DNS slower than dirt here in PA

Well since it's dependent on which cable company you're using, the town or area where you are located, and most importantly which DNS server you're using, who knows?

Are you on Comcast? I've noticed the past several weeks that there seems to be frequent delays or "not founds" when trying to connect to various sites, usually in the evening. Doesn't effect speed; apparently just the DNS lookup. I'm in Southeastern PA. When this happens sometimes I can ping a site, other times not. But I can usually always ping a site by the DNS numbers.

Is this what you're experiencing?

We've had DNS issues in Howard County (MD) since last weekend. I switched to another DNS server (on the open DNS list) and things improved dramatically.

We've had the same thing on a dial-up connection with our Bethesda-located ISP.