My data use is taking wild jumps when I visit permies today

Just wondering if there are more bells and whistles than usual?
I know the kickstater clock is running...maybe more 'moving' parts in general?

I can usually browse here for 1 or 2 megabytes, maybe 1 or 2 more if I open a picture heavy thread.  
Today, twice now, my data has jumped 29mb's after a few minutes read.

I always use the desktop version with chrome...nothing seems different except these unexplained data jumps at this site.

Or it maybe this cell phone and a total coincidence...

Anyone else counting mb's and notice this today?

I don't keep track since I'm usually on wifi, but, just to be sure - you weren't viewing any particularly image heavy threads today were you?

That was the first thing that came to mind. Perhaps the images in one thread are not compressed well for mobile viewing.

L. Johnson wrote:I don't keep track since I'm usually on wifi, but, just to be sure - you weren't viewing any particularly image heavy threads today were you?

That was the first thing that came to mind. Perhaps the images in one thread are not compressed well for mobile viewing.

The first time I did look at 2 pages of kickstarter updates so thought that might be it but the next time it happened I just browsed a couple threads of text.
It's noticibly different than what was normal for data use on this phone at permies even when looking at picture heavy threads.

I've never used the mobile view, just desktop.

Now that I've started this thread (that took only 4 mb's to post) it probably won't happen again.

any chance it might be stephen's thread?

paul wheaton wrote:any chance it might be stephen's thread?

I do host the (many) images I have in my BRK thread on a site other than Permies, and this might have something to do with it.

If so: my apologies. :)

Hmmmm, if images are hosted on permies, they're never bigger than 700 pixels wide (unless you click on the attached image). This makes them easier to view, and saves on our server bill.

But, if you happen upon a thread with images that are hosted elsewhere, they can be any size and resolution, and so might take up a lot more data use.

Stephen B. Thomas wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:any chance it might be stephen's thread?

I do host the (many) images I have in my BRK thread on a site other than Permies, and this might have something to do with it.

If so: my apologies.

It wasn't your thread stephen, I hadn't looked at it yesterday
I only look at big picture threads when I have wifi because I noticed in the past they would use more data but usually only a few extra mb's....yesterdays jumps seemed unrelated to what I was looking at?

Maybe it was just a fluke in my phone and coincidently permies since I'm here more often than any place else?
I have the data turned off except when online.

Thanks everyone!

So just to check I visited stephens thread...and yes, big jump in megabytes only looking at the first page...35!  
Posting my last message used only 2mb.

That wasn't where I was yesterday when things jumped although good to know.

Permies will make thumbnails for big images - to go easier on our own bandwidth costs, as well as making the page load a bit faster for users.

When people embed images from elsewhere, that cuts our bandwidth costs even more!  Yay!  Of course, if the image is huge, then some users will experience delays.  It does seem that when I load pages from Stephen's thread, it is a bit slow - so my guess is that the images are big.  I never said anything before because I just rolled with it.  

paul wheaton wrote:Permies will make thumbnails for big images - to go easier on our own bandwidth costs, as well as making the page load a bit faster for users.

When people embed images from elsewhere, that cuts our bandwidth costs even more!  Yay!  Of course, if the image is huge, then some users will experience delays.  It does seem that when I load pages from Stephen's thread, it is a bit slow - so my guess is that the images are big.  I never said anything before because I just rolled with it.  

Thanks Paul...I just needed a clear understanding of why (and where) it might be happening and now I can work around it.
I started noticing a month or so ago and am just now trying to track down the reason.
Our daily 'budget' for mb's is less than 50 and usually try for half that...so I try to pay attention and permies has been one of the places I can visit that uses very little data.

Do you suppose data use is also determined by how many pages of photos in a picture heavy thread even though only one page is open at a time?

And by the way, congratulations for another successful kickstarter...that's excellent news!

If you open a page on a thread that has 33 pages, you only have the burden of the one page.

If you're not interested in the pictures, you could maybe hit the X to stop the page from loading? I don't use a mobile devise, so I don't know if cellphone browsers let you stop a page from loading. But, I hit that X a lot.

(Hitting the X and stopping a page from loading can sometimes get around paywalls on some websites, as their paywall pops up after the text pops up. This doesn't work on all websites, and some webpages no longer seem to let you stop the page from loading. But it is a handy trick in some circumstances!)