DNS issue, is the problem with the router RT-AC66R?

[Claytron5000]

I have a RT-AC66R that I purchased a while ago, it's been great. It's been through a few power outages, and in the past I've had to do factory resets. Now, I'm going to put down a few things that happened, but I honestly can't be sure if the order is correct.

Poweroutage
Internet slowdown
Update firmware
Major slowdown, but not bandwidth, pretty sure it's a DNS issue.

This has been a few month affair, and the way I'm presenting it makes it looks like the power outage is the cause, but I really can't be sure if it slowdown after the power outage or if I'm misremembering.

Anyway, the set-up: I'm on Verizon ADSL, but I'm close to the substation and I consistently get 13-17M down, 1M up. That bandwidth has been consistent and like I said, I'm pretty sure bandwidth is not the issue.

I've used both Verizon's automatic DNS server and set the router to use 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as DNS servers. I've also set my different devices to use google's DNS servers, or 4.4.4.2 or whatever one I come across. The usual behavior is when I switch DNS, a page will load fast, then after a while new pages will become slow and even won't load at all. In chrome I'll get a DNS error message.

I'm a little at a loss as how to proceed. I'm playing with the idea of setting up a rpi as a DNS server inside the network. And while that does sound like a fun project, I'd rather just have my good ol' fast internet back. The question I think I'm really asking is, is my router fried?

 

[Claytron5000]

So, no one's waiting for baited breath, but I do like to answer questions if I find the answer. The one area I hadn't looked at was that easily ignorable verizon modem I had put into bridge mode. I'm guessing that the power outage flipped some switch, and perhaps it was out of bridge mode and was trying to serve DHCP, or do other "routery" things. Reseting that badboy and switching it back to bridge mode did the trick.

I'm back on lightning fast copper!