Comcast DNS Question

[Alex_Select]

I have noticed when i use Visual Route, all of my queries go to Cherry Hill, N.J. first and then on to the website. I live in Maryland, would it be a good idea to use other available DNS servers nearby so that all of my request don't have to travel to NJ first? Will this kill my Comcast e-mail use? Does anybody know of any available DNS servers near Washingtion, DC? Is this just a stupid idea?

Alex

[Kip Patterson]

There is no connection between the DNS server and the route your packets take. The routing of the packets is controlled by routing tables in each individual router, and for the most part the routing tables are learned by each router through a protocol that looks for the shortest path to each possible destination.

If you are looking at the locations reported by a tracing program, typically two-thirds of them are wrong. The location information is often omitted, so the programs assume that the router is located at the administrative offices of the company. So, it's unlikely that your packets are all going to Cherry Hill.

Kip

[Cable_Dood]

In addition to the above, lots and lots of blocks of IPs haven't been registered with ARIN yet and default to Cherry Hill, where most of the network engineering occurs.

[Alex_Select]

So it was a stupid question...