How to upgrade firmware and what is the advantage and sending txt

First I want to ask if I should upgrade the firmware in the 4 units I own.
Next question and maybe there is a way to do it now. I would love a way to use these to be able to send a txt to someone that is within range of cell service and have that txt sent by cell service to a person outside of the area I am located in by using some kind of app maybe.

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If you pay for the subscription you will get this capability as one of the extra features.

I do pay for the subscription. But it looks like someone has to be at the cell phone that receives the GoTenna Mesh message and then know to forward it to the person you want it to go to that is using cell service.

Yes, someone with cell/internet service has to be somewhere in your local mesh net for text forwarding to happen.

IIRC, once it’s set-up the text forwarding is automatic, no need for human intervention.

As for upgrading the firmware, there are a number of improvements and bug fixes that make it desirable. Without it, your units will still work, but not as well as they might be able to. The most important new feature with last year’s firmware upgrade was adding to the original capability for 3 hops for a total of 6 hops (or 5 relays.)

The upgrade usually works the first time, but some units may need special treatment. Do not put this off until the last minute before using the GTMs. Do it far enough in advance that you can contact Customer Service for assistance if you run into issues.

The person with cell coverage does not need to manually forward your message. It is done automatically. They only need to have their cellphone and gotenna mesh both turned on and paired via Bluetooth. The gotenna app also needs to be running in the foreground or background. Nothing else is required of the intermediary user.

These following posts should help you better understand the system:

I need an example, lets say I am out in the mountains and want to get a message out to say someone in ks. So lets say I am in the mountains, the parking lot has min cell service and I have 0 cell service on the hike. I have a goTenna with my phone and there is a phone in the car with a gotenna and active cell connection. Does there need to be someone in the car to forward the message over to cell service to the person back in Ks? I only use my GoTenna a few times a year during a week. Then back in the box till next year.

In the link posted by ShootAnyAngle seamed to say you have to have someone at the rely phone.

No person is required. Just the cellphone Bluetooth paired to the gotenna and the gotenna app running.

Thanks for the update, will have to give this a try for sure.

Well what do I do now? I have 2 of my GoTenna’s done, started on the 3rd and during the process the blue one lost connection with the phone and it did not finish the firmware process. Got a message on the phone saying it did not finish. Tried again and now I can not pair the blue one with the phone. All it does is the white LEDs blink fast. How do I fix this.

Try the recommendations in this thread:
https://community.gotennamesh.com/t/not-able-to-pair-after-a-firmware-update-read-this/5095

If that doesn’t work, then drop a note to support@gotenna.com

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I figured it out. What I did was after trying to pair the one I was trying to update multi times I decided to pair a working one, then unpair it. Then pair the one that failed its update. It paired right up and finished the install. So all is good now. One left to do.

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