On Sat, 30 Mar 2013 13:06:16 +0100 Norman Rieß <nor...@smash-net.org> wrote:
> > Am 29.03.2013 um 23:34 schrieb Paul Hartman > <paul.hartman+gen...@gmail.com>: > > > On Thu, Mar 28, 2013 at 7:49 PM, Peter Humphrey > > <pe...@humphrey.ukfsn.org> wrote: > >> On Thursday 28 March 2013 20:53:49 Paul Hartman wrote: > >> > >>> In my case, my ISP's DNS servers are slow (several seconds to > >>> reply), fail randomly when they should resolve, return an IP > >>> (which goes to their ad-laden "helper" website if you are using a > >>> web browser) when they should instead return nxdomain, and they > >>> have openly admitted to selling customer DNS lookup history to > >>> marketers for targeted advertising. > >> > >> > >> > >> That is just evil. Have you no alternative to this ISP? > > > > Not really. > > > > I have a 100 megabit connection through the cable company; my only > > wired alternative is DSL (1.5 mbit for almost half the price I'm > > paying for 100mbit). Cellular or satellite are not viable options > > for me because of comparatively poor value, latency and miniscule > > data usage caps. > > > […] > > > > It is no longer legal for local governments to award monopolies, but > > the damage has been done. What we have is essentially the cable TV > > infrastructure that was laid out during the decade when local cable > > monopolies were legal, and the cost of entry for a new player into > > the market now is so high that nobody ever bothers. End result for > > consumers is a lack of choice. There are some places where > > competition exists, but those places are pretty rare, in my > > experience. > > > > There are some other possible alternatives to cable internet and > > DSL, such as municipal wifi, mesh networks, powerline and FTTx, but > > none are available where I live. > > > > The service I receive from the cable company here is actually > > excellent, with the exception of the aforementioned DNS woes. > > > > Pretty much every major ISP in the US does DNS-hijacking and other > > shenanigans, so there's no avoiding the evilness. I believe the > > board members of major cable and telecom companies would sell their > > own mothers into slavery if it meant a rise in share prices or a > > larger bonus at the end of the year... > > > > That is pretty much the same as what happened in Germany. The > telephone network was build by the german postal service in the past > and was run by the government. As we all know everything works better > and cheaper when things are privatized, so the Deutsche Telekom was > created and with it a semi monopoly over night. Regions not dense > enough are not part of the developing plans of any of the companies. > So if you are lucky like me, you are stuck with 16mbit DSL provided > by one company rented by an other company. If people start to build > their own network or a competitor reaches for a specific > underdeveloped region, this region gets an upgrade like to DSL 3 Mbit > or something like that, so the competitors draw of. If you are really > lucky you live in a region which is really dense or a cable company > provides you with internet, so you get 100mbit. But this is only a > fraction of all people. If the government is confronted with this > they say, the market will regulate that, which it does not. And if > voices get too loud, the tell the companies to develop the > underdeveloped regions, they shake hands on TV and nothing happens. > And as Paul said, most ISP do DNS-hijacking and the like, which > breaks things in incredible unexpected ways. > > So when i wrote this post to the mailing list and got answers like > "unnecessary crap" and "why make it available for everyone" i thougt, > this to be answers of some weirdos which should be ignored. Here you > do not trust your ISP… you use the ISP which sucks less or the only > one that gives you any internet at all. If you reach a certain level > of knowledge, you change your DNS settings to free DNS servers and if > you run a resolver you do it for the other poor souls as well. There > are lists of unfiltered DNS Servers > (http://www.ungefiltert-surfen.de/nameserver/de.html), which are > checked regularly if they provide unfiltered answers an the like. And > there are howtos for the average user on how to change the dns > settings and to avoid your isp´s dns servers. > > Regards > Norman > There is also the possibility to use opendns.com I've been using them for years, and have not had any trouble. I started using them when my ISP decided to block some sites. And their standard service is free :) Best regards, Rene