OpenDNS vs Google DNS: Which is Better ? | Hacker News Reader

OpenDNS vs Google DNS: Which is Better ?

manu-j.com

17 pointsvijaydev16 comments

I was running a mailserver in a network where OpenDNS was the default. Outgoing e-mail where the domain-name was misspelled would linger in the queue for five days, instead of failing immediately, while the SMTP server attempted to deliver to OpenDNS' catch-all host. Apparently, if there isn't a MX record, it's standard to attempt delivery to the A record.

After watching the CEO of OpenDNS spread tons of FUD on Hacker News itself, I will be switching to Google.

Pro-tip: compete by being better, not by spreading FUD about your competition the second they appear.

I politely disagree and do not think David spread any FUD, but rather shared his opinion where other techies would see it- here on HN. Switching services not because you think one or the other is better for your needs, but only because you don't agree with the CEO's views/actions is a bit thick IMO. I might not think highly of certain things Steve Jobs does but that doesn't mean I'm switching to Windows 7..

When you say that your service, which intercepts and manipulates requests to get ad dollars, is better than their service, which does not --- for the sole reason that their service is owned by an ad company --- you are coming pretty close to objectively spreading FUD.

It's almost prima facie.

If you think that their service, being Google itself, does not redirect and manipulate requests (regardless of layer), you are being delusional.

But we've had this discussion for years Thomas, so I doubt I'll change your opinion now.

Here is one example. Google does not redirect the NXDOMAIN request, nor does it manipulate that level.

I posted a comparison here, from AT&T in IL: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=977389

Short summary:

  nsping -z amazon.com 208.67.222.222
  nsping -z amazon.com 8.8.8.8
  nsping -h www.amazon.com 208.67.222.222
  nsping -h www.amazon.com 8.8.8.8

Pretty straightforward (-h tests a single A record, -z, the default, tests random labels under a zone).

OpenDNS was faster than Google for me, but slower than my own ISP. However, the numbers are under the noise floor; Google DNS is plenty fast, and bound to be more reliable than your ISP. It also doesn't break the DNS like OpenDNS does.

My point isn't that I know which is faster, but that it's really easy to just test for yourself.

Google returns NXDOMAIN by default, without having to setup every IP I might be making queries from. That's "better" for me.

I was able to disable this in OpenDNS:

http://pstam.com/i/00130041dfa557f4a17323cbcb63d090.png

Then click apply to all networks. So you don't have to "setup every IP I might be making queries from"

Did you have to sign up for an account, tying your DNS requests to personal information in their backend, to do it? Because Google "just works".

As discussed many times, (1) we do not do anything like that and (2) nothing stops you from using johndoe@gmail.com

The irony here is pretty rich. You don't do it, although your privacy says you might do it for as long as the account is open. Meanwhile, Google (a) can't do it, and (b) specifically states they won't do it in their privacy policy.

But Google's the one we should be worried about.

I didn't give a crap about the redirector until you started making privacy vis a vis Google DNS an issue on Hacker News.

You have to setup every IP you might make a query from as a "network", do you not? How else would they know you're the one making the DNS query? It's not like a Cookie header is sent via DNS.

tracert 8.8.8.8

      17 hops, 132 ms

tracert 4.2.2.4

      12 hops, 239 ms

tracert 208.67.222.222

      11 hops, 186 ms

I'm going with 8.8.8.8

I thought the consensus was that OpenDNS is evil, censorship and all.

Off-topic perhaps, but that is an atrocious use of blogging for affiliate marketing dollars.

Maybe it's time to hunt down an ad blocking extension for Chrome.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com