How SmartDNS Works

12

1

If you travel outside the US you'll notice that most of the streaming services like Netflix, Pandora, hulu etc are blocked, usually by the service providers themselves. To get around that, people use VPN services. They basically tunnel your traffic through a US server so your requests seem like they are originating in the US. These VPN services fix this blocking problem, but make your connection slower than the normal unVPNed connection.

Recently however I've come across something called SmartDNS provided by overplay.net. You pay $5 a month and you get access to their DNS servers. After you change to their DNS you get access to the blocked streaming sites, without slowing down your normal traffic like email and browsing.

What I'd like to know is the technical details of how this SmartDNS works. I've done some quick research but that didn't turn up anything of substance. Anybody out there knows?

Emad

Posted 2012-07-27T01:53:40.987

Reputation: 121

Answers

11

Nothing special here... Overplay's SmartDNS works like Google Public DNS for normal traffic. But, in case of Netflix (for example), it points to their own servers rather than to Netflix's servers. Their own servers act as proxy to Netflix's server. That's it!

Proxy services don't involve any type of encryption, so its faster than VPNs featuring encryption. Plus, normal traffic isn't passed through their proxy servers, so its speed is normal.

Apple II

Posted 2012-07-27T01:53:40.987

Reputation: 3 669

So...Nothing special here? – Amit Naidu – 2014-08-29T05:11:54.943

so basically, for streaming sites we are not connecting to netflix but to their server? – Arnold Roa – 2014-10-06T18:50:37.817

Is possible for they to be a proxy for a ssl site? for example gmail? – Arnold Roa – 2014-10-06T18:51:03.223

@Arnold You are connecting to Netflix server, but the route is different. In case of SSL protected sites, you'll be safe. Proxy services can't see your private things. But, the thing with Overplay's SmartDNS is gmail will open without proxy. So, there's nothing to worry about. – Apple II – 2014-10-06T19:13:35.327

There's a rare chance that they can point to own server and give you own Gmail looking login page to steal your login details (this is very unlikely from a popular service), so I recommend you resolve IP of gmail.com on their DNS to verify it's legit server and turn ON two-factor authentication in case. – Apple II – 2014-10-06T19:15:22.800

Asked: 2012-07-27T01:53:40.987

Viewed: 7 632 times

Active: 2014-10-20T15:28:14.613