Communications of the ACM
A Faster Internet For Your Smartphones
A new smartphone application allows users to measure the performance of the Domain Name Service provided by their organizations and compare it with the performance of public DNS systems.
Credit: PC Magazine
Northwestern University researchers have developed Namehelp Mobile, a smartphone application that enables users to measure Domain Name Service (DNS) performance provided by their organizations and compare it with public DNS systems.
The researchers found that users could improve their Web performance by as much as 150 percent by choosing the "right" DNS.
"At first we wondered if DNS had an impact on performance," says Northwestern professor Fabian Bustamante, who developed the app along with Ph.D. candidate John Rula. "Does it matter? It turns out that it matters a lot."
The researchers note cellphone carriers often lock down DNS service options on their devices, limiting consumer choice. But they hope cellphone carriers eventually will stop limiting DNS options and give customers the freedom to choose their own DNS. "Because consumers are locked into their DNS service, they don’t know what they are missing," Rula says. The researchers note that currently the only way to bypass this limitation is a rooted or "jailbroken" phone.
From Northwestern University Newscenter
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