If there’s one thing that can cause frustration in this connected world of ours, it’s a poor quality data connection. For the travelling photographer who is active across online photo sharing and social platforms, mobile data is important.
We’ve tested our data transfer speed and signal strength at various locations around our hot air ballooning sites, and whilst some locations may experience poor signal whilst on the ground due to terrain, trees, or distance from the nearest mobile phone tower, once up in the air, it’s a different story.
There are many factors that influence the connection between your phone and the cellular network, so it would be misleading to suggest that it is all down to line of sight. However, this is one variable that is definitely eliminated once you’ve taken off and are floating peacefully above the patchwork landscape below.
On 14 November, 2012, Hot Air Balloon Cairns live streamed a total solar eclipse whilst their fleet of 7 hot air balloons were flying. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for both Eclipse chasers and hot air balloon enthusiasts alike, the live stream feed relied entirely on mobile data.
At the time, our tests showed that from a hot air balloon over the Atherton Tablelands we could expect to maintain a connection for the entire flight. The speed of data transfer however, varied. Here’s a test result from one of our hot air balloons over Mareeba from 2012.
In 2017 the network is even better. A recent speedtest undertaken at 4000ft ASL (above sea level), recorded a very healthy 76mb/s download speed!
Even more important for keen photo enthusiasts, is the upload speed at a very respectable 35Mb/s. Here’s the screenshot of the actual test:
During our live in-flight test, and using this strong data connection, we gave a shout out to the Speedtest Team at Ookla from the balloon on Twitter – check out the hilarious exchange that followed! Passengers and pilot were all having a great chuckle as the conversation progressed.
Check out my @Speedtest at 4000ft asl from @hotaircairns#hotairballooncairns! https://t.co/JUksgfVkOv
— Alex Monckton (@alexmonckton) May 16, 2017
@alexmonckton @hotaircairns Wow! That’s impressive! pic.twitter.com/tYm3vxoulH
— Speedtest by Ookla (@Speedtest) May 16, 2017
@Speedtest @hotaircairns Ha ha nice one guys. Here’s pilot Frank loving it too! pic.twitter.com/PlagUJPwX6
— Alex Monckton (@alexmonckton) May 16, 2017
@alexmonckton @hotaircairns Hi, pilot Frank! pic.twitter.com/KQZuESucNo
— Speedtest by Ookla (@Speedtest) May 16, 2017
@Speedtest @hotaircairns No words needed… pic.twitter.com/7ck9nAjsHh
— Alex Monckton (@alexmonckton) May 16, 2017
@alexmonckton @hotaircairns Legit lol-ing over here…
— Speedtest by Ookla (@Speedtest) May 16, 2017
Laughter aside, the underlying point is that without this healthy, fast data connection, we wouldn’t have been able to share our experience in real time.
From a keen-photographer’s point of view, there’s no waiting to find an internet connection to share your fantastic experience through photos and video – you can post live from your hot air balloon ride!
Here’s a selection of great photos taken by our passengers, many of whom have made use of the strong data connection from their Hot Air flight:
