Domain Helper service: Here to help you

If anyone wants to override the DNS servers without having to call Comcast support, here are the national Comcast Opt-Out DNS servers:

http://dns.comcast.net/dns-ip-addresses2.php

Their so-called opt-out service in your comcast.net account doesn't actually make the switch to your account, even after you reboot your modem and router. I manually entered these DNS servers into my router and the DNS helper pages vanished.

I manage several web sites. When a URL is wrong I absolutely HAVE to know. I don't want ComCast being "nice" to me and taking me to the URL that they think I need.
Yes, I opted out of this service months ago, and now it is back again, even though my opt-out settings are the same. Now I have to waste more time contacting ComCast to fix their broken service.
When will this sorry "feature" be put out of its misery?

Comcast has essentially broken the majority of enterprise VPNs with its implementation of Domain Helper. Since the NXDOMAIN never makes it to the client, it never knows to query additional internal domain suffixes it has been given. So for any company with multiple internal domains (the vast majority), VPN's become useless.

Our current solution is to publish documentation to our several thousand VPN users which tell them that if they have Comcast as an ISP, they must change the DNS servers on their home networks. This is basically speaking jibberish to non-IT folks, asking them to reconfigure their routers... We used to suggest opting out, until we found that an unacceptable amount of users were either frequently opted back in or were never able to opt out successfully.

So thank you, Comcast, for managing to piss off the majority of Fortune 500 companies who don't even pay for your RFC-defiant "service."

How is it that you don't allow users to opt-out unless they're connected directly to the modem? Can you provide a technical reason for this?

Thanks

You are out of your minds. This is incredibly intrusive. I called tech support to get help only to be told I needed to pay for their service - on something you idiots did to me without my consent. I am actively looking for any alternative to your ISP service. I cannot believe how hard you are working to alienate customers. Have you lost your minds???

This domain helper service as implemented is a stupendously bad idea. There are standards and conventions for the way that DNS is supposed to work for a reason, and Comcast has specifically chosen not to support those standards. I can almost understand displaying a helper page when you search for something that does not resolve to an actual IP address, but this is doing more than that and interfering with my ability to remote desktop to PC names inside of a VPN connection. As soon as I told my router to no longer get its DNS IP information from Comcast (and later when I opted out) that problem was resolved.

Someone higher up at Comcast needs to read the comments posted here and realize just how many customers have been inconvenienced by this feature (that is really a bug). There is no way that the ad revenue can be worth causing this much annoyance to your customers!

This annoyance made me so frustrated, I did not even think to select a new DNS server myself until I had called Comcast 3 times to ask why the opt-out form was not working. During 2 of these calls, I was transfered to another person, so I spoke with 5 comcast employees today. Not one of them had any idea what a DNS is. Not one of them could help me AT ALL. Two of them told me to contact the manufacturer of my computer and/or browser.

This is a TERRIBLE idea. It makes your users MAD. The least you can do is tell your CSRs what a DNS is. This is a simply disgusting way to treat your users. I've had Comcast service for less than a week and I've already had to make no less than 10 phone calls to resolve various stupid problems. You guys suck. I hate you.

I am really upset that you choose to hijack my URL bar. You should have given me the choice and asked my permission BEFORE doing it. This is not good business and I should recieve a credit for the time wasted in changing it

I work for a very large company that employes VPN for employees to get thru Comcast (or whatever) to the internal company network. Currently Domain Helper, plus a characteristic of our VPN facility, has broken our ability to search inside the company. If Domain Helper wasn't in effect, our problem (and workaround) would probably be unnecessary. A waste of everyone's time, Comcast!! Quit messing with our Internet access.

Use Google Public DNS instead:

http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using.html

I've finally gotten rid of these stupid hijacks!!

http://www.thedeets.com/2010/06/08/comcast-dns-hijacking-domain-helper-service-still-not-helpful/

I actually went directly on-line to chat with Comcast technical "help". The customer service agent on the other end acted clueless about the DNS Hijack, Domain Helper which was disabled in my settings but still active. I sent them a web link to read about what I was trying to describe. Once the agent read the info, they went to fetch their manager and my chat session was quickly terminated.

The Domain Helper is a horrible nuisance! I have tried following the directions for disabling it, twice, and I have spent time online with your help service. I was told that the service was disabled from Comcast's end. But I still get these very annoying pop-up pages that interrupt my time online, and tell me that Comcast wants to help me find www.searchnx.com. I am SO frustrated that I am thinking of choosing a different Internet provider. PLEASE stop the "domain service"! The "OPT OUT" does not work!

Las Cruces, NM June 28, 2010

I had to opt-out for a SECOND time. The first time I followed the out-out page AND manually changed the DNS server IPs in my router to the clean IPs of 68.87.85.98, 68.87.69.146. so these are either no longer clean DNS servers or my router/modem setting were altered.

Comcast, am I going to have to opt-out every 6 months?

Should I bookmark that opt-out page. https://dns-opt-out.comcast.net?

I've already opted out using our primary account but still get these redirections which are to me more like hijacks!

My browser works perfectly without it, and this disservice only makes my browsing more frustrating and wastes my time.

Please remove me from it for good.

BTW, I hope you've seen this:

http://www.thedeets.com/2009/08/25/comcast%E2%80%99s-domain-helper-service-makes-lives-crappier/

Complete and utter crap. Here to help me by hijacking the internet and serving it up with this garbage. It's not a help, it's a HUGE hindrance and you should be ashamed of yourselves.

I've worked as an IT professional for 15 years in Minnesota, and I haven't had Internet service at home since I was in College. I very nearly swallowed my pride and became a Comcast subscriber a couple of years ago, in spite of my well founded distaste for the company. When I was told I had to pay for installation, I explained to the sales gentleman that I didn't need installation. I have my own Cat-5, and my house is already cable ready. I just need the service turned on, and the cable modem. And since bandwidth costs them nothing, and I was going to pay through the nose for the privilege of having the package I was going to subscribe to, they were already in line for a sweet profit out of me.

He explained to me that the installation fee could not be broken into parts, and I had to pay the full amount even though they'd only be sending someone over to the block to turn on my service. I explained to the young man that the reason they did this was because they hired contractors to do the service to reduce costs and increase revenue at the expense of employees and their families, and that they couldn't pay a contractor a partial fee. I finally told him to just waive the charge, or he wouldn't get the sale. He said he couldn't, so I said goodbye.

I still don't have Internet at home, even though I need it for my job.

Now, my parents are Comcast subscribers. While at their home today, I noticed Comcast had started hijacking their NXDOMAIN DNS responses, and redirecting them to a Comcast advertisement page. If I wasn't already familiar with Comcast's customers-last stockholders-first policy, I would be astounded. My parents paid for a service, and you altered their contract without notice to them. This is not NY; in Minnesota, an agreement is a contract. They subscribed to the service with an expectation that their service would not be hijacked for the sake of making more money off of them.

Ideally, you would provide your customers with Internet access. You wouldn't meddle with filtering protocols and redirecting DNS responses. You are CHANGING the Internet for your further commercial gain. This is insidious, and despicable. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

The only reason we have to put up with this in this country is because we don't have real competition in the market. People assume this is because Comcast owns the lines in their area; the underground copper, the fiber, other infrastructure, etc. That is not the case. You pay fees (they are not taxes) because telecom companies are allowed to recoup their costs in laying down infrastructure, since the telecom doesn't get to take with them what they lay down if they ever leave an area and another provider takes over.

We don't have competition due to the powerful telecom lobby, not because the infrastructure can't be shared. It's shared in other countries. In fact, we have one of the slowest Internet services in the world. In South Korea, their service is 50 Mbps, for one third the price of our 6 Mbps service. South Korea! Even in China the deal is better. The reason our service is so poor, our Internet is so slow, and our prices are so high, are all do to lack of competition, which gives complete reign to corporate psychopathy.

Hi, it's me again, read some post here. looks like users are going to gtie and google name servers for basic functionality, while i have faith that google and gtie have anycasted thier name servers well it adds another 15ms to my lookups and relies upon much more network that could fail/be congested/drop my pkts.

Please post the information your technician sent to Dave Fowler. This "service" interferes with the service I actual want (e.g. internet connection). If you can't post it for some obscure reason, please email it to me as well. I'm running XP.

I don't think I or anyone else should have to Google squat to turn this off. Please disable or provide short concise instructions to do so.

Someone called me from Comcast stating they were change the DNS in May. However, I don't know the day. Will this affect our business and home internet. Please email the information on the dates and for the business and home. We have stores and offices locations in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Thank you,

Ana

This domain "helper" is one of the most terrible additions to your service. I used to be able to get right to websites without this additional step. Now my web surfing is experience is completely disrupted. I have disabled it, but it keeps re-enabling itself every time I restart my computer. Please disable this feature, no one I know likes it.

Easily resolved, don't use their DNS server.

BTW, I do find it very entertaining how once again Comcast never fails to disappoint.

How the heck do you switch the DNS server - thanks for the codes but it doesn't explain HOW TO DO IT!

And with one act, comcast reduces their value to me even further. The sole thing I get and pay for from you, is the raw bandwidth.

But don't worry! acts like this have made sure that no matter what you change your name to, I will never *choose* your product, only use it when there is no other option.

Thank goodness for honest dns servers, you know, ones other than comcast's.

This is just awful. There's no option for me to disable the "domain helper", a misnomer if ever I've heard one. This is just unconscionable.

Ridiculous. I have turned it off. It came back on. I have gone in and sure enough the setting says it's off, but it's still on. I have turned it on, and back off. Hopefully this will finally shut it off. Otherwise, I guess I'll just point my router's DNS to someplace else and be done with it.

This is BAD. The is NOT a necessary nor even desirable situation. It's just more money in Comcast's coffers is all I can figure.

Your domain helper is the worst idea in recent memory. I'm an avid internet user and I work in the internet industry. I am trained and LIKE the google integration built into Firefox. You have a setting in your account settings page to disable this terrible service, and that doesn't even work! Your product management team is a bunch of boneheads that doesn't understand the internet or its users. Comcast #fail.

Manually change your DNS.

Comcast Standard (Opt-Out) DNS Servers

http://dns.comcast.net/dns-ip-addresses2.php

I second what Alyson has said. Just got off the phone with support and was told that you can't turn it off from the website. I pointed out this blog post, and all the instructions posted, but no luck. Just kept repeating that according to their information, this service (I had trouble even getting acknowledgement that this thing even existed in the first place!) couldn't be accessed from Customer Central. Can you please just get rid of it for my account?

Should be OPT IN. Very intrusive and disturbing.

To everyone who is having problems with this:

I have used Firefox for a long time now, and loved how misspelled domain names were automatically run through Google ... more often than not, I went right to the intended website. It was incredibly fast, and increased my efficiency greatly. This Comcast DNS hijacking is pathetic in comparison ... before, I would type in "wsj" in the address bar to bring up the Wall Street Journal site. Simple, quick, efficient. Now, I get a page of ads. It is a sneaky practice to make a few dollars, and brought my browsing speed down drastically.

Use Google DNS. It restored my Firefox / Google browsing combo ... type in a few letters, go right to the website. Simple as that: http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/ I am very pleased that they include instructions for Linux users such as myself, since I have been reading that Comcast's blatant interference with customers' web browsing habits has (unintentionally?) caused problems with using various package managers in our OS. Hope this helps ...

Hey, I hear you guys changed your name last week. I guess the old one was worn out? You don't suppose user-hostile programs like Domain "helper" have anything with the brand value of Comcast going negative, do you?

And good luck with that walled garden thing. It's been great for AOL.

- Erik

I have tried repeatedly to remove this invasive and unwanted service. I have followed all directions, spent over an hour on the phone (and was told both that this service did not exist and then that it was due to my non-supported wireless router). I also have written in before and been assured it will be removed from my account without any luck. This is by far one of the most obnoxious invasions and takeovers of my computer I have ever seen. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REMOVE IT FROM MY ACCOUNT. I AM BEGGING YOU TO JUST TURN OFF THE OPTION ON MY ACCOUNT AND GET RID OF IT.

You are forcing this service on your customers and making money through advertising every time a url is typed in wrong. I don't have a problem with this service except for the fact that I can't even opt out. I have disabled the service and it is still enabled. This is highly illegal practices and you should be ashamed of yourself trying to spin this into something good for the customer.

This "service" inserts an step between my search query and my search results, a step which annoys me because your (yahoo) search is inferior and laden with advertising that I don't care about. You hinder me to make money: advertising, bandwidth throttling, courtroom packing, etc.

I use ComCast in an office setting and am not the account's owner. How do I change this setting? Do I have to contact the account owner himself and have him change the entire building's settings (which he will, if I ask)?

Finally: just because you have the chance to be evil, doesn't mean you should take it.

Regards,

-- Jason

The opt-out doesn't work. I opted out and the domain-helper (with all of its obtrusive ads) still comes to my "rescue".

Wow. My second day with Comcast and I already regret it.

This "service" does not follow DNS standards, instead Comcast is hijacking my browser to try to turn a few bucks.

This should be opt-in only since it is a change from expected behvior. I was surprised by it and did a little searching and finally found your opt-out process. Unfortunately, there is nothing in "my Devices" and nothing to troubleshoot this issue. I did a chat with your agents and she told me there was an error when she tried to turn it off. Ummm... thanks??? so now what?

I've tried sending an email but if I don't get this fixed in a few days, I'll be leaving comcast ASAP. Certainly won't use their DNS.

I signed up for you to use standar protocol to route my traffic and let me do what I want. I did not sign up for you to monkey around, ignore DNS protocols, and serve me crappy ugly error pages stuffed with ads. Do what I pay you for, and then leave me alone. So far I've spent an hour on this today. I guess any speed I picked up over DSL has just been a wash.

Alyson - I think the reason you didn't see the Devices box when you logged in was that you weren't logged in with your main account. I had that same problem when I was logged in with one of my secondary email addresses. When I logged in with my primary address, I saw the Devices box and was able to opt out of the Domain Helper.

I guess the Comcast service reps aren't too familiar with this "service" yet.

Please drop this idea of domain helper! My browser used to tap into google before your stupid idea came along. Its terrible. Listen to your customers: Drop this now!

I also cannot opt out. Spent an hour on the phone yesterday with Comcast who claimed that no such thing existed even though it is right on my screen. I was told it was because I had an unsupported (i.e. no comcast) wireless router.

I am using Mac Safari and click the diable error service with no response. I follow instructions to go into my account and the user and settings tab. Under this area NO option to disable the service exists. All that is needed is for Comcast to set my account properly.

It was last left with the phone technician yesterday that he would write a note about my complaint. Some help.

Domain Helper does not work when I attempt to turn it off. Very frustrating. call techinical support for assistance and provided with no information.

Another thing I wanted to ad is I don't care if other ISPs offer this service I still don't want it and I don't want to have to log into anything to get rid of it. Stop using the "Well everybody else is doing it." excuse.

WOW, so I'm VPNed into my company's network, and from within Microsoft Word 2007, I browse to our SharePoint portal via unc path: \\portal\some\folder\containing\my\docs

All seems well.

Then I double click the Word Doc I want. What loads is a Word-parsed HTML file from friendly comcast DNS service "Domain Helper" -- guess I need to opt out... This is NOT what Comcast has said (that it would not "hijack" or "override" VALID DNS QUERIES), but that it would only respond to clear failures. This is ridulous. Totally destroying my ability to use my office VPN and sharepoint.

This service is absolutely terrible and has given me every reason to drop Comcast. If you think this service is a winner -- let people opt in; as it is, this absolutely needless "service" is actively working against me and my Google-powered Firefox address bar. Even worse, when I finally noticed the Disable link I was routed through no fewer than five different Comcast sites -- each asking for credentials -- all to finally arrive at a dashboard that I was unable to log into.

Thanks for a terrible "service".

I set my "helper" status to "off" last weekend and yet I still get the service. I very much agree with the general tone on this blog that this "service" SUCKS! I while I will NEVER EVER click on one of the links provided by this "service," my dissatisfaction with my ISP will grow every time I see it.

"I can assure you that all opt-out requests will be honored." - Scotty McNulty

That's a load of crap, you've already "lost" my opt out request. Or is that the plan, to make everyone jump through hoops to opt out every few weeks so that eventually they'll give up and just deal with it?

This service will be the straw that broke the camels back. Thanks to the DNS redirecting (and the highly nonintuitive method of disabling it), I'm switching to another service provider following the end of my contract.

I completely agree. Absolutely ASTOUNDING that Comcast would for people to OPT OUT of hijacking your internet. I had this same problem tonight. One big absolute BOOOOOO to Comcast for pulling this trick.

What a staggeringly bad idea. Poorly implemented, too; I received no advance notice of the rollout.

You have broken my work mail, etc.

I will begin my search for a new provider today.

You can only turn this "feature" or should I saw money maker for Comcast in IE on Winodws. Safari and Firefox on a MAC will not allow you to see the disable button in the pop-up window.

I talked to comcast tech support and he didn't know what I was taking about LOL!

Here is a trick I use:

If you are using FireFox go and get the addon called NoRedirect then enable the addon go to tools and then NoRedirect. Then click on Add and add http://search3.comcast.com or the one you want to block. I have DNS Error checked on mine.

For some reason I disabled the domain helper crap and I would still get that page. After I set up that addon I dont see that comcast crap anymore!!!

You hope customers find this service to be helpful? You have “best practices” for DNS hijacking? What a joke. This isn’t helpful, the only “best practice” is to follow the DNS spec, and your saccharine responses to complaints are insulting. I’ve just gone through three or four rounds with your “opt-out” link, to no avail. Funny that the part of this system that serves ads seems to work fine.

I’ve already cancelled my television service with Comcast because I just can’t stomach giving you any more money than is absolutely necessary. Internet utilities should be regulated as heavily as water, gas, and electricity. If you keep this kind of thing up, you will be.

This new DNS hijacker (ala "Domain Helper") was a real disappointment that has lowered my impression of Comcast significantly. First, doing it was sneaky, second, that is a brain-dead search page you present -- it will not even handle a corrected domain by trying to see if there is such a site there.

Terrible job, truly terrible, and you are just begging and pleading for governmental regulation, and you are ensuring that popular opinion will be that such intervention is more than justified.

See "What DNS is Not": http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1647302

This is simply unacceptable. After taking my money in exchange for a promise to provide a service - Internet Access - comcast changes that service in a way that fundamentally breaks a fundamental function of the service - returning a legitimate error when a DNS lookup fails. Many pieces of software that access the internet depend on this fundamental and basic function of internet access. The result is that this action by comcast, an action that violates the RFC standard for DNS (NXDOMAIN) responses, essentially renders many pieces of software that their customers depend on ineffective. This action was taken by comcast after many customers, AND suppliers of the affected software, invested much of their time and resources into what is ultimately a reasonable dependence on this fundamental function of internet access.

This action by comcast has caused real, measurable damage to customers and software suppliers.

This Domain Helper service breaks my work VPN domain server list and completely blocks me from accessing all my work websites. Even though I opted out of this service a few days ago, it keeps throwing me back to static IP address 208.68.139.38 and messes with my work. I was totally unaware of this nonsense until things started breaking a month back and had to call my work help desk to get to know about this issue. Comcast never alerted me about this and it is really rude that they stuck this in my account with default settings set to ON.

I hate this service. I use Comcast for internet and cable, not to have my browser hijacked. It took me hours of trying to figure out what was wrong with my browser before I found out this was a Comcast "service" and not some kind of spyware.

After opting out of this hijacking service about a month ago, Comcast decided to opt me back in to this "Yahoo Search" powered service. On top of that, the results returned are WORTHLESS!

I searched for "comcast hijacked my dns" only to be greeted with "Sorry, we can't find "comcast hijacked my dns"." Yahoo search results have plenty.. guess comcast just doesn't want the truth out ... hmm.. sounds like .. uh... chairman Mao.

What an outrageous and intrusive power grab. Thanks, Comcast, for delivering more ads to my screen. Now I have to create a Comcast email address and user account just to opt out of this stupid bug? Ridiculous. Easier to assign a new DNS to my account.

Wow Comcast. This is totally crap, even for your standards. We PAY for your service and then you try to get ad revenue? I demand a price reduction then.

I'm very disappointed. For years we've stuck with Comcast even though they're more expensive, even as the price got higher and higher for our services. And now you're hijacking my browser which I choose of my own free will, and pretend like you're helping me? You provide me a service, which is broadband internet. Your permission to enter my home stops where the cable meets my modem. Stay off my monitor please.

This helper service totally stinks! Very Lame. Very Disappointing.

This is functionality that browsers should handle. Users see what they type, browsers auto-complete and show history drop-downs. Google Chrome especially does this well. Once submitted, the dns name should be locked in. There are too many complications arising from this and it's handled too well client-side. Remove the service, or at least default to opt-out.

She might also be referring to the CAPTCHA when you try to log in or get a new password, which was hard for me to read.

This breaks a basic behavior of Firefox. When I go to the location bar and type "USPS", instead of being redirected to the post office homepage (or, if the top result isn't a clear winner, a Google search), I get hijacked by Comcast. Firefox has a variety of things it does when the domain does not exist, and you're breaking that.

I have no idea what my Comcast email is, and nothing I'm trying works. I'm just gonna change the DNS servers I'm using and stop telling people I'm happy with Comcast. If you haven't figured out that you're breaking something useful here, that's fine. Just don't expect me to put off switching to Verizon FiOS any longer.

Shame on you, Comcast.

a) I can't make the opt-out page work under Safari. I get a pretty comcast progress banner that never goes away.

b) This is not a helpful service. It actively interferes with the way the internet is supposed to work: As a user, I would like to be told as as user that a website does not exist. I don't want to be redirected to a list of supposedly helpful sites.

Comcast should stop meddling with the service I actually pay them for and focus their revenue efforts on legitimate services such as the very excellent fancast.com.

'The other guy does it too and he does it worse' is not an excuse outside of a 1st grade classroom. And those are the only responses from Comcast I've seen to the comments here. If you cannot truly defend your practice on its own merits, or be honest that it is about money and not about providing some supposed service to customers who didn't even know they needed it then perhaps you should re-examine your practice.

If your Domain Helper were locally installed on my machine, it would be spyware. And quite frankly the Yahoo-powered ad-based search that popped up wouldn't provide the proper address in its search results when the only error was that it ended with ".orgz".

I am incredibly unhappy with my Comcast service as a result of this.

Shameful stuff Comcast. DishTv, here I come.

Why doesn't this Chris Griffiths respond to anyone on here? It's obvious nobody wants this, why don't you come out and explain why you're rolling it out anyway?