Survive using low bandwidth
Hmm... I haven't been posting any blog for a long time. Basically there are three reasons stopping me from writing a blog.
a. I am lazy as usual
b. I am on vacation in HK right now and I want to do more exciting things than writing a blog
c. I only have dial up connection in HK.
It is hard to believe that I am still able to use internet with a 56K modem!
In 1998, I had made the switch from from 28k dial up modem to Telus 1.5Mbps ADSL. (Note that 28k modem means 28,000 bits per second and 1.5Mbps means 1,500,000 bits per second)
Back then, ADSL to me was extremely fast, and I was very please to make the switch. In HK , due to a number of reasons, my dad decided not to install high speed internet and go for dial up solution. Yes, it is extremely slow and I couldn't do much other than checking my email.
In fact, believe me, it does take awhile to load the Gmail webpage (about 3 minutes). Lucky I did turn on the cache opinion. The functionalities of email website such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail have increased tremendously though AJAX programming allowing window application like software running within the web browser.
I am not going to talk more about what AJAX is. Instead, I am to talk about what I did to get stuff done on the web.
1. Turn off the load graphic automatically opinion in your web browser - typically the size (storage size) of a website is largely taken by the website's graphics. If you don't need to look at the picture, why load it automatically.
2. Check if the website you are visiting has a simplified website version (like non Flash, HTML only) - believe it or not, there actually a HTML version only Gmail. It happens when it takes too long to load Gmail website, and the website deliberately show me a link to load Gmail HTML-only website.
3. Always save your downloaded file in case you need it again - when I was using ADSL, I rarely save any installation because I know I can always download it again.
4. Load multiple webpages at the same time. Using Tab browsing feature in IE 7 and Firefox become very useful because you are not wasting your modem idle time by downloading as much as possible.
5. Leave huge downloads when you are not browsing the net. Even better, use a download client such as GetRight which allows you control the time and speed of your file downloads. - Seriously, you don't want to slow down your web browsing experience because your downloading file take up too much bandwidth.
I think my friend is probably right, my cell phone web connection speed would probably be faster than my dial up! Or the MTR station's internet access would still be faster too.
a. I am lazy as usual
b. I am on vacation in HK right now and I want to do more exciting things than writing a blog
c. I only have dial up connection in HK.
It is hard to believe that I am still able to use internet with a 56K modem!
In 1998, I had made the switch from from 28k dial up modem to Telus 1.5Mbps ADSL. (Note that 28k modem means 28,000 bits per second and 1.5Mbps means 1,500,000 bits per second)
Back then, ADSL to me was extremely fast, and I was very please to make the switch. In HK , due to a number of reasons, my dad decided not to install high speed internet and go for dial up solution. Yes, it is extremely slow and I couldn't do much other than checking my email.
In fact, believe me, it does take awhile to load the Gmail webpage (about 3 minutes). Lucky I did turn on the cache opinion. The functionalities of email website such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail have increased tremendously though AJAX programming allowing window application like software running within the web browser.
I am not going to talk more about what AJAX is. Instead, I am to talk about what I did to get stuff done on the web.
1. Turn off the load graphic automatically opinion in your web browser - typically the size (storage size) of a website is largely taken by the website's graphics. If you don't need to look at the picture, why load it automatically.
2. Check if the website you are visiting has a simplified website version (like non Flash, HTML only) - believe it or not, there actually a HTML version only Gmail. It happens when it takes too long to load Gmail website, and the website deliberately show me a link to load Gmail HTML-only website.
3. Always save your downloaded file in case you need it again - when I was using ADSL, I rarely save any installation because I know I can always download it again.
4. Load multiple webpages at the same time. Using Tab browsing feature in IE 7 and Firefox become very useful because you are not wasting your modem idle time by downloading as much as possible.
5. Leave huge downloads when you are not browsing the net. Even better, use a download client such as GetRight which allows you control the time and speed of your file downloads. - Seriously, you don't want to slow down your web browsing experience because your downloading file take up too much bandwidth.
I think my friend is probably right, my cell phone web connection speed would probably be faster than my dial up! Or the MTR station's internet access would still be faster too.
Comments
off topic...i've discovered a highly customizable browser called Sleipnir. it uses a lot less memory, too
(e.g. right now on my computer
firefox: 91200K, sleipnir: 3412K)
it takes some time to get used to, but i like it.
anyway, in case you haven't done so, go check your email!