14 DAY TRIAL // goTenna sounds like the perfect device for the outdoorsy kind. If you are in an area where there is no cell phone coverage, you can still communicate with your friends even if there are no cell towers, no WiFi and no satellites.
Imagine that the power goes down in your neighborhood or you are somewhere hiking and there's no cell coverage? How can you tell your friends where you are and send text messages? goTenna enables that wirelessly, via Bluetooth-LE. This small toothbrush-sized device needs to be within 20 feet (six meters) of your phone. After you pair it, as long as your friends have one of these, you can talk to them if they are 50.5 miles (81 kilometers) away.
The developers of the device explain that the goTenna works via long-range radio waves (151-154 MHZ). Basically, the phone sends the message to "the toothbrush," and goTenna sends it to a similar device. Your friends iPhone will receive the message on a specially developed iOS app.
With goTenna, you can send and receive free text messages, share locations on a detailed offline map, get instantaneous transmission, automatic message retry and delivery confirmation, individual and group messaging and end-to-end encryption.
The device has a rechargeable battery, flash memory good for thousands of messages and is dust and water resistant. You can strap it to your backpack or hide it in your purse, and get on your way.
GoTenna was built by a brother and sister. Back in 2012, Jorge Perdomo, who goes to a lot of music festivals, got separated from his friends. When there are too many people in one place, the cell reception goes down, so there's no way to send or receive text messages. Big cell phone companies have the so-called Cell on Wheels for emergency situations, but they cannot be carried by regular users.
When Hurricane Sandy hit New York and there was a city-wide blackout, all the cell towers lost power within hours. Jorge and his sister, Daniela, found a solution for that.
goTenna has not been released yet, but you can preorder it on the developers website. GoTenna can be yours for $149.99 per pair, and it will go up to $299.99 after it comes out. The device is expected to be released this fall.