You're right. Reddit seems to load a different homepage based on useragent.

I was using Firefox, but I could get the 1.55MB result by trying that.

I get 1.22MB in Firefox with a similar approach:

1. New private browsing window

2. Open devtools networking

3. Responsive design mode: Galaxy S9

4. Load reddit.com

IT'S BETTER ON THE APP

>>>DOWNLOAD THE APP<<<

[ Got it ][0]

[0] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.quantumbadger.redreader/

I just did this in in private tabs and got:

firefox: 17.85 / 12.54 MB transferred, brave: 15 MB, vivaldi: 9.6 MB, chromium: 13.1 MB,

Did you configure it as a mobile browser? Your numbers are about what I get if I configure it as desktop.

I did not I tested as a desktop, using a mobile does drop it down to ~2 MB.

I actually think that Reddit is just loading less of the posts due to the small screen.

firefox with ublock origin, privacy badger and overall stuff turned off: 16.17 / 11.44 MB. Haven't scrolled anywhere yet.

you need to tell it to scroll and things

https://blog.webpagetest.org/posts/understanding-the-new-cum...

Both WPT and browser devtools will, by default, tell you the data usage that happens just by visiting a page. As you interact with a page, for example by scrolling Reddit, you will cause more network traffic, yes. Since Reddit does infinite scroll, you can get Reddit to use arbitrary amounts of traffic this way.

I was attempting to explain the disagreement up-thread. Also that article is full of really good tips and I just felt like posting it.