Exciting times here at goTenna HQ. I’m Danielle and I manage the RISE:NYC grant we have with the New York City Economic Development Corporation that helps Sandy-impacted small businesses become more resilient for future natural disasters.
During phase 1, we will be distributing 4,000 devices to over 150 small businesses…for free! This means that 150+ businesses will not only be joining the greater NYC Mesh Network, but also making their own local neighborhood Mesh Networks.
We started distribution with a tech session in Coney Island which was heavily hit by Sandy. Business owners reminisced on how difficult it was to communicate to family, friends, and colleagues via their cell phones. During the tech session, we taught people how goTenna Mesh works, the many uses it has outside of just emergencies, and the different features the goTenna app has to offer.
If you or anyone you know might like to participate in the RISE:NYC program, please contact me at naven@gotenna.com or sign up directly here. After all, Phase 2 is just around the corner in which we will be distributing 16,000 more devices.
If they could mount one on their business rooftops, that would help greatly as those units would mostly be “in the clear” to bounce signals along. Another thing is to not forget to update the firmware on the actual goTennas, especially when the hop count increases! That sounds like a nice idea, and the more people that can be kept off of the cellular networks for basic stuff (checking on family, friends, etc), the less congested the local towers will be for emergency calls!
You are on the same wavelength as us! Out of the 150+ businesses signed up, we identified over half of them have access to their rooftop in which we will be installing 2 rooftop stationary nodes to help hop messages. And as part of their onboarding process, they not only learn how to use the app, but also how to check for and install firmware updates.
I wonder if there would be a way for goTenna to look into building phones with a “goTenna mini” in it, particularly for city use? Get up with Apple, Samsung, etc and design a mini goTenna directly into the phones, themselves? Even if people don’t realize it is in the phone (or use it), it would still mesh and pass along messages…while doing such would likely limit the range, in a city environment where tens of thousands of people purchase a new phone anytime there is a new model released, you could literally drastically increase the mesh network capabilities overnight.
Then, goTenna could still sell the full sized antennas for those in rural areas, businesses/people that want to put up dedicated repeaters, etc…this project would greatly benefit from both.
Hello all! Writing this from snowy Brooklyn. I wanted to give you an update on our distribution efforts for Phase 1 of the RISE:NYC program.
We were lucky to partner with the Alliance for Downtown New York to host our second tech session in which we had businesses from the food & beverage, service, and healthcare industries join us. We enjoy doing these tech sessions as they are interactive and bring people from the community together.
To date, we have almost 1,000 of the 4,000 devices (from Phase 1 of the program — 16,000 in Phase 2!) distributed further strengthening the local NYC mesh network!
The first batch of devices have been distributed for the RISE:NYC grant! Please welcome below a few of our RISE:NYC participants that are now a part of the goTenna Mesh network:
Hey Guys I have a questions about the Imeshyou network maps. I realize that you have to place a Node on a location on the map and then it stays there, but how do you actually verify that someone hasn’t turned it off and actually in fact there. It seems anyone could place the icon Node on anywhere on the map but you don’t actually know if its on or off or if its actually even there or am I wrong about that. I placed a Node drop pin but technically it could be off and then the map information wouldn’t be accurate. What about the blue drop pins are those live does that actually mean its on? Please advise . Thanks !
As mentioned elsewhere on Mesh Community, the map is currently non-dynamic. Later this year we hope to change that but for now it is just an approximation!
I have this other issue now. I have a Note 8 with Oreo and the Mesh units keeps disconnecting when I put the phone down for 5 mins. The Mesh unit starts blinking with the white light until I unlock my phone and open up the app again then it reconnects. How do I resolve this?
This is happens with the Android OS, it’s not a goTenna specific issue. The Android OS kills apps that have been running in the background. If you turn off battery optimization for the goTenna App, you can mitigate this issue.
That sounds like a nice idea, and the more people that can be kept off of the cellular networks for basic stuff (checking on family, friends, etc), the less congested the local towers will be for emergency calls!
Pics will definitely be posted!
