Unfortunately, some users have to pay a small fortune to browse the Internet, or are forced into data plans where they need to make the most of every available byte. Mobile platforms benefit from various compression technologies, and one of them is Google Data Saver. Thanks to the work of an independent developer, it is now possible to access the benefits of Data Saver in Firefox with a simple extension.
Google Data Saver comes to Firefox
Internet access has become an essential resource even for the simplest tasks, but if we follow the statistics and comments from our readers, access speeds go up the stairs while prices take the elevator. To this we must add the situation of mobile connections. Providers sell them in packages that lose relevance and usefulness as portals and services become heavier, placing the user in a real bind. In cases of high mobility, there is the possibility of performing the so-called "tethering", which allows a smartphone to share its Internet connection with a laptop. However, not all compression solutions are enabled for desktop browsers. Fortunately, today we come across an exception: Google Data Saver arrives in Firefox with the help of an extension.
The first time we talked about Data Saver was in March of last year, and it had already surpassed version 2.0 in Chrome, but the Mountain View giant never showed interest in creating something similar (and official) compatible with Firefox. As far as we have been able to verify, its developer is in India, a country that struggles to achieve a better relationship between quantity, quality, and cost when it comes to connecting. Due to privacy and security issues (as its official page indicates), the extension only works on unencrypted HTTP data. HTTPS accesses and Firefox private windows completely ignore the compression system, but the rest will be redirected through Google's servers.
Privacy and security considerations
I understand that the idea of sending unencrypted information to Google's servers may cause concern, but we must remember that Data Saver is not a resource that needs to remain constantly activated. At the same time, some portals are likely to show an error message if they cannot be processed, although the extension includes a "whitelist" to create all compression exceptions. Firefox users browsing on limited plans should take a closer look at this extension.
