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

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

by shayanbahal·Feb 18, 2026·6 points·4 comments
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AI Analysis

●●●BangerZero to OneSolve My ProblemBold Bet

Audio-based text modem solves Iran shutdown use case; genuinely novel constraint.

Strengths
  • •Solves a real, high-stakes problem with no existing tool: text transmission over analog phone lines during internet/SMS blackouts
  • •Novel encoding approach: modulates text into sound that travels through phone audio, recovers on other end
  • •Supports encryption, file upload, and both web and CLI interfaces—complete feature set for the constraint
Weaknesses
  • •Reliability and robustness unclear: success depends on audio quality, phone line fidelity, background noise; no published test results or error rates
  • •Early-stage: seeks community testing; unclear if practical range and success rate justify adoption over workarounds (voice + pen/paper)
Target Audience

Activists, researchers, users in internet shutdowns, offline communication use cases

Post Description

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

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