If you are using a slow internet connection from a laptop or desktop computer, try this trick to use the lightweight “mobile” version of many popular websites. These sites are designed for small screens and lower-bandwidth smart phones, but they’re quite functional and perfect for computers with slow internet connections. Just follow these steps:
- You need to use the Firefox web browser. Download Firefox here (it’s free) and install it if you don’t already have it. This may take a while if you have a slow connection.
- You’re using Firefox to view this page now, right? Good…
- Click here, then click the + Add to Firefox button. Proceed through the steps to download and install the User Agent Switcher Firefox extension, then restart Firefox.
- In your Firefox menu, go to Tools -> Default User Agent -> and select iPhone 3.0
- That’s it. Test it out by going to CNN. You should be automatically redirected to CNN’s lightweight, mobile site – the address is http://m.cnn.com/. This should work for the “major” websites like Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Facebook, etc.
- To turn this behavior off, go to Tools -> iPhone 3.0 -> and select Default User Agent. You can easily switch between mobile and full versions of websites by changing this setting.
This can be useful any time you are using a slow internet connection including
- • using a dial-up internet connection
- • using a slow public wi-fi access point at a coffee shop, hotel, airport, etc
- • using internet tethering through a smart phone
If you find this to be a useful tool, we encourage you to consider making a small donation to the developer for all the time and frustration waiting on websites that he will have spared you.
If you have trouble following these instructions, call our help desk at 505-232-7992 and we’ll get you squared away.
