One Quick Tip to Speed Up Your Internet

Change the DNS server you use for quicker internet access.

Are you getting frustrated waiting for websites to load?  We’ve got a quick tip to speed up your internet – it may just be a small increase in speed but we’ve seen it speed things up considerably.

A little bit of background first: when you type a website address into your computer, it needs to find that website to display it.  This is done with a series of numbers, called an IP address. When you type a web address in, your browser asks a server to translate the text-based web address into an IP address.  This server is called a DNS server.

DNS Diagram GMT Solutions computer services

Armed with this information, you can see that if you are connected to a slow DNS server, it will take longer to translate the number (and therefore display the website).  So if you speed up the DNS process, you will speed up your internet browsing.  The table below shows the difference in DNS server speeds as measured when I was writing this, although it is constantly changing.

DNS speed test picture

This shows that some servers are up to three times faster than others, and this is just a small selection.  You can use this website to test DNS server speeds, to find the fastest, or install an app on your mobile device.

You can make a quick change to your computer or router to choose which DNS server you use – it’s best to do this on your computer, as it’s easier to fix if there is a problem.  Do remember that if you enter the number for the DNS server wrongly, you will not be able to view any websites.

A second point to remember is that you want to connect to a secure, reputable DNS server, not just a box set up in someone’s spare room!  We recommend using Cloudflare, as it’s a secure DNS service and free for personal use (win-win!)

If you would like us to make this change for you, please contact us.