*REF: https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/aujogu/1tb_microsd_cards_are_now_a_thing/eh8y2ii/*

There's a standard called [IPoAC (IP over Avian Carriers)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers) which essentially describes how to transmit packets via a homing pigeon network.

It's a joke, but let's have a look how a bulk transfer in IPoAC compares to a real connection.

IPoAC has very high latency and higher than usual packet loss* but you can compensate by sending multiple terabytes per packet and identical packets in parallel.

*) The 55% percent packet loss observed were operator error and not actual packets being lost.

# Limitations and assumptions

- Ignoring the time it takes to write/read SD cards
- Instantaneous pigeon swap
- Each pigeon operates at peak performance from start to end
- No packet drop (actually literally in this case)
- The 1GBit/s connection we compare this against is perfect (no delay, no packet drop, full speed)

# Stats

## Micro SD Card

- Biggest Micro SD Card: 1 TiB [*[link](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190225005195/en/Western-Digital-Unveils-World%E2%80%99s-Fastest-1TB-UHS-I)*]
- Micro SD Card Weight: 0.5 gram [*[link](https://www.wired.com/2010/03/32gb-microsd-card/)*]

Note: The weight is from a 32 GiB card. I doubt they've gotten heavier.

##Pigeon

- Homing Pigeon Average Speed: 96 km/h*
- Homing Pigeon Carry Weight: up to 75 grams

[*[link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homing_pigeon)*]

*) The article lists competitive racing bird speed at 160 Km/h. If that's true, you would get almost double the distance.

# Calculations

We use SI units with factors of 1000 for bandwidth and binary units with factor 1024 for the micro SD card size because it's common.

- A pigeon can carry `75/0.5=150` Micro SD cards
- 150 Micro SD Cards contain 150 TiB storage space
- `150 TiB = 1'099'511'627'776 bytes`
- Sending 150 TiB over a 1 gbit/s connection takes 15 days 6 hours 30 minutes 14 seconds.
- (Theoretical) Pigeon travel distance in 15.5 days is 35550 kilometers.

Calculations assume that there is no delay when packet TTL expires and it needs to be put onto a new packet (pigeon swap).

For perspective the circumference of Earth at the equator is around 40'075 km

# Result

Because the distance is more than half of Earths circumference,
sending 150 TB of bulk data between any two points is now faster than a gigabit connection.

If you use the competitive 160 Km/h speed, you can go around the globe once before the gigabit completes.

# Consideration

[We now have 10 GBits/s connections available for end users](https://i.imgur.com/kOFXP54.png),
considering this connection, you still have a 3500 km radius where a homing pigeon network is faster.

# Conclusion

Miniaturization is faster than home user internet speed increases.

1TB SD Cards weren't announced too long ago and yielded around 6500 km [(width of Africa)](https://i.imgur.com/BGwLxEq.png).
The MicroSD card weight gave use a huge increment.

I've got way too much time and not enough pigeons.