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Race Pits Pigeons Against Poor UK Rural Broadband

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the heard-this-before dept.

Mark.JUK writes "Rural internet access in the United Kingdom, like many other countries around the world, is slow. So slow in fact that Trefor Davies, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at business ISP Timico, has decided to pit a typical rural broadband connection against homing pigeons (with attached memory cards) to see which can get 200MB of HD video data across an 84 mile trip the fastest. Meanwhile a farmer will attempt to upload the same video file to YouTube before the pigeons can complete their journey. The comical stunt is designed to raise awareness of the often woeful broadband speed experienced by many people who live in remote and rural parts of their country. However Davies does admit that 'there isn't a benchmark for pigeon data speeds,' yet."

12 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. African or European? by paintballer1087 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are these African or European pigeons?

    1. Re:African or European? by SMoynihan · · Score: 5, Informative

      European. The African pigeon beat broadband last year. Early pigeon protocol (PP) trials were also spearheaded in the States last year.

    2. Re:African or European? by DrgnDancer · · Score: 4, Funny

      To be fair, Pigeon Protocol may be high bandwidth, but the latency is terrible. And Gods forbid you miss a packet.

      --
      I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
    3. Re:African or European? by Molochi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Is there conversion rate from pigeon to station wagon?

      --
      "The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
  2. What is your name? What is your quest? by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 4, Funny

    What is the bandwidth capacity of an unladen swallow?

    1. Re:What is your name? What is your quest? by hedwards · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm guessing zero.

  3. Obligatory IP Over Avian Carriers RFC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1149.txt

    1. Re:Obligatory IP Over Avian Carriers RFC by hesiod · · Score: 4, Informative

      I Went looking for that, and found this instead.

      "Bandwidth achieved by the pigeons was 2.27 Mbps."

  4. No standard for pigeon data speeds? by jez9999 · · Score: 4, Funny

    There's an RFC for it!

    --
    == Jez ==
    Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
  5. This has already happened... by Ecuador · · Score: 4, Informative

    The farmer was at 24% upload after 54mins when the first pigeon landed...
    Now we can get back to our Monty Python / african swallow posts...

    --
    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
  6. Dependent on the conditions of the race by Sonny+Yatsen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you change the conditions of the race, you can just as well make it say just about anything.

    If you give the pigeon a 512 KB message, and an identical 512 KB message to be sent via a rural broadband connection, then the rural broadband connection will win.
    If you give the pigeon a 64 GB memory card, then you could say that the pigeon has a transfer speed equivalent to 104 mbps, which'll mean it's faster than most broad connections, rural or not. (Assuming an average speed of 60 miles per hour for the bird.)

    --
    My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.
  7. They don't even mention the biggest advantage by antifoidulus · · Score: 5, Funny

    With the internet you just get a movie, but with the pigeon you get both a movie AND dinner delivered to your door. Talk about convenience.

    --
    Monstar L