Pigeons faster than broadband
by WIN Admin — published in Press Releases
Pigeons carrying a video film on a computer memory card took 75 minutes to fly 120 miles from a Yorkshire farm to Skegness, Lincolnshire.
A broadband download of the same film started at the moment of their release was only 24% complete when the birds arrived.
The stunt – organised by Tref Davies, co-founder of the internet service provider Timico – gained widespread media coverage.
“The farm we are using has a connection of around 100 to 200 Kbps,” Mr Davies told the BBC.
“The kids need to do school work and the farmer has to submit online forms but the connection is not fit for purpose.”
The stunt was also reported on numerous websites, including Telegraph.co.uk
Around one-third of homes cannot get decent broadband, claimed Mr Davies.
But telecom provider BT disputed his figures.
Some 99% of homes could now get broadband, said a spokesman.
This left an estimated 160,000 lines "where excessive line length means broadband won't work".
Rural areas continue to lag behind urban areas when it comes to broadband, according to the Commission for Rural Communities.
This is mainly due to the distance of households from their nearest telephone exchange, it confirmed.
Problems were specifically in relation to broadband over telephone lines, known as Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL).
About 30% of households in village, hamlet and isolated dwellings in sparsely populated areas have speeds slower than 1 Megabits per second (Mbps).
Some 80% have speeds less than 5Mbps, according to the commission's 2010 State of the Countryside report.
Urban areas are likely top have the fastest internet connections.
"This is due to the speed being mainly dependent on distance from telephone exchanges," says the report.
"These settlements are generally more compact and have their own exchanges so most households are close to an exchange."
Source http://bit.ly/9YtQVi