reducing mobile broadband usage?

benjus

As an alternative to tethering, you could unlock your Vodafone dongle and just pop the T-mobile SIM into that... I certainly wouldn't buy a new 3G phone just for tethering - dongles are a fair bit cheaper.

kwikbreaks

jassi_9 wrote: »

kwikbreaks: i checked on speed its £25 for the year, but doesnt say how it works, anybody already use this?

It works by acting as a proxy server for you - it reads the website and compresses the data which it then sends on to your machine. Software on your machine expands it back. Your datalink therefore has less actual data volume going across it.

Websites are essentially two types of data - plain text html and data (mostly images). Image data is already as compressed as it can be without degrading quality (which some 3G operators do anyway). Text compresses very well but is a much smaller percentage of a webpage than image data. Overall you can save on data volume but largely at the expense of degraded images.

I have used it in the past but for a very niche purpose (I was hammering large volumes of text only data across it without upsetting ISP download caps).. I don't use it now.

DCFC79

jassi_9 wrote: »

i think i will try it via firefox with flash blocked and adblock, and block pictures. when i download from mozzila are all the add on's and blockers on the mozzila website?

yes the add ons for firefox are on the website for firefox, you have the names so just search for adblock etc

jassi_9

benjus wrote: »

As an alternative to tethering, you could unlock your Vodafone dongle and just pop the T-mobile SIM into that... I certainly wouldn't buy a new 3G phone just for tethering - dongles are a fair bit cheaper.

thanks mate, it is already in a 3 unlocked dongle, the problem is the allowance on the sim (1gb....and £15 per gb after it runs out) and how much the websites use when it loads up via internet explorer or firefox etc

thats why im considering tethering as it seems, like Dreamnine said, that if i pay £5 per month i can use this to connect to the internet and thus save alot of money...

thanks kiwibreaks, do you know if i pay £25 is that just for one pc, or could i possibly use it on my laptop aswell?....so i basically connect to net via dongle, then go through onspeed, and then start sufing via that?...how much quicker is performance etc?

thanks

benjus

jassi_9 wrote: »

thanks mate, it is already in a 3 unlocked dongle, the problem is the allowance on the sim (1gb....and £15 per gb after it runs out) and how much the websites use when it loads up via internet explorer or firefox etc

thats why im considering tethering as it seems, like Dreamnine said, that if i pay £5 per month i can use this to connect to the internet and thus save alot of money...

My point was that as far as the network is concerned there is no difference between using a SIM card in a tethered 3G phone and using it in a 3G dongle. So the £5/month SIM card you're intending to use with tethering will work equally well in your dongle, as long as the dongle is unlocked and can accept a SIM card from a different network.

Instead of using the connection software that came with the dongle, you should be able to download a generic version from the dongle's manufacturer (most are Huawei or ZTE) which will let you enter the connection details for the SIM card you want to use. The connection details will be the same as what you'd use for a tethered phone.

buglawton

I suggest you try the Voda usb dongle as is for a few days. If you are revisiting the same site then the Internet cache will start to save you MBs and you might find the usage is not as bad as expected. Turn Windows auto updates and any p2p file sharing programs off.

(I have used a Voda dongle for days when the cable's been down, had many days usage and still not used up half the £15).

elvch01

Betfair have http://lite.betfair.com which satisfies basic requirements with low bandwidth usage

kwikbreaks

jassi_9 wrote: »

thanks kiwibreaks, do you know if i pay £25 is that just for one pc, or could i possibly use it on my laptop aswell?....so i basically connect to net via dongle, then go through onspeed, and then start sufing via that?...how much quicker is performance etc?

It's a single machine licence but you install it on the laptop not the dongle anyway. So far as I'm aware there is no restriction on moving from machine to machine so you could have it installed on more than one so long as you only had one active at any given time.

The only place I'd say you'd get a definite speed improvement is on dialup or mobile with a GPRS or EDGE connectiion as use of the proxy introduces increased latency for every page element and that probably outweighs the smaller download size on faster connections.

As I said I had a rather specialised use for it and didn't do much experimentation with it for normal surfing.

kwikbreaks

benjus wrote: »

Instead of using the connection software that came with the dongle, you should be able to download a generic version from the dongle's manufacturer (most are Huawei or ZTE) which will let you enter the connection details for the SIM card you want to use. The connection details will be the same as what you'd use for a tethered phone.

You don't actually need any connection software (at least not with any 3G dongle I've tried). All you need to do is to install the drivers and manually set up a dial up connection using the 3G modem.

jassi_9

thanks

benjus: i use the global connection manager for my dongle, but im not sure if i can simply go on pay as you go and just pay £5 for internet and then use that sim....i have pm'd dreamnine for further info on how this exactly works.

Thanks for the betfair lite suggestion, i forgot about that, and i will use this also.

i have managed to downlaod firefox, with flashblock and adblock add-ons, but i cant find one for the picture blocking as talked about by "web ferret", any idea's what this is exactly called, or if i still need it?

thanks kimibreaks, im unsure if i will need it yet, but if im still sending and receiving too much after trying all of the above i might well give it a go...

cheers