In many cases, internet connections are slow due to very specific technical issues, but that slowness can become chronic depending on the region and available infrastructure. German photographer Klaus-Peter Kappest experiences these problems firsthand: he needs to transfer large amounts of data, and due to bureaucratic reasons, all he has at his disposal is a weak copper connection. What did he do? He created an experiment in which his connection competes against a horse courier, carrying a DVD 10 kilometers away. German internet versus horse... who wins?
RFC 1149, also called "IP over Avian Carriers", began as a joke for April Fools' Day 1990, but somehow it became etched into our minds. In fact, some experiments used trained pigeons to 'transfer' information on USB drives... but today we come across a more down-to-earth solution: A horse messenger.
German internet versus horse: who wins?
Klaus-Peter Kappest is a photographer who lives in the town of Oberkirchen. Judging by his online photos, it's a beautiful place with 788 inhabitants, but Klaus-Peter has a problem that repeats in many other regions of German territory, and why not, worldwide: His internet is horrible.
His internet speed is so frustrating that he carried out a simple experiment: with the help of two young messengers on horseback, he sent a DVD loaded with 4.5 GB of data ten kilometers away, and at the same time started transferring that data on his computer. What happened? The horses took an hour to cover those ten kilometers, but in that same interval, the connection had barely loaded 61 percent of the data.
Obviously, the internet connection will be victorious if we modify the conditions of the experiment and increase the distance... but the same applies to the horses if we (for example) load a bag with 100 one-terabyte SD cards. The experiment took place in December 2020, and the photographer explains that he already has a fiber optic installation in his basement, but only a Deutsche Telekom technician can make the connection... and he never received the visit. The company said that the photographer could activate his link in January 2021. I hope it was fulfilled.
Source: Hackaday
