I ran into an internet problem some time ago.  My network kept losing contact with my ISP’s (who shall remain nameless) DNS servers.  For the nerdically-challenged, DNS servers are important because they translate the web addresses we use from the text address into the actual numeric internet protocol (IP) address for the server that is hosting that domain.  No DNS server, you get a lot of “cannot contact web server” errors in your browser.

I was fed up with the continuous issues I was having with my ISP’s DNS servers, I set out to find some other servers I could use that may be more reliable. In my research, OpenDNS came highly recommended, and as a bonus they have other features that are very valuable.

And you can use OpenDNS for free. Yes, free. They also have for-pay services that appeal more to businesses or power users, but the free service gives me everything that I need.

Why I use OpenDNS:

• Their DNS servers are fast and reliable. Since I’ve switched, I’ve not had one DNS issue.
• They offer free internet filtering. You can use their DNS servers without signing up for an account, but creating an account allows you to turn on their filtering solution, which gives you four levels of filtering, no filtering or custom filtering(by site category). Their servers can filter out adware sites, phishing sites, botnets and pornography. This is one of the best ways to protect your personal information, and keep porn off of your network, without installing filtering software on your computer.
• It’s easy to use. Updating your home network router (or your computer, for single computer networks) with their DNS server addresses is all you need to do to use their DNS servers. If you are using their filtering service, you’ll need to install a client program on one of your home computers that keeps your home IP address associated with your settings. They have clients for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
• You can blacklist and/or whitelist domains (up to 25 on the free version) in case your filtering level blocks a site you need to visit (whitelist) or doesn’t block a domain you need to block (blacklist).
• You get reports (for the past two weeks on the free version) of the top domains accessed on your network, and the blocked domains requested, all available through the web dashboard at the OpenDNS website.
• It’s Free!

Even if you are not having issues with your ISP’s DNS servers, you might benefit from the services OpenDNS provides, especially the free filtering. There are several software packages that you can install on your computer that do internet filtering (I recommend this one, if that is what you need), but you have to install that software on every computer that you own, and due to licensing restrictions, that may be prohibitively expensive. And in my experience, filtering software tends to drag down the performance of your computer (especially on older hardware). Using OpenDNS filtering allows you to filter all devices on your network, even laptops or smartphones that others bring into your home, without installing software on all of them.

Any questions? Ask me in the comments, and I’ll do my best to answer all of them.