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:
Do SMS network relay messages go out to 6 hops looking for a users with a cellular signal?
Will SMS network relay messages route through users that have a WiFi signal but not cellular?
I never understood the SMS function? I mean if their SMS system works won’t you just be able to use your normal cell/ message service?
Yeah, it makes perfect sense to use goTenna’s servers (or contracted service) to do the SMS. That’s how other systems send SMS. This also allows bulk rate deals on the per-message cost. What wasn’t clear to me is whether the app wanted to see a cell connection or would use any internet connection available.
This is good news since it is possible to use an older phone without a SIM card as the wifi relay.
hi,
I’ve finally played with SMS relay; just to summarize, it works as follows:
delivery is first attempted via Gotenna network
if destination is unavailable App offers delivery via SMS relay
app contacts Gotenna servers; they relay SMS via Twilio SMS gateway(s) (local number for me)
coordinates are relayed as plain text GPS, see example below
responses via SMS relay are not supported yet
senders may be using phone# or GID; recipient obviously must use number
Example of message via SMS relay…