One of our visitors recently asked us to explain this article they came across:
GlobalPost – South African Pigeon Beats Internet
Here’s our response:
Hi there!
Yes—believe it or not, we can explain that!
According to the article, a pigeon named Winston managed to carry a 4GB memory stick over a distance of 60 miles faster than South Africa’s leading internet provider could upload the same amount of data via ADSL.
The article states:
“Winston the pigeon, who last year famously proved that it was faster to send data by carrier pigeon than on an ADSL line operated by South Africa’s main web firm… Winston flew a 4GB memory stick 60 miles in the same time the Telkom line had sent only 4 percent of the data.”
To break it down:
- ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) offers much slower upload speeds compared to download speeds.
- Assuming the upload speed was 768 kbps, a 4GB file would take approximately 12 hours, 25 minutes, and 39 seconds to upload (based on this calculator: T1 Speed Calculator).
Now, let’s look at Winston’s performance:
- Pigeons can fly up to 60 mph, but average around 30 mph. At that pace, flying 60 miles would take about 2 hours.
- During those same 2 hours, Telkom’s network only managed to transmit 4% of the file—about 160MB.
- If we reverse-calculate the actual transfer rate, it was likely around 128 to 256 kbps, far slower than ideal.
So yeah… Winston the pigeon could’ve walked the 60 miles and still beaten the ADSL upload speed! 😄
How amazing (and a little embarrassing for the ISP) is that?
Bonus fun:
If you really want a geeky laugh, check out these actual joke proposals from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) about using carrier pigeons for networking:
Yes, they’re real. And yes, they’re hilarious.
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