Or rather, still. I've noticed that my Internet connection has had leaky tubes lately. I tracked the problem down to DNS. I did quick search on "DNS problems Bellsouth," and found that my old post on the subject was number two, but number one was a post at Tony Spencer's place from over a year ago with several recent comments.

The weird thing is that the problem is primarily on my Windows box. My Fedora machine seems to be fine (it obviously has a different DNS setup, that I'll have to dig into, to see what it's doing right, and Windows is doing wrong. When I check my speed at C/Net, it tells me I've got a 1.5 Mbit connection, so it's very frustating to have slow loads of pages because the machine can't find the IP.

[Update about 7:30 EST]

In rereading my old post, I found this recent comment to it:

...did anyone notice that the DNS problems began about the same time they got to work for the NSA et al. Since I'm writing this in October 2006 and this thread started in December 2004, I assume they've had plenty of time and complaints to have long ago solved this issue if they had any intention of doing so.

Just so everyone knows, the DNS problem is still there. I live in southeast GA, and there is a minimum five full second (5.0s) responses to DNS queries. Contrast that with my Comcast DNS response times of (0.05s). So my 256KB/256KB Comcast connection is 100x faster at responding to DNS queries than my 6MB/384KB Bellsouth connection.

This thread is two years old, and this problem persists. Maybe everything is actually working but the NSA has to approve your DNS request first :) There is no valid technical reason for this level of a problem for this length of time. And it doesn't matter what time of day it is, so the DNS workload defense doesn't hold up.

PS: Bellsouth did eventually deny participation, but as far as I know for certain, there were only two companies that actually refused the unconstitutional demands and bellsouth wasn't one of them, but Google was !! Too bad google won't just give us all free DNS, imagine the statistics they could derive from that. Oh well, PEACE netizens.

I don't tend to be the paranoid type, but I'm wondering if there is indeed something to this.

[Update about 8:30 PM EST]

OK, Bellsouth DNS is officially fscked. I noted that my Linux machine was hardwired to use 4.2.2.2 as primary DNS, with the Bellsouth servers as secondary. I changed the Windows machines from "get DNS servers from the service" to primary 4.2.2.2 with a Bellsouth backup, and all is well. But I probably should set up my Linux box as a DNS server, to obviate these problems in the future, since I seem to have a good general Internet connection. For that matter, I need to get a better mail server than Bellsouth, which won't allow me to access the SMTP server when I'm not on their network. Anyone have any suggestions?

I have NO idea what Bellsouth does for you guys computer / internet wise. But I just ditched them as a phone company.

2 years ago my bill was running around $60.00 per month for my local calls and 200 minutes long distance. I just used my cell phone for long distance to save some bucks.

I got a call early this year about changing my plans to lower my costs. And they would give me a $25.00 gift card for doing it. I changed to the new cheaper services, my bill went UP, no one could explain WHY, I never saw the gift card, though I called a dozen times about it. I never did get anyone to explain to me how $19.95 for local service plus $19.95 for unlimited long distance wound up being almost $70.00, and I still got charged for some long distance. HellSouth svcks.

I like my Vonage.

Rand

I have run into the same problem with Comcast cable. I tracked it down to the interface between comcast and AT&T, guess where, in Atlanta.

The DNS lookup was considerably slowed for a several weeks right before the election. It has remarkably improved since then.

Dennis

First, as far as troubleshooting you can consult this site for most anything DNS related. There is a forum to dig through also for specific questions.

http://www.dnsstuff.com/

Then, you can check out the OpenDNS.com site for server addresses and additional DNS caching information and tips.

http://opendns.com/

Finally, if you are a Firefox user then try out the FasterFox extension to see if tweaking your pipelining and DNS caching settings can improve page load times.

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1269/

P.S. - I've found that the http://lifehacker.com/ site is helpful when looking for a tweek, gizmo, gadget, or doohickey.

As far as your email issue I would say probably the easiest route is to use your providers web mail interface when working remotely. However, if you just absolutely must work through a client then you could setup TightVNC on a home computer and remote into your network and then go back out using the client on your home desktop computer. Or, your could possibly setup some combination of a VPN client/server and a proxy server to socks cap a local email client to tunnel its way into your home network and then proxy back out to the internet providers network to access your mail servers.

I would say probably the easiest route is to use your providers web mail interface when working remotely.

Yes, that's easy, and what I do. But the web interface sucks.

If you want to try an outside email service, MailStreet.com has been a good Microsoft Exchange provider for my business for about $9/month for one mailbox. You can use Outlook on your machine, and Outlook Web Access when away from your machine. On the IMAP/POP side, I'm looking at one called TuffMail.

No offense, but I adamantly refuse to use Outlook, and the last email server I want is Microsoft. I am interested in a good POP server, though.

I have been using Speakeasy as my email and DSL provider for 3 years now. They have been excellent. Very few problems and the techs know their stuff. They let me know ahead of time if there is going to be any maintenance. They now offer VOIP and customized services for Gamers, small business/home business, people who run their own servers, etc. They will even work with you if you want to setup a neighborhood wireless network and share the expenses. Check them out at www.speakeasy.net.

Their market focus is on the business/professional customer rather than the bottom feeder/home user. They cost a bit more but for me it has been worth it.
I have no relationship with them other than as a satisfied customer.

Good luck