Optus Mobile Review ALDI Mobile Review Amaysim Mobile Review Belong Mobile Review Circles.Life Review Vodafone Mobile Review Woolworths Mobile Review Felix Mobile Review Best iPhone Plans Best Family Mobile Plans Best Budget Smartphones Best Prepaid Plans Best SIM-Only Plans Best Plans For Kids And Teens Best Cheap Mobile Plans Telstra vs Optus Mobile Optus NBN Review Belong NBN Review Vodafone NBN Review Superloop NBN Review Aussie BB NBN Review iiNet NBN Review MyRepublic NBN Review TPG NBN Review Best NBN Satellite Plans Best NBN Alternatives Best NBN Providers Best Home Wireless Plans What is a Good NBN Speed? Test NBN Speed How to speed up your internet Optus vs Telstra Broadband ExpressVPN Review CyberGhost VPN Review NordVPN Review PureVPN Review Norton Secure VPN Review IPVanish VPN Review Windscribe VPN Review Hotspot Shield VPN Review Best cheap VPN services Best VPN for streaming Best VPNs for gaming What is a VPN? VPNs for ad-blocking While you can use an IP address to, say, visit your favourite website, it’s much easier to remember letters and words, which is where DNS comes in. DNS translates those digits to words, so all you have to remember is Reviews.org instead of an elongated string of numbers. The first is that you’ll want to dig into the advanced network settings of your device. DNS tends to be hidden because manually overriding DNS settings with incorrect numbers will render your internet connection unusable. For example, on Windows 11, you have to right-click on the Wi-Fi signal fan or Ethernet symbol in the taskbar (just left of the date and time), then click on ‘Network and Internet’ settings. For a Wi-Fi connection, click on ‘Wi-Fi’, then ‘Hardware properties’. On the next screen, select ‘Edit’ next to ‘DNS Server assignments’, change the drop-down option to ‘Manual’, then toggle on IPv4 (most likely) or IPv6 (less likely). Now enter your ‘Preferred DNS’ numbers and ‘Alternative DNS’ digits, then click ‘Save’ to apply. As you can see, that’s a convoluted process, but you may still want to consider updating your DNS. The two most popular DNS server settings that are worth considering are the Google DNS and the Cloudflare DNS. Here’s their respective primary and alternative DNS server digits:
Google primary DNS server: 8.8.8.8 Google alternative DNS server: 8.8.4.4 Cloudflare primary DNS server: 1.1.1.1 Cloudflare alternative DNS server: 1.0.0.1
Both DNS servers are great alternatives to whatever your provider uses, plus updating DNS server settings can lead to faster overall internet, especially if your provider is experiencing a lot of internet traffic (most likely at night). Generally speaking, the Google DNS servers are great for people who favour speed above all else, but Cloudflare is a solid pick for people who favour privacy (it’s still fast in our tests). Try out both to see which one works best for you. Once the DNS server settings are updated, any device that connects to your router (via Wi-Fi or Ethernet) will use the router’s DNS server settings, which saves you the hassle of applying changes to individual devices. To test this, use a site like DNS Leak Test to see what your DNS result is. Then either punch in manual DNS server settings or connect to a VPN and run the test again. The DNS result should be different to the original test, showing that either the manual DNS server settings or the VPN service you’re using are doing a good job of not leaking your provider DNS details. If you get the same issue on both devices, your internet may be down. Restart your networking equipment and try again. If the issue persists, contact your internet provider. It’s the same thing if you isolate the device: restart the device to see if the issue is fixed. You may also need to update your web browser if it’s happening on a specific device. Alternatively, try either manually updating your DNS server settings or reverting to automatic selection. If the internet isn’t working, fix it by restarting your device, then selecting ‘Forget this network’. Now reconnect. If that doesn’t work and you’re on your home network, restart your router or modem-router. Also ensure the firmware is up to date on your router or modem-router.
