I am happy to report that this bird, the lowly pigeon, is faster than the Internet. Yes, faster than broadband.
An I.T. company proved it recently when users of South Africa’s largest Internet provider, Telkom, complained their ADSL broadband speeds were so slow it would be faster to deliver the information via carrier pigeon.
Always up for a challenge the pigeons responded, “Bring it on!” They deputized a carrier pigeon named Winston to fly a 4GB memory stick 60 miles from Howick to Durban.
As Winston’s owner released him on his journey, staff at Unlimited IT clicked on the download button to start transferring the same 4GB over the Internet from their Howick to Durban offices.
Winston made the trip in 1 hour 8 minutes. Broadband delivered the data in nearly twice the time: 2 hours 6 minutes.
So if you want to deliver a lot of data quickly, hire a pigeon.
For the BBC video of this amazing feat, click here.
(photo by Chuck Tague)
Haha, that is hilarious.
I wonder if Winston the pigeon is any relation to Winston the cat of YouTube fame??? (j/k)
Some call them “rats with wings” and I’ve heard “flying germ balls” but if you really take the time to look at them you will see some amazingly beautiful color variations. Everything from deep rust to mostly white with irridescent feathers mixed in. They really are a pretty bird. ….. and as just shown ….. faster than some internet providers. Talk about file transferring with style!!
Great story! As a devoted letter writer (I send about 30-40 pieces of personal mail a week) I am a fan of “old-fashion” communication. Maybe we can go back to pigeon delivery of regular mail 😉
I still use “snail mail” too. I don’t sent the email cards either. I like looking thru cards at a card shop. Long long time ago I had a cousin who raised racing pigeons. In fact he sold some to Terry Bradshaw. I remember going to his parents house when they were racing pigeons *& wait for them to come in so they could be clocked & how bad everyone felt when one wouldn’t make it home. Faith C.