How to troubleshoot Smart DNS issues – Surfshark Customer Support

In this tutorial, you will find solutions for the following issues:

Streaming service is unreachable;
You lose internet connection after setting up Smart DNS;
Smart DNS can not be activated because IPv6 was detected;
The IP address at surfshark.com does not match with the one on your TV;

Streaming service is unreachable

If you have successfully set Smart DNS on your device, but your preferred streaming service is not working, here are several things you should try:

Try both Smart DNS servers.

After activating the Smart DNS service, you received two server addresses. If your device has a DNS box for 1 DNS address only, try one DNS server, then the other;
If your device has 2 DNS boxes for 2 DNS servers, try to enter the same DNS server to both lines, as in the picture below:
Uninstall and reinstall the streaming app or try clearing the cache of the particular streaming app;
Reboot your device;
Log in to your router and set custom DNS on it. You can use 1.1.1.1 as a primary DNS and 8.8.8.8 as a secondary DNS.
Since there are so many different routers, and each one has a different interface, you may want to look at your router's user manual or search for instructions online.

You lose the internet connection after setting up Smart DNS

You can only activate Smart DNS for 1 IP address. The most common reason why you could lose internet connection with Smart DNS is that you enabled Smart DNS for a different IP address than your device (Smart TV, Xbox, etc.) has.

Did you activate Smart DNS while being connected to your workspace network or mobile data? Do you have a dynamic IP, where the IP address of your network eventually changes on its own?

Here is what you should do in this case:

Go to surfshark.com using your laptop or phone.
Make sure that your laptop or phone is connected to the same network as the device on which you will use Smart DNS.
Once logged in to your account on surfshark.com, go to the Smart DNS page.
Click the Change IP button. This will activate Smart DNS for your new IP address.
Check if Smart DNS works on your TV or gaming console now.

Smart DNS can not be activated because IPv6 was detected

You can only activate Smart DNS for IPv4 addresses. However, some networks have both - IPv4 and IPv6 protocols enabled. Experiencing this error means your system uses IPv6 as well.

Here are some potential solutions for this issue:

Disable IPv6 on the device that you use to activate smart DNS on our website.

Here are tutorials on how to disable IPv6 on different devices:
Windows
macOS
Linux
Disable IPv6 on your router

Some routers (not all) have the option to choose between IPv4 and IPv6 protocols.

To find out if your router has this option, you should log in to your router and search through Internet, Network, or WLAN settings. You may find an option to turn off the IPv6 there.
Contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP)

Try contacting your internet network provider and ask if they could turn off the IPv6 on your system. Most of the time, they can easily do this.

The IP address at surfshark.com does not match the one on your TV

You may have noticed that the IP address shown on your TV is different from the one that you have activated for Smart DNS. This is because you activated smart DNS for your external (public) IP address, but your TV only shows you the internal (private) IP.

An internal IP usually looks like this - 192.168.x.x and is only used for internal communication between different devices on the same network. It is not visible publicly and does not affect the Smart DNS usage, so you can ignore it and proceed with the Smart DNS setup.

Sadly, there are some situations where Smart DNS can not be successfully used. If your Internet provider is hijacking DNS (makes you use their DNS at all times) or using a transparent proxy (a technology that intercepts requests from your device), problems with Smart DNS might occur. In such a case, feel free to try an alternative solution: