Access to DNS Servers

I'm about to have NTL installed (no ADSL available at my house), and
background reading suggests that the basic networking connectivity
service is good, but many of NTL's services (email, news, DNS) are a
bit flakey.

So, it struck me that perhaps I should treat the NTL connection as a
bare pipe to the Internet (rather like BT Broadband), and set up
access to the various services independently. Email is straightforward
(there are plenty of providers), and I'm not too bothered about News
just yet.

But I am in a quandry over DNS. Can any Tom/Dick/Harry use whatever
DNS servers they feel like, regardless of who hosts them? It strikes
me that ISP X would be a bit miffed if ISP Y's customers started using
them as their primary DNS. So I would guess that access to various
ISP's DNS servers will be restricted to clients in their allocated IP
ranges. Which leaves me wondering: where can I find a reliable DNS
service if NTL's proves to be as unreliable as the gossip suggests?

> I'm about to have NTL installed (no ADSL available at my house),
and
> background reading suggests that the basic networking
connectivity
> service is good, but many of NTL's services (email, news, DNS)
are a
> bit flakey.
>
> So, it struck me that perhaps I should treat the NTL connection
as a
> bare pipe to the Internet (rather like BT Broadband), and set up
> access to the various services independently. Email is
straightforward
> (there are plenty of providers), and I'm not too bothered about
News
> just yet.
>
> But I am in a quandry over DNS. Can any Tom/Dick/Harry use
whatever
> DNS servers they feel like, regardless of who hosts them? It
strikes
> me that ISP X would be a bit miffed if ISP Y's customers started
using
> them as their primary DNS. So I would guess that access to
various
> ISP's DNS servers will be restricted to clients in their
allocated IP
> ranges. Which leaves me wondering: where can I find a reliable
DNS
> service if NTL's proves to be as unreliable as the gossip
suggests?

running your own dns server is easy with
Bind PE from

http://www.ntcanuck.com/

much faster too.

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 14:38:56 GMT and in article <3f3b9c06.88109554
@news.nildram.co.uk>, Clive Backham said...
: But I am in a quandry over DNS. Can any Tom/Dick/Harry use whatever
: DNS servers they feel like

Yup.

When on NTL I used to use Nildram's DNS' for over 2 years.

--
chris

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 16:43:35 +0100, chris <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 14:38:56 GMT and in article <3f3b9c06.88109554
>@news.nildram.co.uk>, Clive Backham said...
>: But I am in a quandry over DNS. Can any Tom/Dick/Harry use whatever
>: DNS servers they feel like
>
>Yup.

I'm amazed. How altruistic of the ISPs! But welcome news all the same.

>When on NTL I used to use Nildram's DNS' for over 2 years.

OK, thanks for the info. In fact, since my work net access goes
through Nildram, I would feel less guilty about using them than anyone
else.

"Clive Backham" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm about to have NTL installed (no ADSL available at my house), and
> background reading suggests that the basic networking connectivity
> service is good, but many of NTL's services (email, news, DNS) are a
> bit flakey.
>
> So, it struck me that perhaps I should treat the NTL connection as a
> bare pipe to the Internet (rather like BT Broadband), and set up
> access to the various services independently. Email is straightforward
> (there are plenty of providers), and I'm not too bothered about News
> just yet.
>
> But I am in a quandry over DNS. Can any Tom/Dick/Harry use whatever
> DNS servers they feel like, regardless of who hosts them? It strikes
> me that ISP X would be a bit miffed if ISP Y's customers started using
> them as their primary DNS. So I would guess that access to various
> ISP's DNS servers will be restricted to clients in their allocated IP
> ranges. Which leaves me wondering: where can I find a reliable DNS
> service if NTL's proves to be as unreliable as the gossip suggests?

I believe so- I often use Demon's DNS if i need to manually set up the
connection simply because I have memorised the IP from dealing with it at
work often. It works no matter how I am connecting up.
James