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PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

stuartbreckenridge.net

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Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#121

Post by bsammon »

tw04 wrote: post #119
qingcharles wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've worked with a lot of people at the bottom end of society in the USA. They are given government provided phones they can use so they have access to Google Maps, email, job search apps etc. These phones come with 3GB of regular data per month. After that they drop down to 2G speed, but not in a way that will allow anything to actually load. Three days into the month these phones are just ewaste.

Calling them ewaste is a little dramatic. While sites like this are a cancer, there is free WiFi in basically every town in America. You can get data for free, even if it’s slightly inconvenient.

I think you may be a bit out of date. There was free WiFi in basically every town. Now it's frequently a vestigial, no-longer-maintained free WiFi that works like crap, because there's no maintenance, because "everyone has cellular data nowadays".

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#122

Post by roywiggins »

kuschku wrote: post #110
reaperducer wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone needs a phone like this for email and job searching and has no other option, 2G speeds will work. It’s not e-waste for the intended purpose. Guess how I know you've never actually tried this. Part of my job is testing the web sites I build in the terrible real-world conditions where our customers are. Places like machine rooms, deep basements, and small towns with only municipal or small-carrier 3G cell se…

I used to have an extremely cheap phone plan that had 500MB data, then 64kbps for the rest of the month. You'd be surprised how far you can get with that. IRC works just fine (as long as you use Quassel w/ Quasseldroid), HN works well, so does reddit (via redreader). RSS readers and wikipedia work as well, and for general web browsing you can set up a readability proxy (basically Firefox' Reader Mode, but server-side…

The COTS solution for some web browsing is Opera Mini, which may still work? It also uses a proxy to prerender and compress websites, and worked ok at 2G speeds last I used it. It used to work well as a java applet and made the wider internet functional on feature phones. Very solid software.

But as a practical matter, what people rely on phones for are services that are app-based. Good luck completing a Venmo transaction or any amount of banking.

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#124

Post by dankwizard »

Not a problem for me (Unlimited data plan, 1000/40).

The website is around PC Gaming - users with the top of the line machines and fast internet. I don't see a problem with websites catering to their audience?

Why should I get a worse lower quality website full of text and nothing visual because somebody else has limited data?

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#127

Post by toast0 »

jojobas wrote: post #115
edoloughlin wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that’s fine because that photo (probably) has some utility to you. The 39.99MB of ads accompanying the 2KB of text you want to read possibly has less utility to you.

As you might be aware, you're not the one paying for it so your utility is not really on the table. Also consider the utility of an ad blocker.

A lot of people are paying for their data. If a web page uses 40 mb and you have 4GB of data quota per month, you can only load 100 pages per month. Apparently the article text describes the page actually using 500 MB over 5 minutes, which means a 4GB quota can be used for less than an hour of reading.

Maybe it's different if advertisers or publishers are paying viewer's data costs. But some amount of restraint might be nice. Personally, I don't use a lot on my phone when I'm out and about, other than chat apps, hn, text NPR and lite CNN, cause I used to be on a plan with a hard cutoff. But then, I have unmetered networking at home.

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#128

Post by reaperducer »

zamadatix wrote: post #103
reaperducer wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone needs a phone like this for email and job searching and has no other option, 2G speeds will work. It’s not e-waste for the intended purpose. Guess how I know you've never actually tried this. Part of my job is testing the web sites I build in the terrible real-world conditions where our customers are. Places like machine rooms, deep basements, and small towns with only municipal or small-carrier 3G cell se…

> (In spite of what HN believes, there are plenty of places in America with 3G or even zero cell service.) 0 of course, but wasn't 3G all shut down in the US in 2022 to open up the airspace?

0 of course, but wasn't 3G all shut down in the US in 2022 to open up the airspace?

One of those HN myths that comes from only being willing to Google (or ChatGPT) information, rather than encountering it in the real world.

3G still exists in rural and remote areas that no major carrier wants to serve, at least as of April, 2025 — the last time I did a round of real-world web testing. Next round is in September. Maybe with 5G in the cities, some hand-me-down 4G equipment has made it to the places where I test.

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#129

Post by jojobas »

toast0 wrote: post #127
jojobas wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As you might be aware, you're not the one paying for it so your utility is not really on the table. Also consider the utility of an ad blocker.

A lot of people are paying for their data. If a web page uses 40 mb and you have 4GB of data quota per month, you can only load 100 pages per month. Apparently the article text describes the page actually using 500 MB over 5 minutes, which means a 4GB quota can be used for less than an hour of reading. Maybe it's different if advertisers or publishers are paying viewer's data costs. But some amount of restraint might…

I mean, the utility that matters is the utility for PC Gamer of showing everyone the ads vs some people refusing to read them over data concerns.

You might be paying for data, but you're not paying PC Gamer for reading them, so your opinion only starts to matter when you quit reading them over how much data they use.

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#130

Post by abustamam »

pas wrote: post #82
abustamam wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But PC gamer isn't downloading 8mb wallpapers or 100mb 4k music videos. They're downloading ads and and other nonsense. Plus, if I decide to download a music video, that's on me. I chose to download a 100mb file. If I just want to read what amounts to a few paragraphs of text with some branding, I don't think it's fair to say that I'm also choosing to download 40+mb of nonsense that isn't text. Maybe in this new mode…

not using an adblocker is also on the user yes, it would be better if all ads were text only, so there wouldn't be this adtech fucking warfare for people's attention

The casual user likely doesn't know what an ad blocker is, and many who do likely have one of those ad blockers that may reduce the number of ads displayed but collect everything about your browsing habits.

It's very likely that ad providers expect that.

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