[LINK] Australian internet fails pigeon test

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

Australian internet fails pigeon test
By Ben Grubb
Oct 29, 2009 2:57 AM
itNews
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/159232,australian-internet-fails-pigeon-test.aspx

A pigeon has transferred 700MB at a faster rate than Telstra ADSL.

A pigeon has transferred a 700 megabyte file faster than a car or a 
Telstra ADSL internet connection in rural Australia.

The bizarre experiment, conducted in rural New South Wales, was prompted 
by a comment by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Parliament last week whilst 
attacking the Liberal Party for its opposition to the bill that proposed 
to split Telstra.

"If the Liberals had their way Australians would be left using carrier 
pidgeons for the future rather than accessing an internationally 
competitive broadband network," Rudd said.

ABC television's Hungry Beast program thought they'd take Rudd up on his 
challenge.

The hosts noted a similar test that had been done in South Africa where 
an IT company tested their own internet speeds by replacing it with a 
carrier pigeon. The pigeon won.

"Surely our internet speeds are faster than a pigeon," asked co-host Dan 
Ilic.

The race started in Tarana New South Wales and finished 132 kilometres 
away in Prospect.

The pigeon arrived first clocking in at one hour and five minutes, the 
car two hours and ten minutes and the internet dropped out twice and 
didn't even make it at all. When the upload began on the internet 
connection the estimated time of upload was between four and nine hours.

"So Prime Minister, maybe you should think twice before dissing carrier 
pigeons," Ilic said.

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Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
brd at iimetro.com.au