Does using OpenDNS bypass my ISP's Netflix Open Connect connection?

earlofthewest · ‎12-12-2014

My ISP (Frontier FIOS) has Netflix's Open Connect. I'm wondering if using OpenDNS bypasses my ISPs Open Connect servers and points me to Netflix HQ to stream Netflix.

Thanks!

mattwilson9090 · ‎12-13-2014

OpenDNS doesn't "bypass" anyone's servers. It is a recursive DNS service so all that it does is return the IP addresses associated with Netflix's or anyone else's domains. Unless your ISP has specifically arranged things so that you have to use their, or some specialized set of DNS servers to get addresses that are specific to their network it shouldn't make any difference whatsoever.

If you are concerned about it, use OpenDNS' servers on one PC without configuring any other computers or routers or even setting up a dashboard account. If Netflix continues working as you expect it to then you can configure the rest of OpenDNS, including setting up a dashboard account so you can get the additional features, especially domain filtering.

earlofthewest · ‎12-13-2014

Matt, thanks for your reply.

Netflix Open Connect is where Netflix servers host content at the ISPs location. This would imply that when the ISP's customer goes to netflix.com, the ISP somehow serves up the file on their local network rather than streaming it all the way from Netflix's headquarters server farm.

What I'm wondering is if I enter netflix.com using my ISPs DNS servers, does my ISP route my request to the Netflix Open Connects servers which are located on my ISP's network?

If that is how it works, then if I were to use OpenDNS, OpenDNS would send my request to Netflix HQ server farm. Essentially, this would bypass the benefits of using Netflix's Open Connect servers that are hosted at my ISP's data center.

Thanks.

rotblitz · ‎12-14-2014

"What I'm wondering is if I enter netflix.com using my ISPs DNS servers, does my ISP route my request to the Netflix Open Connects servers which are located on my ISP's network?"

Interesting question. Why not try it out as mattwilson9090 proposed? This cannot be commonly answered, but is highly dependent on your location. You have to measure it yourself.

nslookup www.example.com. <yourISPsDNSaddr>

nslookup www.example.com. 208.67.220.220

where www.example.com is a Netflix used domain, e.g. www.netflix.com. See if the same IP addresses (or set of IP addresses) are returned. If so, it doesn't make a difference if you use your ISP's DNS service or OpenDNS. And even if they are different, still try with a traceroute against both to see which latency is better, or if they are nearly the same. In some case not using Netflix Open Connect can be even better than using it...

mattwilson9090 · ‎12-14-2014

I know what Netflix Open is, I just don't know all of the technical details of how it works. It could work via DNS or specific entries in the ISP's router traders, or some other method I'm not thinking of right now. It could also rely on coding within Netflix apps. It's also possible that whatever they do varies by ISP, depending on the contracts that Netflix has signed with each of them. As rotblitz said, it could also vary depending on your physical location.

The point I was trying to make is that it isn't hard to test and find out. Go back to my initial where I outline one quick way to test if things work or not. Without a test, any answers we give here are only going to be speculation and guesswork. After all, they are a service provided by two different companies, not OpenDNS. You could also try contacting your ISP or Netflix to find out their answer, but I think it would be simpler and faster just to test it yourself.