[e2e] Compression of web pages

[Woojune Kim]

Hi,

I recently saw an article in the WSJ in the column by Mossberg, describing Sprint PCS 's wireless internet access services. It said that SprintPCS uses some sort of compression / decompression technology to make the user get the look / feel of a 400Kbps connection even though the actual physical data rate is only 50-70Kbps.

>From the description it looks like they have some sort of compression agent either in their access box or an external box. Something like the WAP servers or a specialized Web Proxy server. My guess is that they also had some special decompress software in their mobile handsets or laptops.

I was wondering though, wouldn't it be more efficient if the web client were able to request "compressed web pages" in the initial HTTP request ? So instead of having specialized proxy servers etc. the compresssion etc. would be done at the originating server.... (This would not have to be a performance hit as compressed pages could be prepared offline etc.)

Has this idea been floated around and killed already ? Or is it already out there in some form ?

thanks