For Sun Wireless Broadband subscribers, here are the steps needed for you to create a new Connection Profile and use your preferred DNS server/s.

1. Open the Sun Broadband Wireless application and make sure that it’s disconnected to the internet.

2. On the Sun Broadband Wireless application menu, click “Tools > Options”. The Sun Broadband Options box will appear. Click on “Profile Management” on the left-side menu.

3. On the Sun Broadband Options box, click the “New” button. A new profile form will appear.

4. Key in your desired Profile Name (Ex. “Sun – Custom DNS”); Select “Static” APN and key in “fbband” on the APN: field box. Note: For prepaid subscribers, use “minternet” instead.

5. Click on the “Advanced…” button. The Advanced Settings box will appear.

6. Un-select “CHAP” and select “PAP” on the Authentication Protocol Settings; change the DNS Settings to “Static” and key in your desired DNS server IP address/es (The OpenDNS servers IP addresses – 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 – were used in the example below). Click the “Save” button and click “OK”.

7. The new profile is saved and you can use this to connect to the internet using your specified DNS server/s.

In most cases, especially when using OpenDNS servers, you might notice a slight improvement in internet access speeds and connection stability as compared to using the default Sun Broadband DHCP-issued DNS settings.

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Update: 2011-08-30

Just a brief explanation of why you might want to try the above method:

Changing your DNS settings does not guarantee that internet browsing will be faster. This just ensures that you’ll have a stable DNS server to handle all of your domain name resolution requests.

Some ISP’s don’t allot or invest resources for their DNS server infrastructure. So there are instances when the DNS servers used by these ISP’s can’t handle the DNS query load from its internet subscriber base. So when the network is full, and the DNS servers are loaded with requests, there are some instances when a simple request for the IP address of a domain, say www.pjbacolod.com, will turn out empty — hence the intermittent internet connection — because the DNS servers either get overloaded or they simply crash.

Using powerful public DNS servers, such as Google DNS and OpenDNS, which have a very robust global server infrastructure, ensures that you get at least close to a hundred percent DNS service uptime.

The telnet command is disabled by default in Windows 7. But you can easily enable it using the following steps:

1. Open the Windows 7 Control Panel (Start > Control Panel)

Windows 7 Control Panel

2. Click on the “Programs” link.

Windows 7 Control Panel - Programs

3. Under the “Programs and Features” setting, click on “Turn Windows features on or off” link.

Windows 7 Control Panel - Turn Windows features on or off

4. Tick the “Telnet Client” selection box. Wait for Windows 7 to install and enable the selected feature.

Wait...

5. Done! You should now be able to run the “telnet” command on the Windows 7 command prompt.

Windows 7 telnet command

I was watching a rerun of Star Trek the other night when I came across the uber-famous Borg catchphrase:

“You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.”

Futility, now that’s a word that’s quite apt for today’s events. An “exercise in futility” is what some people say about the Comelec’s ongoing voter’s registration process.

If the government spent billions of Pesos to computerize the elections, then how much of it was allocated for improving the voter’s registration process? Isn’t this process supposed to be the foundation of a good electoral system?

The Comelec stated that they won’t extend the registration deadline, because they need time to sort out the registration database and come up with the final voter’s list for their regional offices – time, in the above context, is unfortunately measured in months.

It’s quite ironic that they heavily tout the new computerized election system as being capable of tallying all votes and declaring a winner in a span of just a few hours, yet they need a span of several months before the elections so that they can prepare the final voter’s list.

In hindsight, had a ‘proper’ voter’s registration system been in place, then people wouldn’t have procrastinated or put off registering for a later date – most of whom were either turned off by the extremely long queues or slow process, or turned down Comelec staff because they didn’t meet the voter’s cut-off criteria (a combination of cut-off period or number of registrants/application forms per day). Had a ‘proper’ voter’s registration system been in place, then there wouldn’t be a need for such a long preparation “lead time” between the voter’s registration deadline and the actual election date – ensuring a higher voter-to-population percentage turnout.

At any rate, late is late – no excuses and “pasensya na lang po, ‘no?” Let’s just hope that those who were able to register on time will vote wisely come election time.