Reduce data usage, increase speed with Chrome extension
Stuck with a slow connection? A new Chrome extension can speed up your Web browsing by routing traffic through Google's servers.
Google added a feature to Chrome for iOS and Android last month that let you route your mobile Web traffic through Google's servers to compress pages you visit before downloading them, helping to reduce your data usage. Now, an enterprising developer has released a Chrome extension that performs the same trick on the desktop. You may not have the same need to reduce your data usage on your desktop as you do on your phone in terms of staying below your carrier's monthly data allotment, but using the Data Compression Proxy extension can help speed up your Web browsing on the desktop up if you have a slow connection.
The Data Compression Proxy extension installs a button to the right of Chrome's URL bar, which you can click to disable and enable the extension. Green means it's enabled, and red mean it's disabled. When enabled, it sends all non-secure traffic through Google's servers to compress the pages in an effort to load pages faster. In the developer's own words:
The extension sends all HTTP (but not HTTPS) traffic through Chrome Data Compression Proxy server, which uses SPDY protocol to speed up Web browsing. Enabled state is indicated by a green icon. You can manually disable the proxy by clicking on the icon. When the proxy raises an error, it is being automatically disabled for 30 sec, so that the request can be resent.
There is also a page you can visit to get statistics about the amount of data you are saving.
Finally, you should note that this extension is experimental and not developed by Google.