SA pigeon 'faster than broadband'

[Maes]

I cen believe that.

An extreme example of high bandwidth, high latency communications. After all, carrier pigeons were already proven to be TCP/IP compliant.

[Super Jamie]

I call porkies on this one.

Yes, it's quicker to transfer 4Gb physically across town (2.5 hours) than over 384k ADSL (~25 hours) because your company is too stingy to pay your provider for a faster pipe and/or to pay the bill because Telkom have such a monopoly that they actually charge for every byte you put over the link in addition to your monthly fee.

I have a router in RSA on Telkom right now. It's slow compared to what us lucky people in developed Western countries are used to, but it's consistent and definitely not the worst I've experienced. Thailand for instance has terrible internet, the entire country only has 62Gbps international bandwidth. South Africa currently has about double that.

The biggest problem with DSL services in RSA is keeping the damn copper. It's worth so much to sell to scrap metal vendors people literally steal the phonelines right out of the ground.

[TheDarkArchon]

OK, who else read SA as "Something Awful" rather than "South Africa". I can't be the only one.

[Belial]

You aren't.

[The Ultimate DooMer]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneakernet

[Doom_Dude]

TheDarkArchon said:

OK, who else read SA as "Something Awful" rather than "South Africa". I can't be the only one.

Haha, that's what I thought as well.

[SyntherAugustus]

TheDarkArchon said:

OK, who else read SA as "Something Awful" rather than "South Africa". I can't be the only one.

Me and my housemate just did.

[Technician]

It's not conclusive sine they shot this bird out of a circus canon.

[AndrewB]

TheDarkArchon said:

OK, who else read SA as "Something Awful" rather than "South Africa". I can't be the only one.

I don't think I've visited that site in three years. Otherwise I probably would have read it that way.

[Siggi]

This article is amusing, but the bigger problem is the cost and the limitations on bandwidth usage.

Your average home DSL user is limited to between 1 and 3 gigs a month (up and down).

What we learn from this is that the internet in SA has a very long way to go before it can compare with the rest of the world.

[Blargharghargh]

Y'know, I really like this article, it makes me want to get a bunch of hippies and start taping DVDs to their frisbees...

[myk]

One could also load 4 million GB into a backpack and walk with it somewhere, faster than over broadband :p

TheDarkArchon said:
OK, who else read SA as "Something Awful" rather than "South Africa". I can't be the only one.

I was guessing between "Something Awful" and "South American".

[arrrgh]

myk said:

One could also load 4 million GB into a backpack and walk with it somewhere, faster than over broadband :p

Sneakernets

[Torn]

TheDarkArchon said:

OK, who else read SA as "Something Awful" rather than "South Africa". I can't be the only one.

Ditto