There are situations when the goTenna app decides to change the regulatory region of the device and gets it wrong, causing a potential infringement.
For these situations, and general transparency, it would be helpful if the app could pop-up a confirmation dialog indicating:
the currently configured region,
the currently detected region
and a prompt for the user to confirm the change.
Example:
Alice is in Germany, GPS synced and goTenna tuned to EU region (low power, 869 band). She drives into an underground carpark with no GPS coverage, opens the goTenna app, she is now tuned to the default US region, blasting at full power in the prohibited 900 band. Currently the app offers no option to block or revert this erroneous change.
We work around this currently by requiring Alice to install a fakeGPS and proactively load it with a European point to trick the goTenna app back in tune when needed. Alice complains that too many moving parts.
Never yet had the pleasure of traveling internationally with the GTM, so I have a couple of questions about the scenario.
When Alice drives into the garage, is the app open on her cellphone? I know that the GTM reverts to the North American bandplan when it can’t figure out where it is. I can’t recall if the check is done only on boot-up or continuously during use. It would seem that just on initial boot-up would suffice, which would also keep it from reverting when going underground briefly.
Since it sounds like Alice is aware of the problem, why doesn’t she simply leave the garage before sending in order to give the app a chance to refresh with accurate location data?
It should be noted that the current ITU region the GTM is set to is shown in Settings>Support>About>Device Information.
Say Alice is stuck underground calling for help without cell signal. We should maybe try to ensure we are operating on the right frequencies without making her go back outside. Armin makes a great point.
Certainly, eventually it would be good that this problem adjusts itself automatically. The rest of things do this well, so it creates the impression all will be accomplished and remain that way. But in certain scenarios it can be an irritation. Thing is, one solution may be easier to implement than the other. And if there’s an easy workaround, it’s important to know how that can help, as that’s the most likely short-term solution.