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GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

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Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#61

Post by sitkack »

daniper wrote: post #40
tijs wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

from the fAQs i gather that it sends from one gotenna to one or more recipient gotennas only: "Your smartphone will send the message to your goTenna, which will then shoot it out, via long-range radio waves, to the intended goTenna(s). At the other end, the exact same thing happens, in reverse: the recipient goTenna sends your message over BTLE to the smartphone app its paired with." https://gotenna.myshopify.com/pag…

goTenna is an ad hoc reconfigurable network in that you can create your own network (1:1; groups, 1:all; all:1) but we can't currently mesh due to FCC regulations. So we went with long-range instead, since meshing is most useful in dense, short-range situations. We're on it though... ;)

This could be earth changingly huge if you open source your designs and make one with wifi/ethernet. Store and forward push to talk messages.

You could charge for access to internet side of the store and forward system. Maybe attach cryptocurrency to the messages to pay for routing across the POPs.

Are you using the TI chips?

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#63

Post by threeio »

thenipper wrote: post #46

This is pretty interesting. I work for an NGO and something like this looks really useful for people working in the field to allow some sort of simple communication/location when you don't have service, or it is super expensive.

If your looking for a wider scope project for your NGO, you might want to consider something more like the Mesh Potato

http://villagetelco.org/mesh-potato/

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#64

Post by maxsilver »

emilv wrote: post #24

No voice? That lost all of my interest. So now I need to tap out a message on my expensive, somewhat fragile smartphone with dirty fingers while losing all sight of the road for a minute. Instead of a sturdy walkie-talkie where I can hear the voices of my friends, talk efficiently in real sentences and I can look where I'm going all the time.

I think they are legally forbidden from doing voice by the FCC, on the ultra low band spectrum they're using. (see http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/multi-use-radio-service-murs... search for "you can not make telephone calls")

If you want walkie-talkies, there's another entire band dedicated to unlicensed voice calls - http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/family-radio-service-frs

You could ask them to make a dual mode device. MURS for text/sms (and greater distance), and FRS for voice and picture messages (with less distance).

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#65

Post by p0ckets »

daniper wrote: post #42
p4bl0 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The part I think is missing is a connection back to the cell network so that you can give people in more remote locations the ability to text the rest of the world using this as a link. While reading their FAQ I thought of that, and if the API is open sourced or reverse-engineered, it shouldn't be too difficult to write a smartphone application which would act as a relay between to goTenna and the phone network (fo…

Daniela, goTenna co-founder here -- back-haul is the 'easy part.' We just wanted to start with the hard part, i.e. a communication system that never requires central connectivity; a smart network with no actual central brain.

It sounds like you don't even need the hard part for a viable product: range extender for cell phones targeted at people engaged in outdoor activities but parked somewhere with cell phone reception.

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#66

Post by threeio »

daniper wrote: post #45
zizzer wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the few details [1] I've been able to find it seems like it's unusable in the UK anyway as it uses 151-154 MHz, which is a licensed band. If they moved it up into the 433ishMHz unlicensed band their range claims would all have to be revised. [1] http://gigaom.com/2014/07/17/no-signal-gotenna-has-a-messagi...

We'll expand internationally later!

To me it seemed like part of your sales pitch was infering that you could use it internationally where you don't have service or don't want to pay the high overages ;)

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#67

Post by decktech »

emilv wrote: post #24

No voice? That lost all of my interest. So now I need to tap out a message on my expensive, somewhat fragile smartphone with dirty fingers while losing all sight of the road for a minute. Instead of a sturdy walkie-talkie where I can hear the voices of my friends, talk efficiently in real sentences and I can look where I'm going all the time.

while losing all sight of the road for a minute.

You could stop for a second, I guess.

Instead of a sturdy walkie-talkie

Why don't you just buy a walkie-talkie? They're cheaper, they just don't interface with your phone. But it sounds like that's what you want.

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#68

Post by daniper »

sitkack wrote: post #61
daniper wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

goTenna is an ad hoc reconfigurable network in that you can create your own network (1:1; groups, 1:all; all:1) but we can't currently mesh due to FCC regulations. So we went with long-range instead, since meshing is most useful in dense, short-range situations. We're on it though... ;)

This could be earth changingly huge if you open source your designs and make one with wifi/ethernet. Store and forward push to talk messages. You could charge for access to internet side of the store and forward system. Maybe attach cryptocurrency to the messages to pay for routing across the POPs. Are you using the TI chips?

The platform possibilities are endless. Our dev kits will be ready soon: http://bit.ly/1oRwBkI

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#69

Post by drdaeman »

daniper wrote: post #60
lighthazard wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, if they're not encrypting the radio transmission, easily intercept-able.

All transmissions are end-to-end encrypted, unless you use the "shout" or "emergency" features which are, by definition, messages to everyone within range of you.

For those who care about security, is there an article to read for further details on that?
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