USA ISP and Best Public DNS Server Settings for 2024

Are you looking for the best and fastest DNS servers in the USA for 2023, or the best DNS servers for games consoles such as the PS4, PS5 or Xbox? First, we provide known DNS servers used by US ISPs, including Xfinity (Comcast), AT&T Internet, CenturyLink and Verizon. If your broadband performance is slow or sporadic, you could try an alternative DNS server from your provider. Alternatively, you may be best changing your DNS settings to use one of the best Public DNS servers, and we provide the best options below, including Google, Cloudflare and OpenDNS. Since the USA is such a large country, it is vital that you determine the best DNS settings for your particular state and location, and we provide a guide on how to do this.

 

Getting the right DNS service is critically important for your broadband performance

As described in our guide How to Speed Up DNS Look-ups for Faster Performance, DNS look-ups play a critical role in defining how fast your broadband connection is. Given the geographical size of the United States, a DNS server placed in a faraway state may add substantial delay. This can be made worse if the DNS server used by your broadband provider is unreliable or slow. Manually changing your DNS servers to one of the ones shown in the tables below could make a dramatic difference.

 

DNS server settings for popular ISPs in the USA

Below are details of DNS servers used by some of the most popular broadband providers in the USA. In general, broadband providers configure router modems to use their own DNS servers, but these may be a significant distance away or may not be the fastest or most reliable. You may find that you will get better performance by using alternative DNS settings from your broadband provider. The servers are ranked in performance (for our location) but you may get different results for your location. Some of the DNS servers work when you are not using that particular broadband provider (so essentially work like Public DNS servers).

Provider/ISPDNS servers
Xfinity (Comcast)75.75.75.75
75.75.76.76
68.87.64.146
68.87.75.194
68.87.73.246
68.87.73.242
68.87.72.134
68.87.72.130
68.87.75.198
68.87.68.166
68.87.68.162
68.87.74.162
68.87.74.166
68.87.76.178
68.87.76.182
AT&T Internet68.94.156.1
68.94.157.1
12.127.17.72
12.127.16.68
CenturyLink205.171.2.65
205.171.202.166
205.171.2.26
205.171.3.65
205.171.3.26
205.171.3.66
205.171.2.25
205.171.3.25
Verizon Fios151.197.0.38
151.202.0.85
151.202.0.84
199.45.32.37
199.45.32.43
151.203.0.85
199.45.32.40
151.197.0.39
199.45.32.38
Windstream166.102.165.32
207.92.5.32
166.102.165.11
207.91.5.20
Spectrum (Charter Communications)71.10.216.1
71.10.216.2
209.18.47.61
209.18.47.62
71.10.142.101
Frontier74.40.74.40
74.40.74.41
Cox Communications68.1.16.107
68.1.16.108
68.111.106.68
Suddenlink208.180.42.100
66.76.175.100
Sparklight (part of Cable One)24.119.5.32
24.116.0.206
Mediacom108.166.149.2
108.166.149.3
97.64.183.162
97.64.183.163
97.64.209.34
97.64.209.35
97.64.209.37
97.64.168.10
97.64.168.11

Table 1: DNS Server Settings For Broadband Providers in the USA

 

DNS server settings for Public DNS providers in the USA

While many ISPs run their own servers, a number of third parties including Google, Cloudflare and OpenDNS provide independent, so-called ‘Public’ DNS servers. The table below shows some of the most popular Public DNS servers for broadband users in the USA.

ProviderDNS Servers
Google8.8.4.4
8.8.8.8
Cloudflare1.1.1.1
1.0.0.1
OpenDNS208.67.222.222
208.67.220.222
Quad99.9.9.9
149.112.112.112
Level34.2.2.1
4.2.2.2
4.2.2.3
4.2.2.4
4.2.2.5
4.2.2.6
Sprintlink204.117.214.10
199.2.252.10
NTT129.250.35.250
129.250.35.251
Comodo Secure8.26.56.26
8.20.247.20
Verisign64.6.64.6
64.6.65.6

Table 2: Public DNS Server Settings in the USA

 

How to identify the best DNS servers for your location

Public DNS servers

As described in our How to Speed Up DNS Look-ups for Faster Performance guide, we recommend three approaches (in order of time needed) to ensure you select the DNS server for your location:

  • just pick one from our list of Public DNS server. Google (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) and Cloudflare (1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1) are easy to remember and generally give excellent results
  • measure the ping to/from several DNS servers and pick ones with the smallest ping (which should ensure that they are close to you)
  • download and run software called DNS Benchmark.

 

Other pages you may be interested in:

How to Speed Up DNS Look-ups  |  How to Fix Bufferbloat   |  How to Improve Wi-Fi  |  10 Gigabit Ethernet Guide