Okay,I have heard such great things about mod_gzip decreasing your bandwidth usage...but I am wondering...is there a way to install it if your on a shared hosting acount without asking the admin to do it?

I don't think that is possible since it is an apache module and a shared user does not have access to modify apache or its files.

wouldnt the compression itself slow down the server or response at all?

and if not, why dont ALL hosts install this?

Originally posted by tecton
wouldnt the compression itself slow down the server or response at all?

and if not, why dont ALL hosts install this?

I asked the same question a while back and the answer was something like "WHT is using it, do you think this site load slow?". :D

The zipping/unzipping does not take long at all since the files are so small and few. You will win on the download time though.

not to mention the substantial decrease in bandwidth usage. Also, it is often been said to reduce load on a server because it isnt required to push as many packets.

mod_gzip does lower bandwidth significantly and does lower server load quite a bit. Zipping and unzipping of these tiny files happens so quickly you won't even notice any lag. Also, pages pop up so much faster it's amazing.

Users are unable to add this to their apache unless they have rights to modify apache on the server (some servers allow this).

Perhaps the reason ALL hosts don't use it is because 1) they are unaware of it 2) they don't know how or 3) they can't (no access to modify apache, as often applies to resellers and "semi-dedicated-server" users).

mod_gzip was a great invention and while it may not be perfect (what is?), it's always getting better and faster.

4)If it makes people use less bandwidth they dont sell as much bandwidth :D
Meaning that say a host makes 1$ profit per gig...if a person that would use 10 gigs only uses 5,they make half of the money :D

Originally posted by Billy
4)If it makes people use less bandwidth they dont sell as much bandwidth :D
Meaning that say a host makes 1$ profit per gig...if a person that would use 10 gigs only uses 5,they make half of the money :D
Heh, they'd make 1/2 the money on that one customer, but they can support 2 customers on that 10 gigs instead of just one. :) Thus making the same amount of money and have two customers instead. Not too shabby, eh?

I know if I had a bandwidth-intensive site, mod_gzip would be in my list of "do you support this" items.

Customers tend to recommend their friends and peers to hosts. In turn, the host would, theoretically, get more business and more customers (perhaps even more profits?) out of the same amount of bandwidth that a host w/o mod_gzip would. Of course, mod_gzip isn't the only thing that keep customers happy, but it sure does help.

Happy Customers = Happy Owners. :)

Note: I'm not saying mod_gzip is for everyone, I'm just supporting the fact that its pros greatly outweigh its cons. Some hosts have reasons for not running mod_gzip, so I don't want anyone to think I'm discriminating against those hosts. :D

If you havent, why not suggest it to your hosting company?