A post on TheDomains last week reminded me of how much I hate that Verizon DNS hijacks my typos to take me to their “DNS Assistance” page full of ads. When it first started happening in 2007 I got Verizon Online support on the phone and, maybe because it was so early, they didn’t know what I was talking about. So I tried switching to OpenDNS, but they do the same thing, redirecting to their ‘Open Guide’. Thing is, when I typo a url into my nav bar and get the usual error message, the error is still sitting there in my nav bar, I can see the error, usually one letter, and correct it. When Verizon hijacks my typo, they load the nav bar with a whole new url, so NOT ONLY do I have to see all their ads (assuming I don’t have Adblock Plus enabled) but I have to clear their url out of my nav bar and start all over. No more. Today I found the Verizon help page that shows you how to reconfigure your modem so that you are not re-directed to their DNS Assistance page.

Here’s the url http://www.verizon.net/central/vzc.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=vzc_help_contentDisplay&linkflag=guestsso_fios_primary_east_undecided_consumer&case=dns_assist. (Tip: You need to click the ‘disable DHCP client’ button in order to make the changes. Don’t forget to  re-enable it before you ‘setVC’. If you’re asked for a user name and password, try admin admin (then change it).

If you’re on Comcast, this will get you started: “How do I turn off the Domain Helper service? Click on the Disable this error service link found at the top of the page …we will ask you for your email address and your cable modem MAC address…” http://customer.comcast.com/Pages/FAQViewer.aspx?Guid=e02580db-8813-43a3-9642-b66d8cfceb1a.

If you have links to other opt-out information pages, please leave them in a comment and I’ll add them to the post.

[Update 081709 I was having issues. The DNS settings weren't holding. I would either have troubles connecting to the internet or the old DNS settings would pop back and I'd again get the DNS Assistance page. What worked was taking the opt out DNS numbers derived through the Verizon instructions page and puting them in my (Mac) network settings. So instead of doing it network-wide I have to set it up for each computer.]

Virgin Media calls it Advanced Network Error Search, clever! Here’s their opt-out page.

P.S. Take Back The Beep!

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