If you’re living in rural England, forget broadband because according to a recent experiment, a pigeon is faster! The speed of broadband in rural areas of England was bested by couriers of the feathered variety in a stunt used to illuminate the lack of true broadband in some parts of the country. At a Yorkshire farm, ten carrier pigeons holding USB keys were released to fly to their destination of Skegness – over 120 miles away. At the same time a 300mb file (around half a film) was downloaded at the farm.
Within an hour and a quarter the pigeon post has already arrived whilst the stuttering download was only at 24%. Tref Davies, the stunt’s organiser, co-founder of business ISP Timico and ISPA board member (Internet Service Providers’ Association), said: “This is the UK. It should be well-connected but around a third of homes still can’t get broadband.”
The government has reportedly committed to a minimum speed of 2Mbps to every UK household. Shiply was actually growing fond of the idea of pigeon carriers!