Use Google Public DNS instead of OpenDNS to access Facebook

If you came here looking for a way to unblock facebook, look at this post instead

Isn’t it an open secret that everybody uses proxies or OpenDNS to access Facebook in Vietnam? The government of Vietnam has blocked Facebook but a quick Google search will give you at least 10 different ways to feed your FB addiction (don’t deny it.. ha). Most people take the easy way and use one of the innumerable proxies. The techier of the lot harp on the advantages of Open DNS.

But have any of you tried Google Public DNS yet? If you haven’t, please do, pronto.

I have been using OpenDNS for a very long time and I love their service but Google Public DNS seems to have much faster response times� in Asia (OpenDNS is faster in the US). I checked with my friends in India and Bahrain, and they had faster response times with Google Public DNS.

Please see the screenshots below for ping times in Vietnam and India.

Img 1 – Ping Response in Vietnam

Img 2 and 3 – Ping Response in India

Google Public DNS IP Address – 8.8.8.8

OpenDNS IP Address – 208.67.222.222

Use the ping command as above to figure out if Google Public DNS is better for you or not. If it is, then follow the instructions here to use Google Public DNS as your DNS Servers.

Let me know in your comments, what your observations are.

If Facebook doesn’t open even after using opendns or google public dns, change the url to https://www.facebook.com/ instead of http://www.facebook.com/

8 comments

  1. I tried out Google Public DNS when it was launched and for me (in Bangalore) it was much slower than OpenDNS. And both Google Public DNS and OpenDNS were significantly slower than my ISP’s DNS servers so I continued to use my ISP’s servers.

    As regards to using the ping command to determine speed of DNS query resolutions it may or may not be a good way since apart from the time to reach the DNS server the time taken by the DNS server itself to resolve your query is important. I recommend using the namebench tool to test speeds more accurately and objectively – http://code.google.com/p/namebench/

    @Anon – You are right, with the wide scope and reach of Google’s services privacy is a serious issue. Don’t forget that even if you do not use the Google Public DNS system your browser might be using the Google Safe Browsing blacklist to determine whether a visited URL is safe or not and thus will be transferring information about your site visits to Google anyways.

    1. Varun, I used Namebench before writing this post, Google Public DNS was second fastest to the local DNS Server, and ofcourse the local DNS server blocks out facebook, so Google Public DNS was the obvious choice.

  2. I would be careful about the amount of data you are giving Google. It is not unknown for search companies to assist governments in ‘enforcing the law’ in order to maintain their ability to do business in a country – take a look at Yahoo’s actions in China, for example, where they have turned in people who searched for certain things to the police. At least OpenDNS does not have a vested interest in making money in Vietnam.

    Even leaving aside these concerns remember that Google is not 100% alturistic – it uses your browsing history to feed its advertising machine, tracking your visits from Chrome, the toolbar and now the DNS servers in order to share more of your habits with its advertisers. The biggest spyware operation in the world?

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