Chrome browser users can reduce data usage

If your web usage is always in danger of bumping up against your data limit, Chrome's Data Saver feature might help.

It's already part of the Android and iOS versions of Chrome. And it's an extension for the computer version. After it's activated it produces a graph of your data savings.

It works by rerouting your web traffic through Google's server, where it's compressed to various degrees.

How Data Saver works
When you're using Data Saver, Google's servers reduce the amount of data that gets downloaded when you visit a webpage. How much data gets saved depends on the type of content on the page. Secure pages (pages that start with https) and incognito pages load without any data savings.
With Data Saver turned on:

• Some websites might not be able to accurately determine your location

• Some images might look a little fuzzy

• Internal websites, such as your company’s intranet sites, might not load

• Sites that your mobile carrier uses to authenticate and bill you might behave unexpectedly. For example, you might have trouble logging in to your mobile phone provider's website.

It also speeds up your web surfing and filters out malware and phishing attacks. The question is whether Google mines your data as it passes through their servers. I imagine they aren't giving us something for nothing. Data Saver can be easily turned off, though.