Conserving bandwidth (tethered Blackberry)

[Jeff7181]

Thanks vol7ron. I find it odd that my browsers are not properly caching images... I mean, that's what a browser cache is for, right? I've tested this with IE 8, Opera 10, Firefox 3.6 and Chrome 3... they all pull the exact amount of data every time I visit a page, leave the page, then revisit the original page. Squid does a fantastic job of caching this data, but I can't get it to work with my Blackberry for some reason.

I've got a VirtualPC VM running squid and it works perfectly with what ever WiFi I happen to be using, but I can't get it to detect the Blackberry. So I used VMware converted to convert it to a VMware VM since it has better USB support and I can get it to detect the Blackberry and even connect to the Internet... but my host OS won't seem to connect to the guest OS. I've double checked IP addresses and all that stuff... I can ping the guest OS from the host, but I just get page cannot be displayed when trying to load a page when I point my browser at the guest as the proxy server.

I also haven't had any luck getting squid to run in Windows 7... I'm thinking it could be a permissions issue or something but haven't gotten around to checking into all that.

 

[Emulex]

run squid on a router pc

 

[Jeff7181]

run squid on a router pc

That would be an option, but I'd have to tether my Blackberry to THAT computer and it would only work at my condo which is why I've been trying to do this in a VM.

 

[kevnich2]

My question for the OP is this - if you are so strapped for cash that you can't afford a simple $20-$30 DSL plan - why is it that you HAVE to have a blackberry which adds significantly more cost because it requires a data plan. I understand the necessity of a cell phone but having a blackberry is NOT a necessity. I'd much rather have a basic cell phone and dsl or cable service than a blackberry with the required data service and no decent internet such as dsl or cable.

Example - Basic Cell Service ($25/month) + DSL (~$30/month) = $55/month vs Blackberry ($25 voice + $30 data + $10-$15 for the Phone as modem option for tethering) = $65-$70/monnth

 

[Jeff7181]

I'm slightly amused at all the people who are critical of my needs/wants. The Blackberry will be my primary Internet connection... I want ideas to conserve bandwidth with as little changes to my usage habits as possible. I don't see how the reason why it will be my primary Internet connection has anything to do with how to reduce bandwidth consumption.

However, if you must know, I've done a little contracted work on the side to which I've agreed to provide support and/or monitoring for X amount of time. It was easier to have a monitor tool fire off an email to me rather than send me a text message when there's an alert. It's also easier to receive email at my full time job when there's a problem rather than get a call. And finally... I'm an investor and I'm not usually at home during the day and I'd prefer not to use the company's equipment at my full time job, a public computer at a library or a friend's computer to make a quick trade every now and then.