"> They're just an open http conneciton. That is exactly why it is a massive battery drain. Anything that keeps the network or radio awake is the drain on the battery, especially on any device that is not 100% plugged in to mains power - in this case it has very little to do with keeping the browser awake. The other thing, only maintaining that single http connection scaled across 10's of thousands of users is a massive drain on your own infrastructure. Mobile solved this along time ago with their push frameworks." - Paul Kinlan