Show HN: Nedagram – Transfer Text Over Sound, when internet isn't available

Show HN: Nedagram – Transfer Text Over Sound, when internet isn't available(nedagram.com)

6 points by shayanbahal 134 days ago | 4 comments

I’ve created Nedagram that I think it's ready but needs extensive testing before announcing it: https://nedagram.com

## Problem statement:

- during Iran internet shutdown, the government cut off phone lines and mobiles (no text or calls). Gradually they opened up landlines and then phones, but still texting/SMS was down with no real internet.

- There were still ways to connect through proxies, vpns, DNS tunnels, etc. However, people had no way to send each other VPN config files or proxy urls/passwords/etc (they needed to call and read them over the phone)

## Solution: - TLdr; A modem: a way to transfer text (e.g VPN config) over phone calls

Here's the github issue for community testings, Please try and let me know what you think: https://github.com/shayanb/Nedagram/issues/5

p.s. there is a CLI version too, would be cool to see what people would do with it: https://www.npmjs.com/package/nedagram

nunobrito 134 days ago |

Hello,

To send a simple text as "Hello" it takes 18 seconds which is excessively long.

There is a library called rattlegram which is well tested and would transmit the same data in less than half a second: https://github.com/aicodix/rattlegram

I'm developing with more people a platform called geogram, which basically looks into transmitting data with radios, bluetooth, wifi, USB-C cables or anything you have. We don't have modem over the phone yet. Maybe I can invite you to join so we can solve those obstacles together?

The website is https://geogram.radio

shayanbahal 134 days ago | |

This is so cool, thank you for sharing. I'm diving on the website and code and see what you got there. would be great to join and chat further about this.

RE Hello taking 18s, yes that is long, but one caveat is that with longer text it doesn't get longer linearly due to compression, the more repetition the better compression.

nunobrito 133 days ago | | |

Let's talk on https://p2p.radio/chat/#development

Doesn't require credentials to chat there and we can talk about next steps, really enjoyed that concept of using normal phone calls again as modems.

shayanbahal 134 days ago |

For those interested to know more and discuss the protocol, here's my attempt at documenting what worked at the end: https://github.com/shayanb/Nedagram/blob/main/docs/PROTOCOL....

I had to make sure the sound could be transferred on phone calls so it has lower baud rate than let's say dial up modems and many other methods (e.g. minimodem), I'd love to find a way to make it better.

Also got a suggestion to mix this with songs so it's less dodgy to play something like this on the phone. something that I want to look into as well.