From ARRL Bulletin - Blazing Internet Speed

[Mike Branda]

* Faster Than a Speeding Pigeon?: In South Africa, an information technology company proved that it was faster for them to transmit data with a carrier 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 due to a shortage of bandwidth and its high cost. Local news agency SAPA reported that on September 9, an 11 month old pigeon named Winston took 68 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 percent 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.