(Image from crunchgear.com)

“1…2…Go boys… go boys… yay…..!” (BBC)

Which can carry 4 gigabytes of information faster? A pigeon or the Internet? Staff from an IT firm in South Africa, frustrated at slow internet speeds, decides to put this to test. Media sources report on pigeons and the limits of technology. We take a look at perspectives from Sky News, Boing Boing, Zoo Too TV, Mashable and Al Jazeera.

Sky News says, “forget the Internet: pigeon is faster”.

“First step, downloading the material to a data card: 1 hour. Second step, sending a pigeon on a 50 mile-flight path: a total of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 57 seconds. By contrast, only 4 percent of the material had been sent by the web.”

Pigeons are also more reliable than the Internet, says a reporter on Zoo Too TV. He reports how Pigeon Express, a delivery service in Colorado, transports digital technology using an old world communication tool.

“Hey! Who needs the Internet to send photos? If the cable goes out, those birds can still fly.”

A writer from Boing Boing, an online directory, says both technology and pigeons have limits.

“I think that even the best commercial ISP in the world would be hard-pressed to deliver 736GB/h between two customer DSL end-points. Likewise, I think that even the greatest pigeon on the world would be hard-pressed to deliver even one bit of information from Cape Town to New York.”

A writer for Mashable, a social media guide, says it’s really about how the Internet is not keeping up with other forms of technology.

“The Internet lines may be getting faster, but the memory card capacity is getting bigger even faster. If you need your data to travel fast, use a carrier pigeon.”

But a reporter from Al Jazeera says South Africa is working on picking up Internet speed.

“Internet speed in South Africa could improve once a new 17 thousand kilometer under-water fiber optic cable is installed. Officials hope to have it up and running before South Africa hosts the football world cup next year.”

Given the threat posed by pigeons, the Internet’s limits are being exposed. We want to know what you think.