preprocessing media to save bandwidth

{almost forgot:  Merry Christmas everybody!} There are several bandwidth-related concerns for nomads: limits on data plans spotty mobile data not abusing open wifi These concerns can be ameliorated by preprocessing media Elsewhere to more appropriate quality levels to “good enough” before  D/Ling.   In this case, “elsewhere” is

minimal size youtube videos

My previous approach to saving bandwidth on youtube videos was to request the lowest-resolution versions possible. That is a simple approach but leaves some MB on the table.  The absolute lowest bandwidth video is achieved by picking the lowest bitrate audio and video even if they occur in separate files. Consider this 42min video about the

~12% bandwidth conservation from compressed tunnel

I am getting minimal bandwidth in this location, downloading at around 30KB/s.  So I tried proxying my web traffic through a compressed ssh tunnel to see if it would help at all. Here are the results after my morning browsing, about 1.5hrs of email, forums, texting, etc. Transferred: sent 3073844, received 49053108 bytes, in 5189.2 seconds Bytes

backchannel: thank you for staying on topic

from this thread: PLEASE NOTE this thread is asking about dometic fridges and solar equipment not how to live without refrigeration. I am looking to live with refrigeration. I have limited access to internet, so having to scroll through replies that are not relevant to the question costs. Thank you for staying on topic. “I’m

Backchannel: descriptions with links

from this post: mod edit, a video of a tent camp at Ehrenberg. please include a description with your links. I am getting tired of doing this and I will start just deleting posts with links and no description. A better solution would be to change the rule; it’s wrongheaded.  I’ve already described how to

backchannel: browser image caching

I suggest that CRVL rules on not overquoting posts due to bandwidth restrictions are well-intentioned but poorly informed.  For example, text is incredibly “cheap” and multimedia is “expensive” to transmit. Consider this ad on the first page I loaded: The ad is 53kb.  That is 5x the bandwidth required to transmit the the Declaration of Independence.

making the most of intermittent internet

RV folks without mobile data plans (or outside of cell coverage) have to deal with brief periods of wifi access followed by long stretches of no connection.  The impact of this restriction can be lessened by using some old-school tools.

email bandwidth conservation

Email is something we take for granted until we can’t get it; then it’s a First World Crisis.  Luckily email can be extremely efficient because text is cheap to send/receivetext.  And since so little data is moved in minimal setups you can often get email through when nothing else works. We need to look at

web bandwidth and data conservation

There are two entangled ideas here: the amount of data you use over time (like a month).  If it were electricity this might be kilowatt-hours. the amount of data you use at any given time (available bandwidth of your connection).  If this were electricity it might be Amperes. We will address the data side of

podcast bandwidth conservation

Podcasts are awesome I don’t own a TV now and I don’t plan to own one during my boondocking adventure.  I have largely given up on commercial radio.  For those and several more reasons over the past 10 years podcasts have become my main source of information/entertainment.  eBooks do the heavy lifting for more complex