How to Boost Your Download Speed

Method 1 of 5: Speeding Up Your DNS Server

Are you frustrated with low download speeds? Ever wondered how to increase your download speed significantly? While it's impossible to completely optimize your internet performance and download speed, the following tips and tricks will help significantly

1

Visit an internet speed testing website and take note of your download and upload speed. You're going to want a benchmark, so that you can compare the before speed (slower) to the after speed (faster).

• To get to an internet speed testing website, simply type in "internet speed test" into a search engine and find one that will perform a test for free. There should be plenty of options to choose from.
• Once at an internet speed testing website, input your geographic location (if necessary) and perform the test. The test should spit out a download speed as well as an upload speed. Take note of these numbers.

• Method 1 of 5: Speeding Up Your DNS Server

  1. 
     1
     Visit an internet speed testing website and take note of your download and upload speed. You're going to want a benchmark, so that you can compare the before speed (slower) to the after speed (faster).
     • To get to an internet speed testing website, simply type in "internet speed test" into a search engine and find one that will perform a test for free. There should be plenty of options to choose from.
     • Once at an internet speed testing website, input your geographic location (if necessary) and perform the test. The test should spit out a download speed as well as an upload speed. Take note of these numbers.
     Ad
  2. 
     2
     Go to where your computer stores its DNS information.^[1] The location of this information will be different depending on what operating system you're using. Here's how to get there:
     • Windows 7/Vista: Start → Control Panel → View network status and tasks → View status (click on your local or wireless connection) → Properties → Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) → Properties. Once you are here, click on "Use the following DNS server addresses."
     • Mac OSX: System Preferences → Network → View status (click on your local or wireless connection) → Advanced → DNS
  3. 
     3
     Remove the old DNS number and type in two or three open DNS server addresses. Open DNS server addresses include "208.67.222.222" and "208.67.220.220" for example. Apply the changes once finished.
     • If you want to search for custom DNS server addresses, use an application like Gibson Research Corporation's Domain Name Speed Benchmark orNamebench. These will test your system and suggest benchmark addresses that you can use.
  4. 
     4
     Close out your browser, open it again, and test out the speed of your new DNS address. Go back to the same speed test website you used earlier and see for yourself how changing your DNS can boost your internet speed.