On Ubuntu 10.04, you can configure the networking so it gets only your machine's IP via DHCP, but lets you set everything else statically. In System > Network Connections, go into your wireless card's setup and select "Automatic (DHCP) addresses only" from the Method drop-down. Below, you will then be able to give static DNS server addresses.
This feature is common on lots of OSes, though there is no agreement on what to call the feature or where to put it. The Arch Linux info in the comment below is one possibility. OS X and Windows can do it, too.
If your system truly has no such feature, you can can temporarily overwrite /etc/resolv.conf
to try out a different set of DNS servers. Such changes will persist until the next DHCP lease renewal.
Regardless, the way to debug a problem like this is to try using a public DNS service instead of your phone company's. I like to use Google's public DNS servers, since their addresses are easy to remember:
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4
Another popular public DNS service is OpenDNS, whose servers are:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
If that works, you can just keep using these servers, since they likely have advantages over the generic DNS services provided by your ISP. Or, you can then start from a position of being able to blame the phone company's DNS in some way and attack the problem from that direction.
If this change doesn't help, you've exonerated the phone company's DNS servers, so you know the problem is inside the house.
It seems that the campus has a special configuration for its own domain.
The UDP name resolution queries are probably not handled the same way when coming from the local private network (10...*) or from the public networks (Internet).
Did you try
dig uwyo.edu
or
host -a uwyo.edu
Anyway, if you use the Google DNS servers, you are likely to get your problem fixed, since the NS is outside the campus on the public side.
Change /tmp/resolv.conf.auto
with
nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 8.8.4.4
search resnet.uwyo.edu
Best Answer
You should nslookup the IP. It will return. Example.
I'm assuming you're using dnsmasq or otherwise, because your server address is set to your localhost. If that's the case, it should still be transparent enough to pull the information.
You could also look at /etc/resolve.conf if you're on the same network. You're more than likely being given a reverse DNS entry that has the same domain suffix of static servers.