RFC 1149 put into practice

Thu Sep 10 01:52:49 UTC 2009

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090909/od_nm/us_safrica_pigeon_2

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A South African information technology company 
on Wednesday proved 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 
because of a bandwidth shortage. It is also expensive.

Local news agency SAPA reported the 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, took 
one hour and eight minutes to fly the 80 km (50 miles) from Unlimited 
IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a 
data card was 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.

The company has 11 call-centers around the country and regularly sends 
data to its other branches.

Telkom could not immediately be reached for comment.

Internet speed is expected to improve once a new 17,000 km underwater 
fiber optic cable linking southern and East Africa to other networks 
becomes operational before South Africa hosts the soccer World Cup next 
year.

Local service providers are currently negotiating deals for more bandwidth.