And to the discussion at hand, the range and performance of the old school, single antenna, poor people version, DJI Phantom 3 Standard WiFi connection uplift and downlink streaming performance. My only basis for comparison is my trusted Parrot Bebop 2 linked through the Skytroller 2 automated Wifi channel (2.4 Ghz up and 5.0 down link.).
So, I'm not in a city, pee se (technically a Census Defined Area, or CDA), but there are plenty of residential dwellings offering their own distinct WiFi signal interference bubble to get in my way. However, by biggest obstacle(s) is/are these dang wooden poles sticking out of the ground, like, everywhere, which the locals have designated 'trees'. Far too many to remove myself, so they are here to stay.
With my Parrot, at max FAA height, of 400' (±100 feet... Well +100 feet in reality), I can get just about ½ mile away before lost-link d RTH is initiated. That's in the direction of least trees.
Today, I tried a max range (within visual sight ± seeing it and not seeing it.... In reality not seeing it, but very safely) with the Phantom 3 Standard. It surprised me, because the down-link stream was far less tolerant of distance, even when maintaining a true, no tree blocking, line of sight. It seems that my P3S has a far more ridged slant range limitation, irrespective of other factors. This was because I ascended to the FAA max height of 400' (± 1,200'.... Actually + 1,200 feet, but very safely) and even inside a ½ mile X-axis distance, the down-link was very sketchy anywhere above 400' (± 200'... So 600', but done so very safely).
I'd even be so bold as to make the bat-poop crazy claim that my constantly under-rated Parrot Bebop 2 (despite having a stupid 4 year old given name) Skycontroller 2 data linkage performed better than the Phantom 3 Standard data linkage in all categories, but especially when the aircraft was located directly above the controller, at any height, FAA compliant, safely executed, or otherwise.
Which was the actual driver behind the USB Cable question. There must be something I'm missing or doing wrong which is inhibiting my Phantom from performing as next-level as I expected. At a minimum, it shouldn't be outperformed on any metric by the likes of a Parrot Bebop 2, or even Anafi (a better name, but at still some nonsense made up by one of the designer's 4 year old kids). Is my Bebop 2 actually better in these categories than the Phantom 3 Standard, which would be both a surprise and disappointment? Would the SkyLightning Bridge version (or whatever it's called) be the system I was expecting the Standard to be?
Discuss amongst yourselves....