If you have a bug-out location
anywhere preferable, you are most likely entirely too far from the
external world to pick up on 3G or T3 internet service. The only
option in this idyllic location, is a satellite internet connection.
This is at least simple to install and maintain. The downside is
the very limited bandwidth this connection is capable of carrying.
Let's discuss how to keep your bandwidth to a minimum.
Flash Block
add-on will stop all flash media, youtube videos, banner adds, etc.,
from loading on a web page without your permission. These flash files
eat up bandwidth and slow the page loading down. A blue .swf icon
appears in place of the unloaded flash content and you can click on the
flash media that you do want to see. The occasional flash function
necessary for navigating the page in html can be activated. Nothing
else will appear until you want it to.
Low Quality Flash
add-on can read those flash files you do want to see in the lowest file
size possible. This may sacrifice some definition, but it can easily be
reversed if high picture quality is desired.
We all know about the better Flash
Downloaders add-ons. For some of the files that you’re likely
to return to, you can add on an .swf or flash video downloader. This
should also give you the option to download a much smaller, lower
quality file if picture quality is not important. Using a Flash
Downloader (such as Download Helper) on youtube, for example, will
allow you to download the file as a mobile .3gp file which can reduce a
20 MB video to 2 MB
Lower your maximum
requests, (or increase them if you have higher bandwidth and
want pages to load more quickly). In Firefox, you can configure these
settings by entering “about:config” into the address bar. In the
“filter”, you enter “network”. On that list, you should find
“network.http.pipelining.maxrequests;” Here you can change the max
requests number (4 is good to lower bandwidth, as much as 30 for higher
bandwidth).
Collusion add-on
tells you what other URLs coming form advertising and/or tracking sites
are tagging along for the ride, keeping an eye on you and what you buy,
while robbing your bandwidth. This web shows a graphic expression
demonstrating how many different ad sites like doubleclick.net, (I see
that one a lot) are invading your privacy and air space. There are
plans for a companion to the add-on that allows you to block those
URLs, however, I have not seen that yet.
If you have a bug-out location
anywhere preferable, you are most likely entirely too far from the
external world to pick up on 3G or T3 internet service. The only
option in this idyllic location, is a satellite internet connection.
This is at least simple to install and maintain. The downside is
the very limited bandwidth this connection is capable of carrying.
Let's discuss how to keep your bandwidth to a minimum.