Conserving bandwidth (tethered Blackberry)

[Jeff7181]

In the near future my primary Internet connection is going to be a tethered Blackberry with a 5 GB/mo bandwidth limit. Obviously I won't be streaming movies and TV shows on netflix and hulu anymore. However, it seems my day to day browsing can use quite a bit of bandwidth which will approach the cap so I'm looking for ways to conserve bandwidth without configuring a browser not to load images or something like that.

My first idea was to run squid proxy to cache content, and that works great using WiFi or wired connections. Not so much when using a tethered Blackberry since I have Sprint and need to use the Sprint SmartView software - the connection doesn't show up as a network connection in Windows at all. I've tried running squid in a VM and on the host OS with no luck getting it to cache content when using the tethered Blackberry.

I've also tried raising the cache size of my web browser, but that doesn't seem to work as good as squid. I visited the same page with a bunch of photos on it a few times in a row and each time my bandwidth usage increased by the same amount.

The only thing I can think of trying next is installing the Sprint software in a VM and running it from there, then pointing my host OS to the VM as I've been doing with WiFi... but I have my doubts whether that will work or not since I can't even get squid to work properly natively without using any VM's.

Any ideas?

 

[Emulex]

what is it for unlimited bandwidth $10? i'd do that. sprint doesn't get too pissed as long as you aren't pulling windows updates on the blackberry

 

[Jeff7181]

what is it for unlimited bandwidth $10? i'd do that. sprint doesn't get too pissed as long as you aren't pulling windows updates on the blackberry

I have "unlimited" data with the Blackberry add-on to my voice plan and the Phone As Modem add-on. However, if you look closely at the plan details, unlimited means 5 GB per month. I'll have to double check and make sure that's true... but I'm 90% sure that's the way it is.

 

[Emulex]

sprint really cares if you are a chronic abuser or roaming.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Why do you have to use it for your primary internet connection?

 

[Jeff7181]

Why do you have to use it for your primary internet connection?

My living situation has changed and I need to cut costs. Eventually I might get some cheap $20/mo DSL, but for now I'm already paying $70 per month for the phone so I don't really NEED a DSL or cable Internet connection, though it would be nice eventually.

 

[xSauronx]

use as many mobile sites as you can and turn off images/flash

id also take my laptop to a coffee shop or library or wherever has free wifi for a night or two a week to catch up. thats what i did when i was in kansas...it was either dial up where i lived (no thanks, id rather not use the internet) or wifi at the library

 

[Jeff7181]

Soooo... no suggestions for improving web caching to reduce bandwidth?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Soooo... no suggestions for improving web caching to reduce bandwidth?

Just a thought, but I wonder if there are free/cheap apps like the dial up accelerators that would compress text and images making the size smaller and use less bandwidth

 

[Jeff7181]

Just a thought, but I wonder if there are free/cheap apps like the dial up accelerators that would compress text and images making the size smaller and use less bandwidth

Great idea... didn't think of that. Checking into this "Faster Fox" Firefox add-on and other similar ones.

 

[Emulex]

get rid of the $70 phone might be the best expense to lose. heck you can get unlimited boost mobile for $50 and afford dsl for $20

 

[Jeff7181]

get rid of the $70 phone might be the best expense to lose. heck you can get unlimited boost mobile for $50 and afford dsl for $20

I appreciate the tip, but I've crunched numbers for several options and keeping the $70 phone + Internet access is the best option for me right now. I'm just looking for ways to maximize its utility.

 

[yinan]

Lose the Blackberry get DSL for $20 and Vonage for ~30, you are ahead $20.

 

[Jeff7181]

Lose the Blackberry get DSL for $20 and Vonage for ~30, you are ahead $20.

Vonage provides cellular service?

 

[yinan]

Vonage provides cellular service?

No, but it will get you a phone number that you can call out on.

 

[jdjbuffalo]

I know this is not something you were asking about but it's something you should be aware of. Sprint no longer supports the Smartview software with tethering. If you update it to the current version it will actually remove it feature. The new way is to download the Blackberry Desktop Manager. If you get the latest version (5.01), it has the ability to configure the DUN (Dial-up networking) for you.

One thing to help reduce bandwidth is to use ad-block plus and no-script (optional, but good for security). Ads can use up quiet a bit of bandwidth.

Like others have suggested, I recommend using WiFi in coffee shops and elsewhere as well as using mobile versions of websites as they are a lot smaller.

 

[Emulex]

maybe someone else (work/family) is footing the cell phone bill; in that case no dice.

disable flash
disable images auto-load in firefox or ie8

that should reduce your payload greatly.

 

[Jeff7181]

I know this is not something you were asking about but it's something you should be aware of. Sprint no longer supports the Smartview software with tethering. If you update it to the current version it will actually remove it feature. The new way is to download the Blackberry Desktop Manager. If you get the latest version (5.01), it has the ability to configure the DUN (Dial-up networking) for you.

One thing to help reduce bandwidth is to use ad-block plus and no-script (optional, but good for security). Ads can use up quiet a bit of bandwidth.

Like others have suggested, I recommend using WiFi in coffee shops and elsewhere as well as using mobile versions of websites as they are a lot smaller.

You may be on to something... using the Blackberry Desktop Manager. Sprint may not support it, but it works and I have the Phone As Modem feature added onto my plan. The phone shows up as a dial-up modem using Blackberry Desktop Manager, right? A network connection with an IP address so I can point my browser to it as the proxy server...

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Opera Mobile/Mini or standard browser with Turbo enabled. This will send all data through Opera's proxy service which compresses images and all flash is automatically blocked (though easily enabled).

 

[Jeff7181]

Opera Mobile/Mini or standard browser with Turbo enabled. This will send all data through Opera's proxy service which compresses images and all flash is automatically blocked (though easily enabled).

Another good option. I'm just saddened that there are quite a few sites that don't know what Opera is and won't load because of that.

 

[Rifter]

I used to use my cell phone as a modem for my PDA/old laptop at night cause i had free evenings and weekends, it wont be fast but your phone company will think you are on the phone so it will be voice rate not data rate and if you have free evenings should work fine, connection will be slow though and you will need a dialup account but those are free around here nowadays or $5. I mean if you really dont want to spend $20 on brodband you arnt going to get much speed anyways.

 

[Jeff7181]

I used to use my cell phone as a modem for my PDA/old laptop at night cause i had free evenings and weekends, it wont be fast but your phone company will think you are on the phone so it will be voice rate not data rate and if you have free evenings should work fine, connection will be slow though and you will need a dialup account but those are free around here nowadays or $5. I mean if you really dont want to spend $20 on brodband you arnt going to get much speed anyways.

Things must have been different back then. PAM uses data no matter what time of day it is. I get about 150-200 KB/sec but latency is between 200-400 ms.

 

[VirtualLarry]

My living situation has changed and I need to cut costs. Eventually I might get some cheap $20/mo DSL, but for now I'm already paying $70 per month for the phone so I don't really NEED a DSL or cable Internet connection, though it would be nice eventually.

You need to switch to cheap DSL + MagicJack. Saves a bundle of money. That's what I do.

 

[Jeff7181]

You need to switch to cheap DSL + MagicJack. Saves a bundle of money. That's what I do.

I need a cell phone.

 

[vol7ron]

I know you're not really finding what you were looking for. You want a way to decrease bandwidth usage and members are giving you alternatives to financial planning.

As a recap, here is what you've determined:
1) Cache pages as much as possible and increase the cache size as much as possible, within reason. Using Squid Proxy or some other caching program should work.
2) Minimize bandwidth usage by blocking advertisements, flash applications, Java code, and possibly JavaScript (only turning it on when necessary).
3) Minimize bandwidth usage on your own account by using a hot-spot, elsewhere.


Some other things to consider:
1) Increase the DNS Cache size: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/simple-firefox-hacks-to-boost-performance/ In this example it illustrates that Firefox tries to limit the DNS lookups by cacheing the IP address for the domain name. Extending the time in cache should reduce less network usage. This comes at a cost, as the article also mentions.

2) Reduce unnecessary network traffic. This isn't done quite as easily or effectively as blocking advertisements, but it can save some bandwidth usage. So what do I mean by reducing unnecessary traffic? Use your phone/modem in an area of good signal. Every time a package is sent, it is acknowledged and a reply is returned, thus eating up bandwidth. The problem is further enhanced when packets are sent out of order, or some of them are broken due to propagation issues. In a not-so-great area of coverage, many of the same packages are sent and received many more times than necessary as compared to better signal strength.

3) Create a free website, or find a similar one, to proxy webpages for you. Admittedly, I'm not a big Opera user, but I imagine it'd be similar to what Opera seems to do in AnonymouseUser's post. That is, the site should connect to webpage you want to go to, cache it, compress the content, and send it to you. Good sites will compress the data on their webpages, using MOD_DEFLATE or some sort of zipping mechanism. This puts more strain on the client pc to decompress, but it also reduces used bandwidth considerably.

4) If you went to a webpage with lots of images and you went to the same site again and the bandwidth used did not decrease, you have a cacheing issue. Either the site is not providing the proper expires headers, they are using some way of adverting cacheing (dynamic naming), or your browser is not cacheing the properly on its own account. Inspect this issue first.

5) Make sure you don't have programs that are constantly searching for connection to the web, this include add-ons. Firefox has add-ons such as Forecast Fox that presents the weather - these type of add-ons are constantly sending/receiving data. Another thing would be to turn off Windows Automatic Update. Performing manual update checks will reduce bandwidth consumption. A quick way to check web connections would be to go Command Prompt and type "netstat -a" or -b. Also, a way to get usage statistics is netstat -e


Other financial alternatives:
As it seems your problem is unique because it is financially limiting, other recourse may be to search other providers. While internet-on-the-go is a nice thing to have, it is generally a luxury as opposed to a necessity. I agree with you that the mobile phone is a necessity - others here don't seem to think so, but it has it's own convenience and security benefits that internet may not be able to provide. On the other hand, if you're not a big phone user (like me), you could go on a pay as you go service - I think Virgin Mobile and AT&T both have them, for starters.

One user mentioned Magic Jack, which the service is okay, but I don't think it addresses your problem since all it does is replace your land line. If you have a landline, this could save you money, but you need a computer that is always on and connected to the internet to receive a call - otherwise you will be checking voicemail.

Another alternative would be to reduce the size of your wireless phone plan (if still possible) and use Google Voice. Google Voice has the benefit of ringing numerous phones when someone calls that number. This makes it easier to stop using your cell phone and start using your work/home phone.

Other options include, working a deal with neighbors, if you have them. If you can work out an arrangement to split the cost, or hijack their WiFi, then that would be better.



I hope you find this useful,
vol7ron