I requested a kit 
I did reach out to ublox and created a support ticket.. they said it was an arduino issue :-?( .. goes back and forth.
The board has a mini USB.. what is the difference that requires soldering a normal USB? I have not soldered things that small since i was in the Army 30 years ago.. man.
I can run the pass thru fine.. and the AT commands fine.. not sure what you mean try my sketch with passthru.. you mean try to take apart the NB lib and send the SMS via raw AT Commands?. I would be ok with that if I knew what they were. I am just afraid the issue is somehting deeper and will still have the same issue.
31 steps to update firmware.. man.. hack city..