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How can I stop Comcast hijacking my mistyped domain addresses?

I'm really terrible with typing and often spell addresses wrong when I try to go to different Web sites. Used to be that I'd just get an error from my Web browser that it couldn't be found, but now I get this stupid error page from Comcast that includes all sorts of advertisements. I don't want to see that, I want my old errors back. How can I switch things?


Dave's Answer:

You're talking about something that's actually quite controversial, something called "domain hijacking" in the trade. The basic idea is that the Domain Name System (DNS) works by you entering a domain name address, then your computer asking the DNS Server if it knows the IP address associated with that name. If it does, it sends that back and all is well. If it doesn't, it asks what's called an "upstream" or "root level DNS server" if it knows the number associated with that name. This query can bounce up a few levels in an extreme case (especially for overseas domains) but generally it's all resolved in fractions of a second.

The situation arises when the DNS server says "jeez, I dunno" when asked "what's the IP address associated with domain XYZ.COM?" At that point, it should simply return that error condition to your computer and then your Web browser can determine what action to take (some actually offer up suggested alternatives or try to fix misspellings). Comcast, however, recognized a revenue opportunity and instead of returning the error code, actually returns a page that indicates your domain couldn't resolve, a bunch of ads and the result of searching for your specified domain on Yahoo.

Here's an example, when I tried to go to the nonsense domain address of www.fdsafsafds.com:

comcast dns hijack 1

What I'm thinking is if I click on these adverts and generate some revenue for Comcast, shouldn't the company credit me a few pennies on my bill, so that if I constantly hit this page and constantly clicked on advertisements, I'd get a significant break on my bill? That's not how they think about it, however, so instead let me show you how to disable it.

The first step is to go to your Comcast account at Comcast Customer Central. Log in, click on the "Users & Settings" tab and you'll see something like this:

comcast dns hijack 2

Totally overwhelming, I know. Let me zoom in on the section labeled "High-Speed Internet Settings", however, and you'll be able to see the option you need to change:

comcast dns hijack 3

The failed domain redirection goes by the pleasant name of "Domain helper" and as you can see, I have mine enabled just as I'm sure you have yours set to "ON". To change it, click on the "Edit" button to the immediate right and a window will pop up with the possible settings:

comcast dns hijack 4

Fair enough. Click on "Disable Domain Helper" and then click on "Save" to make it actually change in the Comcast system itself.

Now I do another search for the "www.ffsafsafas.com" domain and this time it's Safari that gives me a more soothing to the eye error:

comcast dns hijack 5

Follow my steps and you'll have things back to the way you prefer in no time!


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Categorized: Computer and Internet Basics   (Article 9979, Written by )
Tagged: comcast, comcast customer service, dns, dns servers, domain hijacking
Previous: Can I identify a photo using image search?
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Reader Comments To Date: 2

Jeff Schaffer said, on July 1, 2011 1:14 PM:

How can I stop Verizon DSL hijacking my mistyped domain addresses?
This also was done by a few of the dial-up ISP's that I used years ago and when I would call customer service to complain, the tech would make out like they did not know what I was talking about.
Is there a way to turn it off as easy as comcasts?

Luke said, on November 25, 2011 3:24 PM:

Thanks for this great tip! This has been driving me insane, grrrrr.

I would only add that you must reset your cable modem for the changes to take effect immediately.

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











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