The pigeon versus broadband race last week generated a phenomenal level of interest. It must be said this is an illustration of the power of the BBC – although of course the fun nature of the event itself must have helped.

The race, which involved near constant media exposure throughout the day, was covered on BBC Radio 2,3,4,5, BBC1 News at 6.30 and 10pm, BBC Scotland, Humberside, World Service and Lincolnshire (they are the only ones I know of). The first radio interview was a 6.15 am and the last, Radio 5 Live, was at around 6.50pm

It was the 5th most popular item on the BBC website on Thursday – by 6.18pm it had had 92,357 story views, competing mainly with the Pope’s visit (one might say unfortunate timing).

The trailer I recorded for trefor.net (basically the BBC Lincolnshire interview from Monday night’s techie spot) has to date had 1,434 views on YouTube – certainly the best viewed trefor.net video to date.

The BBC footage was distributed globally. One our our engineers said a friend of his read it in a Spanish language newspaper in Lanzarote.

Finally comments re the stunt were made in a speech by Minister Ed Vaizey at Rory Stuart MP’s Rural Broadband Conference in Penrith where a model pigeon spent the day on the platform in front of the speakers.  BT issued a defensive response saying that 99% of UK households could get “broadband” connectivity. This of course was not me having a go at BT. I agree with them that here is no business case for them to invest in rural notspots.

The list below is of links covering the event – they are taken from the first 100 of 9,840 items found by Google.  Whilst I was somewhat taken aback with the response it is great that we have been able to draw attention to the issue in this way.

ispreview.co.uk/…/uk-business-isp-timico-challenges-pigeon-to-beat-rural-broadband.html
bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11325452
techwatch.co.uk/…/carrier-pigeons-faster-than-rural-broadband/ –
pcpro.co.uk/…/update-pigeon-beats-broadband-in-great-data-race –
broadbandchoice.co.uk/…/broadband-defeated-by-pigeon-in-file-transfer-race-800069751/ –
topnews.co.uk/people/tref-davies

distance-calculator.co.uk/usa-distance-pigeon_forge-to-kodak.htm
planet.uknot.org/
itproportal.com/portal/news/article/…/pigeon-race-broadband/
broadbandgenie.co.uk/…/20100916-carrier-pigeon-still-faster-than-broadband-some-parts-britain
londonwired.co.uk/search.php/tref+davies
ukwirednews.com/…/90718-Pigeon-races-broadband-in-Lincolnshire
digitalworldz.co.uk/244623-pigeon-flies-past-broadband.html –
trendsmap.com/topic/@tref –
thinkbroadband.com/…/4385-pigeon-faster-than-rural-uk-broadband.html –
arstechnica.com/…/carrier-pigeons-beat-rural-internet-upload-speeds.ars –
uswitch.com/…/pigeon-experiment-sheds-light-on-rural-broadband-speeds-800069369/
http://tinyurl.com/3356qxj …
ubervu.com/%23trefandrory/social-media/ –
tweetmeme.com/…/how-to-start-a-pigeon-v-broadband-race-trefornet
pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=3239965 –
broadband-expert.co.uk/blog/…news/pigeons…/779779
ispr.co.uk/ –
inquisitr.com/85089/carrier-pigeon-faster-than-the-internet/ –
lowestoftonline.com/community/index.php?topic=16175… –
broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/PageTextDetail.asp?TextID=933 –
telegraph.co.uk/…/Carrier-pigeons-are-faster-than-rural-broadband.html
topnews.co.uk/213139-pigeons-are-still-faster-broadband-some-parts-uk
paper.li/tag/trefandrory –
bbcfocusmagazine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t… –
broadbandsuppliers.co.uk/…/race-between-pigeon-and-broadband1557.html
broadbandproviders.co.uk/news/ –
interceder.net/list/pigeons –
voteupindia.com/tag/tref-davies/ –
simplifydigital.co.uk/…/pigeon-faster-than-rural-broadband.html
techspy.com/news/607336/whats-faster-than-rural…pigeons/com –
mobile-broadband.org.uk/…/uk-rural-broadband-beaten-in-race-by-carrier-pigeons/
tgdaily.com/…/51590-carrier-pigeons-beat-broadband-with-533kbps-data-rate –
bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/uk-england-lincolnshire-11325787 –
telecomramblings.com/2010/09/ah-those-victorious-pigeons/ –
newmediamonthly.co.uk/ – – Similar
broadband-finder.co.uk/…/pigeons-faster-than-rural-broadband_800069116.html
broadbandchoices.co.uk/carrier-pigeons-faster-than-rural-broadband-200910.html
upcoming.current.com/search?q=Carrier+pigeons+beat…with… –
digitaljournal.com/article/297641 –
forums.thinkbroadband.com/…/3902593-a-pigeon-is-faster-than-broadband.html
twitter.com/ispreview – – Similar
onenewspage.com/…/Pigeons-Beaten-UK-Rural-Broadband-In-Race.htm –
youtube.com/watch?v=44HF3HuCHKw&feature=related –
abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread611768/pg1 –
redorbit.com/news/…pigeons…/index.html – United States –
beamingnet.com/ –
business-news.thestreet.com/…/697218252-pigeon-wings-broadband-speed-test/ –
blogs.chesterchronicle.co.uk/and…/and-finally-its-official—pig.html –
simplifydigital.co.uk/news/pigeons-to-race-broadband.html –
en.wordpress.com/tag/tref-davies/
soifind.com/topic.aspx?q=Pigeons –
appscout.com/2010/09/carrier_pigeons_set_to_kick_br.php –
sciencenewsdaily.org/telecom-news/cluster63125270/ –
thenewsette.com/…/blogging-news-submit-your-articles-and-get-information-3/ –
dslprime.com/ – – Similar
heraultwhatson.info/ – – Similar
deccanherald.com/content/…/carrier-pigeons-faster-uks-rural.html –
http://bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11325452 …
mixx.com/stories/…/pigeon_to_take_on_broadband_in_race_bbc –
mcnelismedia.com/…/carrier-pigeons-are-faster-than-the-internet/ –
bbcfocusmagazine.com/…/pigeons-beat-broadband-in-some-rural-areas-t1153.html
archive.wn.com/2010/09/17/1400/broadbandwire/ –
rsnonline.org.uk/services/pigeons-faster-than-rural-broadband.html

Other pigeon v broadband race post here