The service has led to an influx of questions on whether or not they need the service.

The plain and simple answers are if you do not use it then no problem, your internet connection will work just the way it always has.

If you believe that your ISP is slower than what you would expect, then try the Google Open DNS Service. You can always change it back if you are not satisfied.
D.N.S. is short for Domain Name Service which is the name that you type into your web browser, like AskOurGurus.com. It is then turned into an I.P. address to allow computers on the internet to communicate with each other.

When you connect to the internet, your ISP provides, as part of setting up the connection, the IP address of a DNS server to use. Basically the ISP is telling your computer or router ‘when you need to perform a DNS look-up, ask the DNS server at this IP address’.
So, if you believe or think your ISP is slower than it should be, then try changing the DNS to Googles Open DNS.
There is a Google page with detailed instructions for changing your DNS here: http://code.google.c…docs/using.html
It is very easy to do and will not harm your computer in any way.
As a footnote, I changed the DNS on my router and web pages loaded noticably faster on all our machines.