Is it possible to use DNS servers other than my ISP's?

[Supermercado]

I've been having problems with my internet this past week and it's really starting to aggravate me. The other night, the DNS apparently went out completely - I could do IP-based things like Hamachi but I couldn't login to AIM, browse any sites, etc. It's somewhere between there and normal right now, with about half the sites I try to visit working and the other half just timing out. The first thing I tried the other day was restarting modem/router but that made no difference. I guess I can try calling support for my ISP but they're pretty useless. They're also not there on the weekends. Complaining about the service will do no good, nor can I switch to another ISP because they're the only option where I live.

I guess my question is, can I use a DNS server other than my ISP's and try to get away from this crap? I have a couple friends on different ISPs that I could use. Or I could use the server of the ISP at work since that's right here local. Is that even possible? If so, how can I find out what the DNS server at work is? I did ipconfig /all but we're behind a local server that's handling the DNS so I can't get it that way like I can at home.

I'll probably try calling support at lunch and see if they can tell me anything useful but in the event they can't, I'd like to have a way to use my internet. Any help or things that I can try to get this working would be greatly appreciated.

 

[InlineFive]

It depends on your ISP, some will allow it, some will slow down traffic to other DNS servers and some will block attempts entirely.

Try plugging a DNS server from Level3 in and see what happens (4.2.2.2-6). Their servers are very reliable and also pretty fast. You just have to ping each one and see which is the best for your location.

 

[Supermercado]

So instead of 64.xxx.xxx.xxx whatever I have now, use 4.2.2.2, 4.2.2.3, etc?

 

[Supermercado]

Also, using alternate DNS servers, I set that up in my router, right?