Opera Web Browser Helps Curb Mobile Data Usage
Among the major U.S. mobile carriers, Sprint is the last one to offer unlimited data plans. Since the carrier recently added the iPhone to its offerings, it's possible Sprint's unlimited data plan days are numbered, too.
The rise of the iPhone may not have been be reason AT&T and Verizon gave to quit offering unlimited data. But it happened around the same time, and I wouldn't be surprised if Sprint eventually followed suit. That will make monitoring and tracking your data usage more important than ever.
Opera offers a mobile version of its browser that includes a very handy feature: a data usage meter that lets you know how much data you have consumed in a given month. The Opera Mini 6.5 browser is available for the Android, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Symbian and Java-enabled phones. An Opera Mobile 11.5 browser is also available for Symbian S60 phones and devices.
Opera monitors data usage with a utility in the help menu that tracks the data a phone has used both for a specific session and in total, and you can reset it each billing period.
Another feature Opera Mini offers is a compression feature that loads the websites more efficiently to save on data usage. Mini caches Web pages on its servers in Iceland, and then delivers a "squeezed" webpage. It's an anonymous and fully automated system.
This does not mean you get a streamlined web page that lacks certain content and features. It just cleans up the site and delivers a mobile-optimized version to the phone. The data meter also shows you how much the sites are "squeezed," and therefore how much data you've saved viewing sites on the Opera browser.
When data usage costs money, it makes sense to use a browser that will lighten the load. Test the browser, then push it out to the staff if it makes sense for your business.
There is a drawback: It only works for Web browsing, and not for use on data-chomping apps. Every little bit, however, helps. If you can save some money by reducing data consumption while browsing, it leaves that much more in the allowance to be spent on other apps.
