South African company furious
A South African information technology outfit has proved
it was faster for them to transmit data with a carrier pigeon than to send it
using the country's leading ISP. Internet speed and connectivity in Africa's largest
economy are pants because of a bandwidth shortage. You also pay a lot for very
bad connections. (Sounds a lot like Bosnia, but in Bosnia we've still got institutionalized apartheid. sub.ed.)
A technology company called Unlimited IT was so
frustrated with the speed of its email that it hired an 11-month-old pigeon,
Winston, to carry data 80 km from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg
to the coastal city of Durban. As Winston flapped off the company sent the data
down a Telkom line. Two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds later Winston had
arrived and was being rewarded with his favourite biscuits but only four per
cent of the four per cent of the data had been transferred.
Unlimited IT performed the stunt after becoming
frustrated with slow internet transmission times. The company has 11 call-centres 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 17,000km underwater
fibre-optic cable linking southern and East Africa to other networks becomes
operational before South Africa hosts the soccer World Cup next year.