Hello goTenna friends! I’m Nate, the new Customer Experience Manager at goTenna.
I’m here to answer any questions you have or anything you want to discuss once you have your goTenna Mesh devices in hand. For product support and any specific questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly at support@gotenna.com.
Welcome, Nate! 
Welcome, welcome, welcome!
Let’s star here. https://www.theoutdoorlife.us/gotenna-mesh/
Chris,
Thank you for the review on your website. A 9.1! I think we did well!
We appreciate the feedback and feature ideas. This information is always taken into account as we grow the product.
Thank you again for the review!
Nate #imeshyou
Welcome @Nate_Havens
@CSgaraglino That was a great review! I am copying my response here for wider audience.
Let’s star here. https://www.theoutdoorlife.us/gotenna-mesh/
This is a very good, well thought-out and critical review. I have several GTM devices myself and have come to understand some of the shortfalls that you have highlighted here. I do however really appreciate what the device CAN do at this point. This is only V 2.0 (1st gen was not Mesh, only device to device).
I am also really excited to see what comes down the pipeline. There have already been successful blockchain transactions using Samurai Wallet and TxTenna, which is amazing and super underrated right now.
This is a very new and small market and there are a handful of companies trying to do similar things. Unfortunately these mesh networks work best with more connected devices, so my worry is that in competition, we could end up with different devices using different protocols, etc when it would work best to combine resources and work on a standard. Would be cool to eventually add something like this natively to cell phone hardware.
OK How do I see connected devices. How do I know anther device is within range?
Hello!
There is not a way to view devices in range on a map or in the app itself as we are protecting the user’s privacy. You can use the shout function to deliver messages to nearby users.
You will see your connected goTenna on the main page in the app.
-Nate
To be clear, you can only see the locations of other devices who have shared that info with you. You cannot see those of users who have not opted-in to sharing that info with you given privacy/security concerns. 
Hey Everyone,
I hate to be impolite, and as a long term member of the mesh networking world, I find the lack of care for user experience and functionality of the hardware rather offensive. Not only offensive to me, but as a community as a whole. Not only was the on-boarding offensive, I managed to brick my device within 30 seconds. (Albeit, you have fixed the on-boarding to be less terrible last month by removing SMS requirement). To compound this I never heard back from support.
Enough of me ranting:
Backstory:
I recently purchased a gotenna mesh after building a few of my own solar powered mesh networks with ubiquiti gear, and trying the abysmal beartooth. I was passionate about gotenna, but have not had any luck getting my unit to work. I have proceeded to give up all of my possessions and become an 802.15.4 convert and stare into the sun.
A few weeks ago, I attempted to set up the device after unboxing, applied a software update, and managed to unpair the device while updating software. ( The fact that the hardware does not wait to build and apply the system image, until after it is downloaded to the device is utterly mind blowing. Loosing a BLE pair should revert to the old image in memory.) I wont even go into the security implications of this… Either way, no combination of button pressing or device setup will make it work:
Started in iPhone
managed to setup the device and apply software updates
was very slow so walked away from the device at my office
bricked. Re-tried process after unpairing BLE settings and following the forum posts on this.
tried on Google Pixel…
SMS verification doesn’t arrive… hooray Twilio!
Try again “sent successfully”
try new phone number
doesn’t work
After 10 mins the code arrives
Won’t pair,
tried rebooting, devices, on/off bluetooth
bricked
I begin to slowly chant Zigbee and pray to the gods of Helium
None of this works. My end thesis was that the consumer rev 1.0 2017 hardware is totally deprecated, and gotenna has pivoted to military hardware, which is not for sale to us mortal beings. cool.
I recently tried again, reinvigorated by the new software update to mobile which does not require an SMS for a device that is supposed to work without SMS. I have also referenced the latest 5.0 forum posts.
Asking for help, as the support does not seem to respond. I dropped out of school to work for a mesh company, and am building wireless networks today. These types of experiences not only make gotenna look really immature, but put a bad tarnish on the community as a whole. Imagine a child setting this up after a natural disaster… they would be utterly screwed.
I would love to help, and deploy a bunch of these across my city, and contribute to these forums! I really do. But until then I have a bricked device, and dreams of better multiplexing.
Regards and good luck.
Multihop
Garret,
Thanks for posting your feedback. I wouldn’t call it impolite as frustrations can mount.
If you have time this week, please PM me or send me an email at support@gotenna.com. I can get you squared away.
Looking forward to your response.
Respectfully,
Nate
Thanks Nate for sorting it out. I really appreciate everything.
I look forward to setting these up in fixed locations with mains power, to help expand your network.
All the best,
Multihop
Haven’t found an answer to this one; hope someone here can help:
A while back I switched from an LG G3 phone to a Samsung S8 Active, all Android.
My phone number was transferred from the LG to the Samsung, but I still have the LG, which seems to do everything except handle phone calls.
Going on a cruise to foreign countries soon, with 4 GTMs. My plan is to:
Will a GTM work if the device it’s paired-to doesn’t have a working phone number? (It seems like it should).
If it will, what info should be used in place of the phone number and what info/how do I enter it into my “Contacts”, as well as into the iPhone’s “Contacts”?
Yes, a non-active cellphone is what I use all the time. It pairs just fine.
When setting it up, you’ll want to choose the 14-digit random number instead of entering a phone number. For getting the code needed to activate the app, use the number of the working phone, receive the copde on it, then use the code on your non-cellphone where the app calls for it.
Your contact number will be the 14-digit random number that you used to set-up the app. It should come up under Settings. It is the number you share with others instead of your cell #.
THANKS so much. Very helpful info.
One last question, though: when you say “choose the 14-digit random number”, do you mean ANY 14-digit number (as long as I remember it)?
I know it generates a random14-digit number. Not sure if that can be edited, though.
Good morning Nate. Can you tell me what the bluetooth version is baked into the Mesh? I want to extend the range of BT…any suggestions?
Not Nate, but I’m pretty sure it’s Bluetooth LE that’s in the GTM. WE had a discussion about it some time back that migght be of interest:
https://community.gotennamesh.com/t/extend-bluetooth-le/1831