UPDATE: Pigeon beats broadband in great data race

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 16 Sep 2010 at 13:39

UPDATE at 16:40: Is your broadband faster than a pigeon? That was the question being posed by business broadband ISP, Timico, in a race between arcane communications and the UK's data network.

In an event that was part publicity stunt, part campaign for rural broadband, the race organisers planned to see which method could transfer a 200MB video file more quickly - a pigeon flying about 70 miles from Beverley to Skegness or the supposed broadband connection of a friendly Beverley farmer uploading the file to YouTube.

The result? A little bird tells us the pigeon triumphed, completing the journey in an hour and 15 minutes.

The upload, which had to be restarted once after it hung, was 24% complete when the pigeon arrived in his loft.

The pigeon carried the data on an SD card, and was always expected to win the contest. Timico admitted the race was not a true scientific experiment, as the length of the transfer, file size and choice of internet access point had all been hand-picked.

“There isn't a really a benchmark for pigeon data speeds,” Tref Davies, chief technology officer at Timico, told BBC Radio.

It's not the first time such a race has been staged, with Winston the pigeon beating the digital networks of Durban, South Africa, last year.

Highlights and analysis will be airing on the trefor.net website, once race organisers have unstuck the SD card from the pigeon's leg.