SA pigeon outpaces broadband

Bird humiliates ISP in 4GB data transfer challenge

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 10th September 2009 11:33 GMT

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A South African IT outfit has shamed telecoms operator Telkom by sending 4GB of data 60 miles by pigeon in two hours - faster than it arrived by the ISP's broadband service.

According to the BBC, Unlimited IT dispatched 11-month-old Winston from its call centre in the town of Howick to its Durban office. The bird carried its data payload stored on a memory stick, and in fact made the trip in just one hour and eight minutes.

Another hour was needed to suck the 4GB off the stick, by which time just four per cent of the same data had arrived over the broadband connection.

Keen South Africans followed the humiliation on Facebook and Twitter and on Unlimited IT's dedicated Pigeon Race website. The company's Kevin Rolfe triumphed: "Winston is over the moon. He is happy to be back at the office and is now just chilling with his friends."

Telkom denied it was to blame for the evidently lamentable state of Unlimited's broadband connection. Spokesman Troy Hector insisted: "Several recommendations have, in the past, been made to the customer but none of these have, to date, been accepted." ®

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