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Firefox Throttle keeps your browser's bandwidth usage under control
See, I live and work way out in the boonies - about 6 hours past the boonies, really - and anyone living beyond a 5-mile radius of "downtown" has two options for Internet access. One is dial-up, and the other is KA-band satellite high speed. Needless to say, plenty of people are willing to pay the extra bucks to avoid being chained to their phone lines.
The downside is that some satellite providers have fairly strict bandwidth usage policies. Go over the cap, and you're throttled back to modem speeds.
Firefox Throttle can help. Add it to your browser and you've got a simple, straightforward way to keep your web browsing within your provider's limits. In addition to throttling upload and download rates, you can also enabled "bursting" which allows for brief accelerated sessions following periods when your connection has been idle. You can also whitelist certain sites if you want them to load full-speed all the time.
Curious how busy you've been? Check Throttle's stats page, and you can see your upload and download for the current browsing session as well as a grand total.
Thanks for the tip, Yansky!
Comments
4
Subscribe to commentsArnieDec 31st 2009 2:46PM
It gives me the chills just thinking about going back to my dial-up speeds. I honestly now consider high speed internet as much a part of my utility needs as electricity. Cable TV I can live without easily, but internet(or even slow speed internet) would have me worried.
Kris120890Dec 31st 2009 2:52PM
Can't help but agree with you. Internet will be the last thing I get rid of before Gas and electricity. If it came down to it anyway.
JeffODec 31st 2009 4:56PM
Awesome!
A use I can think of is a household like mine where several people are using the same Internet line. When I do a large file download that will go for hours, I don't want to hog the whole pipe and make everyone else's Internet experience frustrating. Especially if they're doing homework and I'm just playing.
Dwight StegallJan 1st 2010 12:28AM
If you live near a Cell Tower you should get Sprint Mobile Broadband. Then you don't need to throttle Firefox. I live 1/4 mile from one.
It's a little pricey but I have noting else to blow my wad on. :)
http://www.internetaccess2go.com/
If you have the USB Modem attach it using the included cable and put the modem in a metal kitchen pan to boost the signal. Read the user comments here for more tips.
http://lifehacker.com/5437749/improve-3g-modem-reception-with-a-kitchen-pot?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifehacker%2Ffull+%28Lifehacker%29