You are at Free and/or Free Mobile and could no longer connect to the internet? One of the most common failures experienced by ISPs and their customers affects DNS, servers that translate web addresses into IP addresses. In case of limited connectivity, and after having checked that the problem does not come from your line or from a bad configuration of your local network, it is recommended to change the DNS that your ISP uses by default by third-party addresses. Here's how to do it whether on your router, on your computer or on your Android smartphone!
Even if it's often the fault of bad luck, there is nothing more annoying than internet shutdowns. And this is precisely what Free and Free Mobile customers paid the price a few days ago. However, breakdowns occur quite regularly (the last time, it had affected the TV) but most often, the problem can be solved by a simple change of DNS, these addresses which (to simplify) translate what you type in the bar of address into IP addresses. Without DNS servers, the connection with websites cannot be established via web addresses!
First of all, to find out if you can solve the problem with a simple change of DNS, try typing directly in the address bar the IP addresses of the 5 most visited sites in Spain:
- Google.com : 172.217.9.3
- Facebook.com : 31.13.75.8
- Youtube.com : 216.58.218.110
- Amazon.com : 54.239.33.91 or 52.95.116.113 or 52.95.120.39
- leboncoin.com : 193.164.196.82 or 193.164.197.82
If you manage to connect to these sites in this way, you need to change your DNS to regain your normal Internet connection during the outage. The use of other DNS than those provided by your ISP does not generally pose any problem, you can leave the configuration as is.
Summary
- Panne Free: how to choose the right DNS, the list of the 5 best servers
- Breakdown Free: how to change your DNS on Windows, macOS, Android, Freebox Revolution or any other router
- Comments
Panne Free: how to choose the right DNS, the list of the 5 best servers
There are many third-party DNS address providers. One of the best known is undoubtedly Google because of its very easy to remember addresses. But there are also many free alternatives that we recommend: a malicious DNS provider can indeed easily redirect you to fraudulent sites and/or spy on what you are doing. Another criterion of choice is the latency time. The speed at which a given DNS server translates domain names into IP addresses depends a lot on how far apart you are.
So for some people Google's DNS will be faster than for others, for whom it will be smarter to choose OpenDNS addresses. To know the latency times of DNS addresses there are of course benchmarking tools but we will not cover them in this tutorial. Here is the list of the top 5 DNS services at the time of this writing:
- Quad9 : 9.9.9.9
- OpenDNS : 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220
- Level3 : 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 often comes as a pair of addresses. The first is the preferred address, the second the alternative address, which will only be used if the first is unavailable. Few people exploit the fact that you can mix these addresses: use for example Quad9 as a favorite, and Google as an alternative. However, it is advisable, especially if you want to both reduce your dependence on a single service as much as possible, and reduce the probability that you will find yourself, in the future, out of the internet because of a DNS problem. .
Breakdown Free: 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 these 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 whose DNS are set automatically by default will use the new DNS. If you only configure them on your computer, other people connected to the network will use the DNS configured by default.
Change DNS on Windows 10
To change DNS on Windows 10:
- Click on the magnifying glass, and type Network then click on View network connections
- Right click on the connection for which you want to change DNS then Properties
- From there, you can guess the following: check Use the following DNS server address: enter your preferred DNS addresses, check Validate settings on exit and click on OK
Change your DNS on macOS
- Click on the WiFi icon in the top bar, then scroll all the way down to click on Open Network preferences…
Note: under certain versions of macOS (in particular 10.13.2) you will also need to click on the padlock beforehand and identify yourself with an administrator account.
- Choose the network for which you want to change DNS in the list on the left then click on Advanced
- Go to the tab DNS then click + to add your addresses one by one
- Click on OK
Change your DNS on Android
On Android changing DNS is possible but only for your WiFi connection. If you want to change DNS for your 3G / 4G connection, you will need to download an application from the Pay Store such as DNSet (there are others but we have not tested them). In fact this application circumvents these limitations by connecting to a VPN. However, this does not leave you the choice of server addresses (this will require 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. We will soon publish a detailed tutorial to actually change the DNS of your Android smartphone. To change your WiFi connection's DNS settings:
- Go to Settings > Wi-Fi
- Briefly press your active WiFi connection
- touch Modify the network
- Check Show advanced options
- Change DNS 1 and 2 fields to your liking
- touch Save
Change your DNS on Freebox Revolution, Mini 4K or any other router
To change the DNS on Freebox Revolution or Mini 4K:
- Go to http://mafreebox.comeebox.com then log in to your administrator interface
- Go to 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 on 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 is visible from the home page)
- You will normally find fields allowing you to change DNS
Of course this address (192.168.1.1) may vary slightly. You will also be asked for a password. For more information on how to access your router's administration pages, we suggest you read this tutorial from our colleagues at TechnologiesTips.com.
Do not hesitate to share your feedback in the comments: have you changed your DNS? One of the methods exposed in this tutorial no longer works? Wondering how to change DNS in a device that is not (yet) mentioned here? We have tested the above methods, but there may be differences between different devices, that's why your feedback is very important!
