[PLUG] Making broadband go faster

[Shridhar Daithankar]

Hi All,

I am writing this so that everybody benefits..:)

Background:
I have 256 kbps exatt connection. In general it works great and gives the 
speed promised. However I was not happy with their DNS. I would get unknown 
host every now and then..And here is what I did resolve the situation.

1. Kick out exatt DNS and use third party open DNS.
Rather than writing my own explanation, refer to these..:)

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=251037
http://www.broadbandreports.com/faq/7472
http://board.iexbeta.com/index.php?showtopic=51322
http://www.opennic.unrated.net/cgi-bin/get_tier2.sh

2. Install your own caching nameserver.
Yes, there is named but I chose to use dnsmasq for it being simple and already 
bundled with slackware.

I am using slackware current and it was as easy as follows,

- set DNSTYPE=NOCHANGE, in /etc/ppp/pppoe.conf
- put the dns servers in /etc/alt.dns.  For me, It reads as follows,
nameserver 217.115.138.24
nameserver 202.89.131.4
nameserver 199.166.29.3
nameserver 199.5.157.128
- set resolv-file=/etc/alt.dns in /etc/dnsmasq.conf. /etc/resolv.conf has only 
one nameserver, 127.0.0.1
- chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/rc.dnsmasq and start dnsmasq
- reconnect to the net

- Finally for all KDE users, put a export KDE_NO_IPV6=1
in /etc/profile. It stops KDE from looking for IPv6 network and in general 
makes everything hell lot fast. Cached login on my box in now 4sec in 
KDE3.5.3. Yes, that is right, 4 sec.

In general, the net is lot better now..:) 

HTH

Shridhar