I switched to Cloudflare's WARP DNS and ditched my router settings for good

Most folks never change their ISP's DNS settings. It's understandable, as most of the time, the internet just works, and that's all peachy. ISP DNS isn't ideal because it's probably slow and lacks built-in privacy settings, but when it comes down to it, it does the job.

Switching doesn't take long at all, though, and comes with serious benefits. Switching my provider from an ISP DNS to Cloudflare One with WARP gave me a huge speed increase, with some handy privacy-boosting features, too.

Your ISP's DNS knows more about you than you think

It's not paranoia, it's just how DNS works

Every time you type a URL, your device asks a DNS resolver to translate it into an IP address. On most home and public networks, that resolver is your ISP's. They see the domain — not the full URL, not the content, but the domain — for every single request your device makes.

It turns out that's a huge amount of data. That means every time you do anything at all on your network, your ISP is grabbing a little insight into what you're up to. That means when you hit up Reddit at 14:00, they know. Then, when you Google a curious medical problem at 14:13, your ISP also knows about that, and everything else along the way.

None of it is encrypted by default at the DNS layer, and your ISP can retain that query log, share it with third parties, or, in some jurisdictions, hand it to authorities on request.

What Cloudflare One actually is

The DNS formerly known as WARP... but it's not a VPN

I had one of those curious moments while writing this article: Cloudflare WARP turned into Cloudflare One. It's still using the same technology under the hood, but has a shiny new name. Anyway, I digress.

Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 DNS has been around since 2018. WARP is a technology that sits on top of it, integrated into the service via an app you download to your desktop (or smartphone).

At its core, WARP routes your DNS queries through Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 resolver, which is one of the fastest public DNS services on the planet and has a fairly robust privacy policy — Cloudflare says they don't sell query data and don't retain logs beyond 24 hours. The free tier also encrypts your traffic between your device and Cloudflare's network using their WireGuard-based protocol.

That's where the lines between DNS and VPN become a little blurred. Cloudflare One (with WARP) isn't a VPN service because it doesn't let you choose a server in a different location, and so on. But your internet traffic will exit into the internet from a Cloudflare IP address, masking your own, which is where it's similar.

You can actually also upgrade to WARP+, a premium tier, and that gives you access to Cloudflare's Argo network. I haven't used this paid tier, but it gives you even more privacy options, fast routing, and anonymity, but it will set you back $5 per month.

Cloudflare One with WARP gave me a huge speed boost

The results were actually surprising

I knew that Cloudflare would be faster than my ISP DNS — it would have been a travesty if it wasn't, and seriously damning for Cloudflare. I was somewhat surprised by how much faster it is, though.

I ran the following commands in PowerShell five times to test both options, with a DNS flush before the first run of each DNS provider.

$domains = @("google.com","bbc.co.uk","reddit.com","amazon.com","github.com") $times = $domains | ForEach-Object { (Measure-Command { Resolve-DnsName -Name $_ -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }).TotalMilliseconds } $avg = [math]::Round(($times | Measure-Object -Average).Average, 1) Write-Host "Average: $avg ms"

This basically just tests the DNS against five commonly used websites to gauge how fast they are in response.

• ISP DNS: 5.4ms average
• With Cloudflare One enabled: 1.3ms average

That's roughly a 4x improvement. I was expecting some improvement, but I wasn't expecting it to be that stark. My ISP's DNS being that sluggish by comparison was a little surprising, to say the least.

Cloudflare One makes a huge amount of sense

Easy, free, and simple to set up

While changing your DNS in Windows and other operating systems is a fairly straightforward process, it could always be easier, and Cloudflare One is definitely that. It's a one-click app that turns the custom DNS on or off, and it takes care of everything else.

1. Head to Cloudflare and download Cloudflare One for your operating system.
2. Install Cloudflare One as you would any other software; you don't need an account or anything for this.
3. Once installed, open Cloudflare One. Select Traffic and DNS (UDP) from the dropdown menu, then hit Connect.

You'll see the icon change, and the words Your internet is private will flash up.

That's it: no config files, no properties, or anything else. You've just set up a custom, private DNS on your machine, and you're much more private as a result.

Yes, you should bother

Browser, OS, and ISP DNS configurations are something most folks don't bother changing because, really, you're never told to do so. Why change something that's working, right? I get it.

The reality is that Cloudflare One is one of the easiest ways to change to a custom and private DNS provider without mucking about with any files or otherwise. It just works, which is great, and makes it simple enough for anyone to use. I personally keep it on my laptop all the time, making sure I'm getting a privacy and speed boost when I'm working on the go, but you can absolutely use it on your home devices, too.

Better still, it's free, so why not give it a try?