Although it is often blame bad luckThere is nothing more frustrating than the internet shutting down. And that’s the price Free and Free Mobile customers paid a few days ago. However, failures do occur quite regularly (last affected TV) but most of the time, the problem can be fixed with a simple DNS change, these addresses (to simplify) translate what you type in the address bar. IP addresses. Without DNS servers, it is not possible to connect to websites via web addresses!
First of all, try typing the IP addresses of the 5 most visited sites in France directly into the address bar to see if you can fix the problem with a simple DNS change:
- Google FR : 172.217.9.3
- facebook.com : 31.13.75.8
- youtube.fr : 216.58.218.110
- amazon.com.tr : 54.239.33.91 or 52.95.116.113 or 52.95.120.39
- Leboncoin.fr : 193.164.196.82 or 193.164.197.82
If you manage to connect to these sites this way, you will need to change your DNS to regain your normal internet connection during the outage. Using other DNS other than those provided by your ISP is usually OK, you can leave the configuration as is.
Panne Free: How to choose the right DNS, top 5 server list
There are many third-party DNS address providers. One of the best known is undoubtedly Google because of their very easy-to-remember addresses. But there are also many free alternatives we recommend: A malicious DNS provider can indeed easily redirect you to scam sites and/or spy on what you are doing. Another selection criterion is the delay time. The speed with which a particular DNS server translates domain names to IP addresses depends on how far away you are.
So for some people Google’s DNS will be faster than others where it would be wiser to choose OpenDNS addresses. There are of course benchmarking tools to know the latency of DNS addresses, but we won’t cover them in this tutorial. Here is the list of top 5 DNS services at the time of this writing:
- quad9 : 9.9.9.9
- OpenDNS : 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220
- level 3 : 209.244.0.3, 209.244.0.4
- FDN : 80.67.169.12, 80.67.169.40, 2001:910:800::12, 2001:910:800::40
- Google : 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4
You’ve noticed that DNS usually comes as a pair of addresses. The first is the address favoritesecond address alternativewill be used only if the first one is unavailable. Few people take advantage of the fact that you can mix these addresses: Quad9 for example favoriteand on Google alternative. However, it is recommended especially if you want to both reduce your reliance on a single service as much as possible and reduce your chances of finding yourself online in the future due to a DNS issue. .
No hassle: How to change your DNS on Windows, macOS, Android, Freebox Revolution or any other router
There are several ways to change DNS, depending on the device you are using (computer, smartphone, etc.) and the level at which you want this DNS to be used. For example, if you change the DNS on your router, all computers, smartphones and other devices connected to the network and DNS is set to auto by default will use the new DNS. If you configure them only on your computer, other people connected to the network will use the DNS configured by default.
Change DNS in Windows 10
To change DNS in Windows 10:
- Click on the magnifying glass and type Network then click Show network connections
- Right-click the connection you want to change DNS, and then Properties
- From there you can guess: tick Use the following DNS server address: enter your preferred DNS addresses, check Verify parameters when exiting then click OK
Change your DNS on macOS
- Click the WiFi icon in the top bar, then scroll all the way down to click. Open network preferences…
note : On certain versions of macOS (notably 10.13.2) you also need to click on the padlock beforehand and identify yourself with an administrator account.
- Select the network for which you want to change DNS from the list on the left and then click on it. Further
- go to tab DNS then click + to add your addresses one by one
- click OK
Change your DNS on Android
It is possible to change DNS on Android, but only for your WiFi connection. If you want to change DNS for your 3G/4G connection, you will need to download an app like DNSet from the Pay Store (there are others but we haven’t tested them). In fact, this app circumvents these limitations by connecting to a VPN. However, this doesn’t leave you with a choice of server addresses (which requires root). And the fact that everything is free raises questions about the risks to your privacy.
If your smartphone is rooted, you can edit /etc/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-hooks/20-dns.conf. Soon we will publish a detailed tutorial to actually change the DNS of your Android smartphone. To change the DNS settings of your WiFi connection:
- enter inside Settings > Wi-Fi
- Briefly press your active WiFi connection
- To touch Edit Network
- tick Show advanced settings
- Change DNS 1 and 2 fields as you wish
- To touch Record
Change your DNS on Freebox Revolution, Mini 4K or any other router
To change DNS on Freebox Revolution or Mini 4K:
- go then login to your admin interface
- go Freebox settings > Advanced mode > DHCP
- Enter your preferred DNS addresses in the fields provided (you have the right not to limit yourself to two!)
- click To apply
The method is extremely similar for other routers:
- Connect to your administration interface (usually 192.168.1.1 in your browser)
- Go to local network / DHCP settings (sometimes a DNS tab appears from the home page)
- Normally you will find domains that allow you to change DNS.
Of course, this address (192.168.1.1) may vary slightly. You will also be asked for a password. We recommend reading for more information on how to access your router’s administration pages. This tutorial from our colleagues at PaperGeek.fr.
Feel free to share your feedback in the comments: Did you change your DNS? Does one of the methods described in this tutorial no longer work? Wondering how to change DNS on a device not (yet) mentioned here? We tested the above methods, but there may be differences between different devices, so your feedback is very important!
