A carrier pigeon in South Africa has proved faster in delivering data than broadband internet. Published: 7:00AM BST 11 Sep 2009
A South African information technology company on Wednesday claimed it was quicker for them to transmit data with the pigeon than to send it using Telkom, the country's leading internet service provider.
Internet speed and connectivity in Africa's largest economy are poor because of a bandwidth shortage. It is also expensive.
The 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, took one hour and eight minutes to fly the 50 miles from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a data card strapped to his leg.
Including downloading, the transfer took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds – the time it took for only four per cent of the data to be transferred using a Telkom line.
SAPA said Unlimited IT performed the stunt after becoming frustrated with slow internet transmission times.
The company has 11 call-centres around the country and regularly sends data to its other branches.
Internet speed is expected to improve once a new 17,000km underwater fibre optic cable linking southern and East Africa to other networks becomes operational before South Africa hosts the World Cup next year.
Local service providers are currently negotiating deals for more bandwidth.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6168401/Carrier-pigeon-faster-than-internet-broadband.html
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