BSNL DNS Problems and how to solve it

If you are a BSNL dataone user, chances are that you are facing DNS issues for the last few weeks or so. Their DNS servers are just unresponsive. The lookup takes a long duration and many times just time out. The solution? Use third party DNS servers or run your own one like djbdns. The easiest options is to use OpenDNS. Just reconfigure your network to use the following DNS servers: 208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220 Detailed instructions specific to your router are available in the OpenDNS website itself. After I reconfigured my Linksys router to use the above 2 IP addresses, my DNS problems just vanished! Other ‘freebies’ that come with OpenDNS are phishing filters and automatic URL correction. Even if your service provider’s DNS servers are working fine, you can still use OpenDNS just for these two special features.

OpenDNS: A Valid Web 2.0 Business Model; Is It Good For you?

I am intrigued by OpenDNS business model. OpenDNS is a startup which offers DNS service to any user accessing the internet. DNS is normally a hidden service. Yet OpenDNS carved out a business model which is very viable. But first how do you benefit as an user? OpenDNS aims to makes your

internet
experience safer, faster and smarter. In plain English it will warn you of phishing sites (which anyway Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox will do too. Also it will automatically correct small spelling mistakes and guide you to the proper site. In case where it is not sure about the site you want to go to it will present you will a list of alternatives. This is where it earns revenue. It will also add advertisements to these pages. I doubt that it can really make your DNS access faster. In most cases your ISP is more likely to provide faster results. In case it doesn’t you can always use a local caching DNS server for free. It tremendously improves performance without having to send your information to OpenDNS. OpenDNS will know all the sites you are visiting and your browsing patterns. It tracks which items you are clicking on the search results. How will they use this data? This data is a goldmine to advertisers and I am sure they will make a fortune by simply selling this data.

Speed Up BSNL Dataone Broadband Connection

In this article I will discuss 3 important tips to significantly speed up your internet access through BSNL Dataone broadband connection. Tip 1: One of the major problems with BSNL Dataone Broadband connection is the DNS servers they provide by default. Most of the time they are very slow and sometimes they fail to respond. I noticed that I am starting to spend a significant amount of time in DNS resolution with Dataone connection, often it is larger than the time it takes to actually get the reponse. Here is a simple solution to significantly speed up your DNS resolution. Open up the network connection profile and edit TCP/IP settings. In the DNS server address fields, specify the following DNS server addresses: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220
Disconnect the connection and then connect again. You are done. This specifies third party DNS servers which are significantly faster than BSNL Dataone’s DNS servers. Note: The service is provided by OpenDNS. Tip 2: Firefox users can use FlashBlock extension to prevent downloading of Flash content by default, thereby significantly speeding up browsing experience. You can click on the placeholder icon to display the original Flash content any time. This is more of a passive tip in that reduces data usage to improve your overall experience. Tip 3: You can try to increase your broadband bandwidth tweaking the TCP/IP parameters. The process is simplified by using TCPOptimizer, a free tool. It helped me, your mileage may vary.

BSNL Dataone tips & Tricks

Dataone Usage Finder

Check your BSNL dataone bandwidth usage with this software. It is downloadable from Dataone Usage Finder. The latest version will provide you the bill details too.

Another tip to save bandwidth (not only BSNL broadband)

Use a GOOD Anti Virus

But how can anti virus help me to save bandwidth?
Most of the modern day virus and trojans are capable of auto-updating themselves. There are also similat malicious programs which send out data packets without your knowledge. And this will increase the bandwidth usgae and will give you a huge bill. This is where a good anti virus can help. Unfortunately, most of the anti-viruses available today are costly and are not affordable for common man in India. But, we have many good anti virus softwares which are available for free. And, they are as good as the paid ones and some outperforms the paid counterparts.

Here is a list of some free anti virus softwares.

• Avast!-The Best one (We reccomend this one)
• AVG
• Anti-vir

And never use two anti-virus softwares simulatenously. Doing so will not help you much and also they eat up a lot of system resources. Though you can use anti-spywares along with it. And we reccomend to use ananti-spyware along with the anti virus software.

Here is a list of some FREE anti-spyware softwares.

• Spybot S&D
• Ad-Aware

So, install these, and update to latest definitions, do a complete system scan. Remove all those infections and notice the change in bandwidth usage and download / upload speed.

Configuring BSNL Dataone on SmartAX MT882 ADSL Router

This tutorial will help you to configure, SmartAX MT882 for manual dial….and the advantages??…more flexibility over the connection…

1) Select TCP/IP properties and enter as follows

set ip Address As 192.168.1.29
Subnet Maswk As 255.255.255.0
Default Gategay As 192.168.1.1
Prefferd DNS 61.1.96.69
Alternet DNS 61.1.96.71

2) Save settings and restart the computer.
3) Open your browser (preferably Internet Explorer ) and goto http://192.168.1.1/
4) Input as follows
USERNAME: admin
PASSOWRD: admin
5) Now goto Home->WAN Settings and there,

PVC Number – PVC-0
Wan Type – RFC2684Bridged
VPI/VCI – 0/35
Encap. – LLC

Apply and restart the modem.

6) Now goto Control Panel–>Network Connections
7) Create New connection–>(and a wizard will pop up) Next–>Connect to Internet(Select the radio button and click next)–>Setup My connection Manually(select it and click next)–>Connect using a broadband connection that requires a user name and password (select it and click next)–>ISP name (type something, anything and click next)–>Type in the Username and password given to you in the specified coloumns also select the other options if you want to (and click next)–>If you want to add a shortcut of connection to desktop, check that square box and click finish.

Diouble Click the Icon in the desktop to connect to the BSNL Dataone broadband connection, and either double click the same icon or right click the system tray icon to disconnect from BSNL Dataone broadband connection.

Improve the broadband performance in Windows XP/2003

Well, before doing this….do this test

1) Goto http://www.testmy.net/ and click on Download Speed Test, and then on Smart Test….(and while conducting this test, don't forget to close all Instant Messagers, and there should be no other web activity, other than the test)

2) Note down the speeds.

Now, lets see, what all changes to be made…..

This tip is designed for increased BROADBAND speed in Windows XP while using standard Network Interface cards (NIC) that are connected to ADSL modems, or when using any directly-connected USB ADSL modem.

To speed up the Internet connection speed we need to configure a special buffer in the computer's memory in order to enable it to better deal with interrupts made from the NIC or the USB modem.

This tip is only recommended if you have 256MB RAM or higher.

Step #1 – Identify the IRQ used by the NIC/USB modem

1. Open the System Information tool by running MSINFO32.EXE from the Run command.
2. Expand System Summary > Hardware Resources > IRQs.
3. Look for the listing made for your NIC (in my case – a Intel® PRO/100+ Management Adapter). Note the IRQ next to the specified line (in my case – IRQ21).

In case of USB modems you will first need to find the right USB device used by your modem. Follow these steps:

1. Open the Device Manager tool by running DEVMGMT.MSC from the Run command (or by right-clicking My Computer > Hardware tab > Device Manager button).
2. Scroll down to Universal Serial Bus controllers and expand it.
3. Right-click the USB Root Hub and select Properties. Note that you might need to do so for all listed USB Root hubs (if there are more than one) in order to find the right one.
4. In the Power tab, look for your USB ADSL modem.
5. In the Resources tab look for the assigned IRQ (in this case – IRQ21).
6. This is the IRQ we're looking for.

Note: IRQs and modem names might vary…

Step #2 – Modify the system.ini file

1. Run SYSEDIT.EXE from the Run command.
2. Expand the system.ini file window.
3. Scroll down almost to the end of the file till you find a line called [386enh].
4. Press Enter to make one blank line, and in that line type IrqX=4096 where X is the designated IRQ number we found in step #1, in my case it's IRQ21.

Note: This line IS CASE SENSITIVE!!!

5. Click on the File menu, then choose Save.
6. Close SYSEDIT and reboot your computer.

Done. Speed improvement will be noticed after the computer reboots.

NOW DO THE SPEED TEST AGAIN (MENTIONED IN THE BEGINNING) AND NOTICE THE CHANGE IN SPEED

The most speed improvement is visible with USB.

WARNING:- It worked for me….am not sure whether it will work for you…

Save bandwidth (For Firefox users)

The trick is same as that of Internet Explorer. Well, in this case it can be done using an Firefox extension called Flashblock.

WARNING:- Never install this extension, if your Firefox version is below 1.5 and in such a case, upgrade the browser and then install this plugin.

Restart the browser and you will be amazed to see, the flash ads being blocked. This plugin also has the option to exempt some sites (likeonline greeting sites etc) from block.

And this Firefox extension successfully blocks the following:

• Macromedia Flash
• Macromedia Shockwave
• Macromedia Authorware

To know more about this firefox extension, please visit http://flashblock.mozdev.org/