How to limit bandwidth usage with Opera Turbo mode

I’ve already told you about Opera Mini, the great mobile web browser that helps you conserve precious bandwidth when you don’t have an unlimited data plan for your mobile phone. Now, few people know that Opera also offers a similar solution for its desktop browser, which help people with limited bandwidth data plan or with a slow wireless data connection and/or limited bandwidth plan.

Opera logo

Maybe not all of you have this issue but I’ve found myself in such a position a few days ago when I needed to use the computer but my data connection was GPRS and signal quality was very low at a  few kbits per second. That’s when I’ve remembered about Opera Turbo mode (available in Opera 10.3 beta and in future versions).

Opera 10.3 beta doesn’t come with Turbo mode activated by default but it’s not complicated to enable it. To do so go to menu Tools – Quick Preferences – Enable Opera Turbo and you’re set to go. You’ll notice a general slow down before the page begins to load because of the fact that the information is being processed by Opera servers and then sent to you’re browser. Thinks ramp up in speed when it comes to pictures which are compressed a lot. This has the advantage of low transfer times but as a downside you’ll see visible artifacts, buy if low bandwidth is what you seek then you’ll live with it.

This is how you enable Opera Turbo mode

Opera Turbo allowed me to browse for a few hours and only consume about 30-40 MB of bandwidth. That’s excellent as I have a monthly cap of only 4 GB of traffic plus when the connection is slow Opera’s Turbo mode makes browsing possible.