Slow DNS (and host: connection timed out)

[David Naylor]

Hi,

My ISP is using a WinGate DNS but resolving host names often takes a long 
time.  The problem is also present in Konqueror (3 & 4) and Firefox.  

An example:
# time host google.co.za
google.co.za has address 66.249.93.104
google.co.za has address 72.14.207.104
google.co.za has address 64.233.161.104
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached
0.000u 0.008s 0:24.69 0.0%      0+0k 0+0io 0pf+0w

The web browsers also take a long time before they actually try connecting.  
# konqueror www.google.co.za &
[1] 4862
# sh -c 'while true; do echo -n .; netstat -np tcp; sleep 5; done'
......Active Internet connections
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q  Local Address          Foreign Address       (state)
tcp4       0      0 192.168.0.6.55429      63.245.209.93.80       SYN_SENT
tcp4       0      0 192.168.0.6.12337      74.125.77.147.80       SYN_SENT
.Active Internet connections
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q  Local Address          Foreign Address       (state)
tcp4       0      0 192.168.0.6.55429      63.245.209.93.80       SYN_SENT
tcp4       0      0 192.168.0.6.12337      74.125.77.147.80       SYN_SENT

Firefox on Windows doesn't have this problem.

Lastly:
# cat /etc/resolve.conf
nameserver 192.193.194.1

What is wrong, why is DN resolving taking such an abnormally long time?  How 
can I diagnose and fix it?

Thanks in advance,

David

System:
# uname -a
FreeBSD dragon.dg 7.1-RELEASE-p2 FreeBSD 7.1-RELEASE-p2 #0: Sub Feb 1 20:27:42 
SAST 2009 root at dragon.dg:/tmp/tmp/src/sys/GENERIC i386

and
# uname -a
FreeBSD dragonmini.dg 8.0-CURRENT FreeBSD 8.0-CURRENT #0: Sun Dec 21 20:04:04 
SAST 2008 root at dragonmini.dg:/tmp/usr/src/sys/GENERIC amd64
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