benchmark using your browser history, a tcpdump output or standardized datasets in order to give you a personal recommendation.

namebench runs on Mac OS X, Windows, and UNIX, and is available with a graphical user interface as well as a command-line interface. It doesn’t matter what type of system you’re using – namebench can help you out with your DNS issues.

If you’re a power user, you definitely need to make sure you have the fastest and most optimized Internet speed you could hope for. Using a tool such as namebench to check your DNS settings will help you achieve exactly that.

How to Speed up Your Internet With Your DNS Settings

Do You Love Broadband?

Chris Pirillo — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 01:29:56 +0000

Do You Love Broadband?

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Ars Technica reported that 23% of U.S. households don’t have Internet anywhere in the house? Why not? many people just don’t see the need for this “Internet” thing at all. Really? Lamarr thinks broadband should just be something in the house like electricity, water, and heat service so that it’s just normal to have.

The largest reason is listed as a lack of interest in the Internet, with cost being second. Stop spending so much money on dinners out and get yourself online instead. Broadband should be a required utility in the house like water or heat.

How can someone not want to be connected to the Internet? The world is out there. You can find everything online. Don’t you want to expand your mind and your opportunities?

Do you think these 23% are living in the dark ages, are ignorant, or are they on to something? Maybe the Internet causes more problems than it’s worth. I’m just playing Devil’s Advocate here; leave a comment below.

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Do You Love Broadband?

Will Google Fiber be Good for Your Broadband Diet?

Chris Pirillo — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:13:00 +0000

Will Google Fiber be Good for Your Broadband Diet?

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The other night, I decided it would be fun to take live questions from the chat room and email. One of the questions was sent in by Eddie, who happens to be a co-developer of the WicketPixie WordPress theme. He wondered whether Google Fiber will whip the cable companies into shape… or if said companies are too stubborn to fall into line.

If I were a part of competing companies, I would definitely be worried right about now. I would most certainly be using Google Fiber here in my house if I had the opportunity. I like Google. I may not like everything they do. I think they need to hire a designer, for instance.

As far as Google Fiber is concerned, I think phone companies have more to worry about than what cable companies do. Google is a name that people trust. People feel that they already are using their other services so why not switch to their broadband?

I do believe that this will drive down prices from competitors such as Comcast. I’ve been very happy with my Comcast connection for the most part. I had big issues when upgrading my business class line. I received a bad Netgear router which turned out to be from an entire bad line. Once we got past those hiccups, things were smooth sailing with Comcast. However, I do pay a lot of money for the connection. I’m online 24/7, and I need my connection to work.

If I had a fiber connection, I would switch the live video feed from DSL to that. I can only push so much down that DSL pipe before it bursts!

Any competition is good. But I would be concerned – and making changes – if I was in the industry where Google is dipping their proverbial toes into the mix.

Google Fiber – information at the speed of light. Would YOU use Google Fiber if it was available in your area?

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Will Google Fiber be Good for Your Broadband Diet?

Internet Connection Problems

Chris Pirillo — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:45:48 +0000

Internet Connection Problems

http://live.pirillo.com/ – Chris and Ponzi had a problem with their Internet connection yesterday – they were unable to check their mail or download updates for Microsoft Money.

There are two programs you can run to elp you diagnose an Internet connectivity problem:

Ping – by pinging a server, you can find out if your computer can see the server.
Traceroute – if your computer cannot ping a server, running traceroute can help you determine where the problem lies – either on your internet LAN, your Internet connection, or somewhere else on the Internet

If all else fails, you may need to restock your supply of small Splenda packets.

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Internet Connection Problems