Author Says 2009 Pigeon Beat ISP by 25 Times as Viral Apps Miscast Bird Mail

1 articles · Updated · Gizmodo · Aug 22

A critique of viral apps Carrier Pidge and Roost argues they romanticize “worse” messaging even though real homing pigeons could outperform modern networks in some cases.
In a 2009 South Africa test, a pigeon named Winston carried a memory card 50 miles while a local ISP transferred only 4% as much data in the same time.
The piece says the apps also get pigeon mechanics wrong: homing pigeons travel only back to their home loft, so users could not simply send one to anyone.
A more faithful version, it argues, would make users raise pigeons, physically hand them off, and host others’ birds to enable replies.
Homing pigeons have been used since at least Roman times, the author notes, framing bird mail as durable technology rather than a mere nostalgia gimmick.