Google Public DNS - To Use Or Not To Use

Google launched a DNS resolving service called Google Public DNS.  Google stated that using their DNS resolving service instead of your ISP's will improve page loading time.  I currently use a combination of OpenDNS's and my ISP's.  First, having multiple name servers from different providers gives me redundancy.  Second, having OpenDNS listed before my ISP's provides a safer environment while my kids surf the net.  It never crossed my mind that perhaps speed should also be a consideration.

If I were to use Google Public DNS,
1)  It could provide additional redunancy.
2)  I would lose the benefits of OpenDNS if the Google Public DNS was listed ahead of OpenDNS.
3)  I would garner the benefit of a faster web experience (according to Google).  Their benchmarks show that their DNS to be faster.

Is there a way that I could easily confirm these benchmarks?  Google used GRC's Domain Name Speed Benchmark Tool and as it turns out it is available for anyone to use.  The tool was easy to use.  The Nameservers were already listed.  All that you need to do was press Run Benchmark and wait for the results.  I ran a test last night to see if I got similar results to what Google posted.

OpenDNS servers are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.

Google Public DNS servers are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.8.4.

Based on the above benchmark,

1)  My ISP easily beat both OpenDNS and Google Public DNS.  I guess this should not be a surprise as they have the closest DNS to me.

2)  OpenDNS was faster than Google Public DNS.

Bottom line, Google Public DNS is not faster for me (based on this one test).  What I did learn is that I should re-configure my network settings to use my ISP's DNS first.  For my kids, I could statically define the DNS they use to be OpenDNS.  When Google Public DNS becomes faster for me or they provide additional functionality, I would revisit.

Just to be sure, I will re-run the benchmark to see if there is any difference.