Telecom DNS issues

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edwinprakash

57 posts

Master Geek

Subscriber

# 132164 10-Oct-2013 22:58

I hope someone here can help... i've tried calling telecoms broadband help line but they are following their usual 'have you restarted your router' bull-cr@p without listening to the words i'm saying.

I've been experiencing slower than usual broadband speeds these last few weeks and i finally got around to investigating it further tonight. I have a software development background so i know a little about networking.

I noticed that some websites started taking about a minute to load - even youtube was at snails pace. These same websites loaded much better when i turned on my Astrill VPN.

I've noticed today that the DNS settings on my telecom provided TG582n router are primary DNS: 122.56.237.1 and secondary DNS: 210.55.111.1.

The telecom site suggests 202.27.158.40 and 202.27.156.72. I changed the DNS settings on my laptop to this and saw my speed test results increase by 2Mbps. All websites are now loading at expected speeds.

Now, the problem. How do i change the DNS settings on my router so all devices benefit from this? Anyone from T'com here who can help?

michaelmurfy

Mr Snotty
8875 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

# 913365 10-Oct-2013 23:08

I'm not a rep, but I've noticed no issues at all with my connection. Could you please post your modem stats and your location?

My DNS servers are 122.56.237.1 and 210.55.111.1.

edwinprakash

57 posts

Master Geek

Subscriber

# 913366 10-Oct-2013 23:13

Hmmm... interesting.
i am in Paparangi/Johnsonville, Wellington.

Stats as below:

Link Information

Uptime:

0 days, 1:15:25

DSL Type:

ITU-T G.992.5

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:

1.021 / 12.309

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]:

38,23 / 684,70

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:

12,2 / 19,2

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:

17,6 / 30,5

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:

13,0 / 12,3

System Vendor ID (Local/Remote):

TMMB / ----

Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote):

BDCM / BDCM

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):

0 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):

0 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote):

0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote):

Error Seconds (Local/Remote):

0 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down):

0 / 668

CRC Errors (Up/Down):

0 / 0

HEC Errors (Up/Down):

0 / 0

Talkiet

4201 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

# 913373 10-Oct-2013 23:40

2 people support this post

The IP addresses you noticed in your router as being auto assigned are correct and are the newest platform. The ones listed on the help pages are for an older platform. The reason the public help site doesn't list the auto assigned servers is mired in history.

Short version - not all Telecom BB subscribers can use the 122. and 210. servers, but all CAN use the 202.27 addresses. Instead of making users understand a subtle and deliberately obscured difference between two types of BB connection, it's easier just to list the DNS servers everyone can see.

If you can use them (and I think now more than 80% can), the auto assigned servers are usually better and have better geographic redundancy. I happen to monitor both sets of DNS servers and the 122/210 pairing (logical pairing, there are more servers than that) have shown consistent performance over the last 48/96 hours (and in fact for as far back as I have records - 13 months).

I think perhaps there could have been another issue at play here, there's no way that changing your DNS servers would give an increase in speedtest.net results - although 2mbps is within the normal variation anyway. Broken / slow DNS servers could of course impact page loading times. It would be worth switching back to autoassigned tomorrow or when you have a chance to see if the issue persists for you.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are the product of my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.