# Best Free, Public DNS Servers in 2021: Boost Your Internet Speed With These Services ## Metadata - Author: [[Mike Williams]] - Full Title: Best Free, Public DNS Servers in 2021: Boost Your Internet Speed With These Services - Category: #Type/Highlight/Article - URL: https://www.techradar.com/news/best-dns-server ## Highlights - Free and public DNS servers offer an alternative way to connect safely online with the added bonus of potentially accelerating your internet speed. DNS (Domain Name System) is a system (or protocol) which translates the domain names you enter in a browser to the IP addresses required to access those sites. ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1451022743/17670958)) - Your ISP will assign you DNS servers whenever you connect to the internet, but these may not always be the best DNS server choice around. Slow DNS servers can cause a lag before websites start to load, and if your server sometimes goes down, you may not be able to access any sites at all. Switching to a free public DNS server can make a real difference, with more responsive browsing and lengthy 100% uptime records meaning there's much less chance of technical problems. ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1451022743/17670959)) - What is DNS? The Domain Name System (DNS) is a phonebook for the internet, a framework which translates domain names, like facebook.com or twitter.com, into the IP addresses necessary for devices to load those internet resources (e.g. 126.125.4.4). In geek terms, that's called Resolution. ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1451022743/17670960)) - Tags: [[favorite]] - The mechanics of DNS can be quite complicated, as information isn't held in a single database, but rather distributed in a worldwide directory including a vast number of DNS servers. ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1451022743/17670961)) - DNS speed depends on many factors, including your location, the distance to your nearest server, and that server having enough power and bandwidth to handle all the queries it receives. ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1451022743/17670968)) - DNS Jumper is a portable freeware tool which tests multiple public DNS services to find out which delivers the best performance for you. The program has a lot of options, but isn't difficult to use. Launch it, click Fastest DNS > Start DNS Test, and within a few seconds you'll be looking at a list of DNS services sorted by speed. DNS Jumper can be useful, in particular because it's checking how servers perform from your location, but it doesn't run enough tests over a long enough period to give you a definitive answer. ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1451022743/17670969))