A public Wi-Fi enigma

A strange thing sometimes happens when I use the free Wi-Fi at the local
public library :-
Internet Explorer and Firefox will often stop connecting and display the
respective <web-page not found> error messages. Outlook Express also says
<the server could not be found>.
The issue resolves itself within a few minutes. Other users have this
problem too, so there is nothing wrong with my laptop.
However, during all such interruptions, uTorrent would keep working merrily
as if nothing has happened.
What is its secret? Is it related to Windows XP, or the wireless network
set-up at the library? Or something else?
This is a Windows XP Pro SP3 unit, BTW.
Regards and thanks in anticipation for any insights.
RR
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"Rubicon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed):

> A strange thing sometimes happens when I use the free Wi-Fi at the
> local public library :-
> Internet Explorer and Firefox will often stop connecting and
> display the respective <web-page not found> error messages.
> Outlook Express also says <the server could not be found>.
> The issue resolves itself within a few minutes. Other users have
> this problem too, so there is nothing wrong with my laptop.
> However, during all such interruptions, uTorrent would keep
> working merrily as if nothing has happened.
> What is its secret? Is it related to Windows XP, or the wireless
> network set-up at the library? Or something else?
> This is a Windows XP Pro SP3 unit, BTW.
> Regards and thanks in anticipation for any insights.
> RR
> ---

It sounds like a problem with the DNS service. Once a name is
resolved, it can run along without problems for quite a while but
something like a web browser is looking up names all the time. You
might be able to solve this by specifying your own DNS servers instead
of using the ones assigned by the DHCP in the library.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDNS>

HTH,
John

My response at bottom:
"John Wunderlich" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Xns9A95829BB51DFwunderpsdrscray@138.126.254.2 10...
> "Rubicon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> news:(E-Mail Removed):
>
>> A strange thing sometimes happens when I use the free Wi-Fi at the
>> local public library :-
>> Internet Explorer and Firefox will often stop connecting and
>> display the respective <web-page not found> error messages.
>> Outlook Express also says <the server could not be found>.
>> The issue resolves itself within a few minutes. Other users have
>> this problem too, so there is nothing wrong with my laptop.
>> However, during all such interruptions, uTorrent would keep
>> working merrily as if nothing has happened.
>> What is its secret? Is it related to Windows XP, or the wireless
>> network set-up at the library? Or something else?
>> This is a Windows XP Pro SP3 unit, BTW.
>> Regards and thanks in anticipation for any insights.
>> RR
>> ---
>
> It sounds like a problem with the DNS service. Once a name is
> resolved, it can run along without problems for quite a while but
> something like a web browser is looking up names all the time. You
> might be able to solve this by specifying your own DNS servers instead
> of using the ones assigned by the DHCP in the library.
>
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDNS>
>
> HTH,
> John

That sounds plausible - I will check into it as soon as I can!
Thanks for the response.
RR
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