You can run this test via your Mac’s Terminal, so launch a ‘Finder’ window and select ‘Applications > Utilities > Terminal.’ By performing this test before and after editing your DNS settings, you can see exactly what impact your changes have made to your Internet connection. The quickest way to gauge how your current DNS settings are performing, is to test how long it takes your Mac to query a DNS server. Along the way I’ll also be sharing some troubleshooting tips, as well as a quick Terminal command that lets you see exactly how long your DNS lookups are taking.

In this article I’m going to show you how to use Google’s Namespace app to find the DNS server that offers the best performance for your particular Mac and your exact location, and how you can switch your Mac to these new DNS settings. While most Macs will use the DNS from your Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or Wi-Fi router, you’re under no obligation to use this particular DNS, and can often improve the speed of your connection by switching to a different DNS. How quickly this lookup can be completed determines how quickly (or slowly!) your web browser will load the website you’re trying to access. Whenever you type a URL into your browser’s address bar, your Mac contacts a DNS server and gets the IP address associated with that domain name. The problem is that a long string of (seemingly) random numbers isn’t the easiest thing for the human brain to remember, so a DNS is the system that’s responsible for translating these numerical IP addresses into the more human-readable domain names we’re all familiar with. One of the most effective ways of cutting the time it takes your Mac to load a web page, is to change your DNS (Domain Name Service) settings.Įvery website is assigned an IP (Internet Protocol) address, which is a string of numbers. Maybe it seems like web pages are taking longer to load, or maybe you simply like the idea of a faster Internet connection (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t like the idea of a faster Internet connection?)

Do you want to speed up your Internet connection?

Change dns servers mac