How to change DNS servers on Pace 4111N Modem

[dmacdoug]

I want to change DNS. I have a Pace 4111N modem/access point supplied by Sonic. On the modem's web server I can only find one place to set the primary and secondary DNS so I replaced the previous primary and secondary servers IP addresses with the new ones I wanted to try, then scrolling to the bottom pressed Save and a moment later was greeted by a success message, and indeed the numbers have stuck through a restart.

But a computer attaching to the access point wirelessly and being assigned an address by the DHCP server in the modem/access point still gets assigned the old DNS servers which I thought I had replaced. What more should I be doing?

Thanks,
Don

[miken]

Have you restarted your modem and devices yet?

[dmacdoug]

Yes, I restarted the modem, which changed nothing. Then, realizing that I had lease times set rather long so I changed it to expire in one hour. The unexpected result was that now the DHCP sets DNS to neither the old nor the new addresses. Instead, now DNS is set to the modem itself. It seems to work, though with variable speed. Sometimes it's reasonably fast other times it's abysmally slow. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting.

[ankh]

> DNS is set to the modem itself

I've been seeing that happen a lot lately and wondering why. A quick 'oogle shows discussion various places on the Net going back many years, which I'd summarize as "it just happens" in settings. Most curious why.

I just tried running Namebench, which says it checks available DNS providers for speed. It recommended using Comcast 68.87.76.182 for an 18 percent speed improvement.

[dmacdoug]

Fortunately nothing "just happens". I figure there must be a firmware error, or something like that. My assumption is that Sonic pushes out such things periodically, though I have not kept track of versions over the years and I don't really know how old the currently installed version is.

The modem model is 4111N-030 Hardware version 2701-000816-003 Software version 9.5.1.53.8. I've been using it for just over 4 years.

Just now I checked again and I find that on this computer DNS is no longer set to the modem itself. Instead It has reverted to the defaults, Sonics own two server addresses. The settings on the modem are still the ones that I put in, namely 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I should be able to reset the DNS settings and have the DHCP server either use whatever settings I've set it to or complain if there's some problem, not silently use other settings.

[ankh]

I think I should be able . . . .

I'd have thought so too.

Can someone explain how the DNS settings work?

(In my case, the Mac is connected to an Airport router, which is connected to the Pace modem (in Bridged mode), and the Mac's setting for DNS is the Airport's 192.168.3.1 -- any change to the DNS doesn't stick.

Much possibly relevant discussion found:
https://www.google.com/search?q=PACE+mo ... rt+Express

[simx]

I'm having this problem still; I have the Pace 4111N Modem and am just connecting to its own wireless network that it creates.

I input custom DNS servers, but when a client connects to it, it just serves up Sonic's default servers. Is there any way to fix this?

[js9erfan]

There are several options to get around this -

• Set the DNS servers you want to use manually under the DHCP client's tcp/ip settings
  Replace Sonic's Pace 4111N with a different, compatible modem/router of your own (also gets rid of the rental fee)
  Bridge the Pace to a downstream router that will reliably take over DHCP, DNS, WiFi etc functions.

You can also look at the last two options as an upgrade since the 802.11ac standard is pretty common now vs the Pace which is limited to 802.11n.