How To Reduce Data Usage When Browsing The Web On A Smartphone

By Author: Brooke M. Perry
Total Articles: 84
Comment this article

When one doesn’t have unlimited data on his Android or iPhone smartphone, he becomes cautious of every megabyte getting used. Mobile browsers like Opera and Google Chrome come with an inbuilt data compression feature that allows one to reduce the data usage.

If you want to browse consuming less data, then you must enable this feature on your mobile browser. This will allow you to browse with little yet noticeable positive difference.

How Does This Work?

When you open a web page on your smartphone, the browser in use directly connects to the web server of the website. By doing so your mobile browser sends you the requested web page. In this entire process, your cellular provider operates as the middle entity that passes traffic back and forth between your browser and server; of course you are charged for this.

But if you use the “Off-Road mode feature” in Opera “Data Compression feature” in Chrome, then the complete process takes place in a different manner. After enabling this feature, your browser will send your request for a web page directly to the Google or Opera’s servers. Then these servers will download the page you requested along with its images and other assets and compress it so that it takes up less space. Then your requested page will be delivered to your smartphone. Hence, using the data compressing feature, you actually use compressing proxies that reduce your phone’s data usage.

What About Performance and Privacy?

Performance wise, the loading of Web pages will take now a little bit more time as no more you are using a direct connection, rather a proxy connection is being used. However, it can be seen other way round also in light of the fact that as now your phone requires downloading less data, so downloading must get faster. Hence, performance depends on your data connectivity and the webpage you are downloading.

In terms of privacy, there are no such privacy concerns. It’s true that on using proxies, your accessed Web pages will become open to Google or Opera but that doesn’t make a big difference as many others can also view the web pages you are accessing even when you are not using the proxies. For instance - your cellular carrier, Internet service provider, and other state security agencies can also view the web pages you have accessed.

Enable Data Compression in Chrome or Opera

To initiate the Data Compression feature in the Chrome app for Android, iPhone, iPad, iPhone, perform the following steps:

Tap Chrome’s menu button
Select Settings
Under “Advanced,” tap “Bandwidth management”
Tap “Reduce data usage”
Set the slider to “On.”

To initiate the Off-Road mode in the Opera browser for Android or iOS, perform the following steps:

Tap the O menu button
Set the “Off-Road mode” slider to “On”

You can easily disable this feature while using Wi-Fi and enable it while using mobile data. You can also lower the quality setting for Off-Road images by opening the Opera’s Settings screen and setting a limited bandwidth on images.

Use of this feature is not limited to smartphone only, as Opera browser works on Windows, Mac, and Linux as well. Hence, even when you are using your laptop, you can reduce bandwidth consumption if you are tethered to your smartphone’s data connection.

See How Much Data You’ve Saved

You can always check how much data you have saved. After using this feature for a while, check the “Reduce data usage” settings page in Chrome. Here you can see how much data you’ve saved by enabling the data compression feature. This will help you in realizing that how worthwhile this feature actually is. On Opera browser, checking this information is just a quick tap away, as it is available in the O menu.

If you are not using an unlimited data plan, and every megabyte counts, then this feature is very useful. Hence, you can always opt for it to save some money.

About the Author: Brooke M. Perry is an ardent technician associated with Qresolve online tablet support, with wide experience of fixing issues with PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphone. With a strong track record of devising effective ways of android tablet support and system security, she has so far helped thousands of users across the globe