DNS question. Why are there two DNS address? If I make one OpenDNS and the other GoogleDNS (or whatever it's called), is that a bad thing? Do they both have to be the same company? Just trying to make my devices (especially my AppleTV) a bit faster.

Also, I found there is a video on Netflix for testing. It's called "Example Short 23.976". It will show what your connection speed and resolution is at while it's playing. So far, tested on iPad and laptop. Not sure if it shows on AppleTV or xBox. Pretty neat, to help troubleshoot. There looks to be several "example short ..." videos, some with time code, some with I dunno what. If you take the name that's in quotes above, that one seems to have the connection data in it.

You don't need to specify two DNS addresses. But specifying two gives you a backup in case one goes down (your computer will automatically use the good one in that case).

Eta: I'm not sure how one would test DNS server speeds to find the faster one. By ping time?

One thing to look out for with GoogleDNS or OpenDNS is that it used to cause places like Apple or Netflix to choose the wrong Content Delivery Network node to stream content to you. This caused a big drop in your download speeds.

I don't know if this is still a problem.

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The test video does show the data on the AppleTV. It appears my setting for DNS on the AppleTV was set to my router (which then is set to OpenDNS). I switched the AppleTV to one of the GoogleDNS addresses, and noticed a MUCH faster load time. Cover art on Netflix and on the ATV desktop were loading (where previously they were partially loading, if at all. And the test video jumped to full speed in a shorter time. I could also see pictures when fast forwarding at the slow and medium speed. Previously, that would just give me the spinny wheel of wait.

The one hitch to the experiment.. I did this past midnight, CA time. I'll have to try earlier in the evening, when there is more net traffic.

Also, HBOgo performed a lot better.

Dunno why DNS setting would do all of that. But it seems to. Mostly unscientific observations, with the exception of the test video. And yes, I did make sure to fast forward to parts I hadn't watched before changing the DNS setting, just in case it was still in buffer somewhere. Not likely. But wanted to be clear. I'll also want to check with the new settings, that the first video played on boot is faster. Maybe it takes a couple minutes to warm up the tube for streaming.

That's probably the issue I mentioned. Google DNS is getting you the right CDN node and OpenDNS isn't.

What's happening is that when you ask for stream.apple.com, the DNS servers pick a particular server machine based on which network you are on. If you are using your ISPs servers, you'll always get a server that is in the same data center that all your internet traffic travels through to get to you. This is about as fast as it can be.

Other DNS servers will sometimes select the wrong server machine, so that the data from your stream has to first traverse the internet from that wrong server to your ISPs data center, then down to you. This can be very slow.

The actual speed of the DNS servers is not the issue here, since AppleTV does very few DNS lookups. On a web browser, though, I find Google DNS makes an huge different in browsing speed. So I keep the streaming machines on Comcast and everything else gets Google.

But if streams are fast, you're golden with Google DNS.

I read on the interwebs, that one of the ways around Verizon FiOS throttling Netflix is to NOT use their DNS. Hence my aversion to using Verizon DNS and trying other things.

To be honest, this is a couple layers of network protocol over my head, so I'm chucking darts at the board with my eyes closed on this one.

My mother wants "a phone". She wants it for Jamaica, and to spend $100. Does a no-contract Moto E for $129 have any downsides I'm not thinking of? They'll do the unlocking in Jamaica.

I have heard nothing but good things about it

So, my iPhone 5S (I think S) seems to have shut itself down. Is that a thing? It was just sitting idle on the arm of the sofa and now it is off and won't turn on. I don't think the battery was low but I plugged it in for a while just in case, that seems to have had no effect.

I guess I need to make an appointment at the Genius Bar, but does anyone have any idea what's going on?

Try holding down the two buttons for a few seconds.