Why Is Verizon Wireless Blocking OpenDNS?
from the this-won't-go-over-well... dept
The Washington Post recently ran an interview with OpenDNS founder David Ulevitch, where he notes that Verizon Wireless appears to be blocking OpenDNS, such that users cannot easily route around Verizon Wireless' own DNS services. This seems like an odd decision for Verizon Wireless -- especially at a time when the government is seriously considering network neutrality regulations. You would think that the company would recognize that blatantly blocking a competing service from being used might attract some attention. Perhaps Verizon Wireless is hoping that people won't care because "OpenDNS" sounds boring? Or perhaps they're still working on this belief that "wireless" plays by different rules?
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: blocks, net neutrality, opendns
Companies: opendns, verizon wireless
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
I think the appropriate spin would have to be:
"Or perhaps they're still working on this belief that Verizon plays by different rules?"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
no surprise
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: no surprise
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: no surprise
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: no surprise
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And that is why I'm seriously looking into alternatives for the internet that don't depend on these infra-structure prone to censorship.
Hint: Use SOCKS 4a or SOCKS 5 to request DNS queries from the otherside.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sprint's forging DNS responses
We figured this out when we were trying to setup dynamic DNS. Any updates going to the server (over port 53) were never making it to the server, yet the client was establishing a connection, to what ended up being the Sprint servers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Another BS story loaded with misinformation.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Another BS story loaded with misinformation.
Let me explain how this works. When you accuse us of providing "BS" or "misinformation," it then is your responsibility to let us know what is wrong, so that we may fix it. Simply declaring it full of misinformation doesn't help anyone and, if anything, only makes us question your motives.
You tin hats find the boogerman everywhere.
I'm sorry. I don't quite see how that applies to this post. We're not "seeing" a boogerman anywhere. I'm just pointing out that Verizon Wireless is blocking OpenDNS. Are you claiming this is "BS" or "misinformation"? I'm not suggesting any conspiracy theory -- just noting the fact and that it's probably not in VZW's best interests. You are arguing otherwise, apparently, but I'm not quite sure I understand the basis of your argument.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Another BS story loaded with misinformation.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Another BS story loaded with misinformation.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Another BS story loaded with misinformation.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Net Neutrality - An absolute necessity
While I've never considered changing DNS servers on my phone, this article has opened my eyes to that potential possibility (or not since I'm on VZN).
I'm not sure how any carrier can currently FORCE their DNS on you (considering you can hard code it in both Windows and in your router) unless they are blocking the ports for any other IP destination.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Net Neutrality - An absolute necessity
It's very easy for them to block or redirect and IP addresses they choose.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Using TW and OpenDNS in SoCal
What prompted me to switch was that TWC DNS servers went down often for a while and all of a sudden you could not get anywhere.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Rules
What rules? That's a likely reason for doing what they are doing. Hopefully rules will follow stopping behavior like this. Too bad it will likely be necessary since more rules often create more problems.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Verizon does this on DSL as well
DNS isn't outright blocked though, they're masquerading as whatever server you're trying to connect to, which is horrible as their DNS servers go down a LOT and I end up not being able to access a ton of websites. On throwing DNS errors or failing a domain lookup, instead of properly throwing an error you end up on a verizon "help" page...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
My URL IS being treated as "INVALID"
Why do you make everything so difficulty to do business with you. Why not view a class URL company like "AOL" way of doing business,i.e., such as stop constantly asking for "Password" and "Id". OR YAHOO;GOOGLE or any other URL.
NO OTHER URL DOES THAT. WHY ???
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Find the fastest DNS
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Update needed
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1946133
[ link to this | view in chronology ]