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pseydtonneThis is the second time since Thursday that Comcast's DNS servers have given up. This means my cable modem is connecting to a server, I am online and chatting with good folk. All of the sudden I can't pull up a web page even though I'm still chatting.
For those of yo not on the geek side of this, DNS stands for "Domain Name Server". This is the protocol that turns a bunch of numbers (known as an IP address) into a catchy dot-com name -- for example, 64.233.161.99 into www.google.com.
You usually get the IP addresses for a couple DNS servers from your ISP. You can enter these manually. Most of you that could use this information right now can't read what I'm typing. However, I'd advise you paste this entry into a text document so that you can get back to your favorite web comic, blog or pr0n site quickly.
Windows users: pull up the Control Panel and open "Network and Dial-Up Connections". You'll find your existing connection with a label such as "Local Area Connection". Double-click on that. Click on the "Properties" button. This will bring up another window. Highlight "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" and click on "Properties". You'll find that "Obtain an IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically" are selected. Change the second one to "Use the following DNS server addresses:" and type a couple of the IP addresses listed below.
Mac OS X users: Open the System Preferences. Click on "Network". Whichever connection type has a green dot next to it is your active connection. Highlight that connection and click the "Configure..." button. Click on the "TCP/IP" tab (well, button or chicklet). Enter at least one of the DNS server addresses below into the "DNS Servers" section. Then hit "Apply Now".
Linux users: edit the file /etc/resolv.conf and add a couple of the numbers listed below.
From here down, each line applies to all operating systems again.
Here are some DNS nameserver IP addresses to use:
4.2.2.1 through 4.2.2.6
199.166.24.253 (this belongs to ORSC's public server)
207.172.3.8 and 207.172.3.9 (these belong to RCN)
Close your browser and reopen it. You should be surfing again.
Did you know calling Comcast's cable modem techs won't give you this information? I learned that Thursday.
I am no longer a Comcast employee nor do I speak from inside knowledge. However, Comcast's recent move to reduce the many headends throughout New England to two (Maynard, MA and Berlin, CT) may have led to layoffs of valuable technical staff. While these were the video headends and not the cable modem headends (they're separate), there has also been a recent move away from the old mediaone.net/attbi.com servers. I wonder whether any of this is related. Oh no, it couldn't possibly be.
If you have friends that are Comcast cable modem customers, feel free to let them know about this workaround and link this page.
To think I used to sell this stuff so willingly...
-a bit chagrined
Update: It turns out this is a nationwide problem with Comcast. The cause? They've decided to centralize all DNS machinery to one place for the entire United States. Can you say BAD IDEA? Their premise is that it'll eventually lead to speeds that trump FiOS and all sorts of other pie in the sky talk. What it really means is: keep the extra nameserver IPs on hand for a while. If you'd like to read more, head over to DSLReports's coverage and solutions. Maybe when it dawns on them ten million customers (or is it a lot more? Probably is.) hitting the same server farm address all of the time will bomb the grid. I bet there are IT guys deep inside Comcast looking for corporate types to strangle.
For those of yo not on the geek side of this, DNS stands for "Domain Name Server". This is the protocol that turns a bunch of numbers (known as an IP address) into a catchy dot-com name -- for example, 64.233.161.99 into www.google.com.
You usually get the IP addresses for a couple DNS servers from your ISP. You can enter these manually. Most of you that could use this information right now can't read what I'm typing. However, I'd advise you paste this entry into a text document so that you can get back to your favorite web comic, blog or pr0n site quickly.
Windows users: pull up the Control Panel and open "Network and Dial-Up Connections". You'll find your existing connection with a label such as "Local Area Connection". Double-click on that. Click on the "Properties" button. This will bring up another window. Highlight "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" and click on "Properties". You'll find that "Obtain an IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically" are selected. Change the second one to "Use the following DNS server addresses:" and type a couple of the IP addresses listed below.
Mac OS X users: Open the System Preferences. Click on "Network". Whichever connection type has a green dot next to it is your active connection. Highlight that connection and click the "Configure..." button. Click on the "TCP/IP" tab (well, button or chicklet). Enter at least one of the DNS server addresses below into the "DNS Servers" section. Then hit "Apply Now".
Linux users: edit the file /etc/resolv.conf and add a couple of the numbers listed below.
From here down, each line applies to all operating systems again.
Here are some DNS nameserver IP addresses to use:
4.2.2.1 through 4.2.2.6
199.166.24.253 (this belongs to ORSC's public server)
207.172.3.8 and 207.172.3.9 (these belong to RCN)
Close your browser and reopen it. You should be surfing again.
Did you know calling Comcast's cable modem techs won't give you this information? I learned that Thursday.
I am no longer a Comcast employee nor do I speak from inside knowledge. However, Comcast's recent move to reduce the many headends throughout New England to two (Maynard, MA and Berlin, CT) may have led to layoffs of valuable technical staff. While these were the video headends and not the cable modem headends (they're separate), there has also been a recent move away from the old mediaone.net/attbi.com servers. I wonder whether any of this is related. Oh no, it couldn't possibly be.
If you have friends that are Comcast cable modem customers, feel free to let them know about this workaround and link this page.
To think I used to sell this stuff so willingly...
-a bit chagrined
Update: It turns out this is a nationwide problem with Comcast. The cause? They've decided to centralize all DNS machinery to one place for the entire United States. Can you say BAD IDEA? Their premise is that it'll eventually lead to speeds that trump FiOS and all sorts of other pie in the sky talk. What it really means is: keep the extra nameserver IPs on hand for a while. If you'd like to read more, head over to DSLReports's coverage and solutions. Maybe when it dawns on them ten million customers (or is it a lot more? Probably is.) hitting the same server farm address all of the time will bomb the grid. I bet there are IT guys deep inside Comcast looking for corporate types to strangle.
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Date: 2005-04-13 04:52 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2005-04-13 12:03 pm (UTC)