Verizon Hijacking My Requests
Although Verizon has apparently been testing this for several months, I hadn’t noticed until now. In fact, I am certain that Verizon hadn’t implemented this “service” in the Richmond area until a few days ago.
I mis-typed a URL into my browser this morning and instead of the standard Page Not Found error, I got a DNS Assistance page from Verizon:
This smells like the VeriSign “service” that landed them in hot water with ICANN.
In a small “Learn More” link at the bottom of the page, Verizon links over to an infospace.com page that details their new service.
You reached the preceding search results page because Verizon is using specific Domain Name Service (DNS) Servers to look up domain names. These DNS Servers eliminate dead-end “no such name” error pages you can encounter as you surf the web. This search service is designed to make your web surfing experience more productive. No software was installed on your computer for this service to work.
Actually no. I’ve reached this page because Verizon has decided to hijack my DNS request instead of sending back the appropriate browser response.
Fortunately, Verizon does offer an Opt Out link (although I’d argue that they should let people Opt In instead) but it takes you through a maze of options to get you where you need to go instead of simply killing the “service”. Once there, the solution provided by Verizon requires that you either change your DNS settings in your hardware device (router, gateway, or modem) or in your operating system—neither of which are something the average computer user will be capable of.
Oh - and for those of you on a Mac, Verizon offers NO assistance on modifying your DNS settings (fortunately, it’s not all that complicated on a Mac). All you need to do is add this IP (68.238.0.14) to the DNS Servers config under System Preferences -> Network -> TCP/IP
I got that this morning, too. I’m at a conference and assumed it was something about the local set up. Heh.
October 12, 2007 at 12:13 PMI’ve been told by a friend to switch all my DNS queries over to opendns.org. I haven’t tried it yet, but apparently it’s faster than the ones Verizon provides, and doesn’t screw with your queries.
October 12, 2007 at 02:05 PMUsing DSL of Fiber? Seems my FiOS isn’t having that issue, but I bet that “feature” will make it’s way to me eventually.
OpenDNS.org is a very good option.
October 12, 2007 at 05:14 PMTripp Fenderson
I’m on FiOS here.
October 12, 2007 at 05:57 PMThank you thank you thank you. You saved my life (or at least a long evening) with this info. I have test websites on my computer that I could not access because of Verizon’s new so-called service. Since my local websites are not recorded on DNS servers Verizon thought I was typing in incorrect url’s instead of trying to look at my work-sites, before I upload material to remote sites and make whatever updates live. There are going to be alot of very very angry web developers out there because of this. It just started this afternoon for me. Hopefully they will be made to stop. I’ll leave Verizon as soon as I can afford it. Thanks again.
October 31, 2007 at 05:20 PMThanks a million for the DNS address - you probably saved me about 30 minutes searching Verizon’s site!
November 01, 2007 at 12:58 AM