Stopping Website Images From Loading

Ok, my situation is as follows.

I'm in rented accommodation for a couple of months before I'll be moving on to a more permanent arrangement, but in the meantime I have to have internet access for my work.

I'm currently using Vodafone Espana's 3G internet service on pay-as-you-go, because I'll be able to get ADSL when I move, so didn't want to sign up for an 18-month contract.

The charge is €60 per 1GB download, which I thought seemed ok as I have no other alternative, but I'm finding that it drains down a lot quicker than I was expecting, despite avoiding streaming video or downloading anything.

The only reason I can think of is the images on websites, so I was wondering if anyone knew of anyway to stop maybe files over a certain size from loading in my browser, or just pictures in general so I can try and keep my number of recharges down to a reasonable level.

I am on a Mac using Camino, but I'm willing to switch to Firefox for a couple of months if there is a plug-in available that does what I'm looking for.

Would greatly appreciate any help on this.

Cheers

 

wait. $100 per GB?

you have to be joking.

see if clearwire is a viable long term option for you. you should be able to swing adsl speeds and you can just take it with you when you move.

 

Try running your web pages through a skweezer.net or mobileleap.net. You should also enable ad block either for Safari or Firefox.

$100 for 1 gig isn't that bad when you consider Verizon in the US...

Verizon charges around $50-60 for unlimited data but I hear they impose a 5 gig cap. For those who don't want to spend that much month in month out, they offer a few alternative plans I like to call traps...

Verizon has a plan that charges $39 for 50 MEG and pay as you go after that. They also have a $24.99 plan that only gives you 10 MEG. The pay as you go formula is based on KILOBYTES. I think downloading a gig on Verizon without one of their unlimited plans would require that you attend a closing and be prepared to sign a mortgage. Be sure to bring along the deed to your house, the titles to all your cars and any gold you might have lying about.

 

I think Safari>Preferences>Appearance and unchecking the Display Images checkbox should do it for Safari. Opera has a similar setting, but I'm not sure about Firefox or Camio.

But yeah, €60 for 1GB? You do realise you're getting super ripped off. In the UK, you can get unlimited (about 3GB per month actually, although going over that limit is usually fine) 3G internet packages for your phone for about £7.50 per month (O2).
So, unless you're someone whose total surfing bandwidth only comes to 1GB after 6 months, you're probably better with signing a contract, unless the contract prices where you are totally ridiculous.

 

As I said I would get a contract, but I only need it for two months as I can get ADSL when I switch to my longer-term apartment and the minimum contract is 18 months.

Thanks for the skweezer.net link rOk; a site like that was exactly the type of thing I was looking for. Should save me a lot of data usage so cheers for that.

 

If you use firefox, you can get Adblock Plus (free) and it can block ads on websites. That could cut down on a lot of stuff on the internet, since thers lotsa ads on sites. Should help a bit.

 

Here is what nbr looks like through skweezer. No avatars, no banners and probably 1/5 as much bandwidth to view it.

 

I'd recommend using Opera for several reasons.

1) If you have a number of sites you regularly visit you can set them to be completely cached in Opera. Increase the cache size and number of sites to remember in Opera to suit your needs, up to 400MB. Save them as a session and load sets of sites as you need them. The best way to do this is to go to a wifi zone for a day and use your laptops wifi to access all your sites and cache them. (I oftentimes have 80-100 sites in a session and Opera has no issues opening them on my MBP).

2) Opera also allows you to set individual site preferences. On some sites you will need to have images loaded in order to use them (some banking sites for example). By controlling sites this way you can set individual parameters dependent on your needs.

3) Opera will also allow you to set how regularly the pre-cached sites will be reloaded thereby stopping automatic reload and redraw from using up your connections download allowance and hurting your wallet.