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Ask HN: Iran's 120h internet shutdown, phones back. How to stay resilient?

116 points by us321 ↗ HN
It has been 120 hours (5 days) since the internet shutdown in Iran began. While international phone calls have started working again, data remains blocked.

I am looking for technical solutions to establish resilient, long-term communication channels that can bypass such shutdowns. What are the most viable options for peer-to-peer messaging, mesh networks, or satellite-based solutions that don't rely on local ISP infrastructure?

39 comments

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Nextgrid
Starlink and/or BGAN/satellite phones.
AnimalMuppet
If the phones are working, 56k modem.
segmondy
without searching the internet. imagine you have no internet. do you have any computer with a modem? do you know anyone that does? can you get access to one? do you have dialup software? do you have a dial up international internet provider? can you find one? remember you need to do all of this without the internet. can you sign up for one? would they allow you to pay for it from Iran? the best time to get ready is before SHTF
tekla
HAM radio is your best option.
sliken
Sure, if you are smart enough. Maybe mount a small transmitter on a tree then use a directional antenna at a very low power and use the tree as a repeater.

Or use NVIS, which at least makes triangulation harder.

notslow
WiFi Halow is a longer range protocol (still probably not long enough). But something like this can get people connected: https://openmanet.net
firefax
Old fashioned phone trees can be really useful IMHO OP. We used them when I worked in a school. If there was winter weather, you'd call say, everyone with a last name from A to G in the staff directory, someone else calls G to K, and so on and so forth.

You can combine the phone tree with literal runners -- so basically, someone takes their burner and calls suburbs A,B,C and D and then the runners go out and pass the word about the protest or action.

literallywho
> You can combine the phone tree with literal runners

And I thought Mirror’s Edge world was too far fetched back in 2008. But, apparently, it’s the reality now or where things are headed after all.

pjc50
Presumably the phones are tapped?

People have been claiming for years that US phone calls are subject to routine computer analysis (Echelon); these days that's a relatively cheap thing to do with LLMs.

I suspect the literal runners solution is what's happening, although that's also very dangerous when the police control the streets.

And don't forget the whatsapp group chat classic: secure communications where at least one person in the group is leaking them.

firefax
>Presumably the phones are tapped?

If you simply list a location and time, it's hard to suss out whether it's a coffee or a protest. And there's a limit on how many people can be surveilled in real time, with the focus probably being on organizers not attendees. You're correct it's a possibility, but as a practical matter they can't listen to everyone, all the time -- but the key is to organize some "event" that overwhelms the regime, or days or weeks later they will possibly get around to your intercept and give you grief, yes.

But if the internet has been cut off and the bodies are piling up, sometimes you might choose to take a calculated risk.

ronsor
V.92 dial-up. Slow and expensive, but it's Internet access.
Cordiali
I vaguely remember something like that happened during the Egyptian revolution/Tahrir Square protests.
bossyTeacher
Problem is that most methods involve making your location known openly. The Dark Forest book of the Remembrance of the Earth Past explains why it is not a good idea to do so in the current circumstances
dreadsword
For dense areas, mesh applications like BitChat (Jack Dorsey) could bypass the need for a network with p2p bluetooth mesh networks. And works with existing devices, vs something like meshtastic which needs an installed base (afaik).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitchat

mosajjal
some DNS tunneling solutions work (dnstt for example). Also, many people have smuggled Starlink are are providing proxies inside Iran.

Ideally cjdns or similar can be used inside the country to create an alternative encrypted mesh network inside the borders, with some "exit nodes" out.

_moof
HF radio. Highly depdendent on space weather, but generally I can communicate around the world with only 100 watts and a long wire.

Be aware though that transmitting on any radio is like turning on a giant, extremely bright light bulb directly above your antenna. Anyone with basic radio know-how will be able to hear you and locate you.

giantrobot
Couriers and USB flash drives can be pretty effective. They're high latency but can be very high bandwidth. Look at the El Paquete network in Cuba[0] as inspiration. Self-contained HTML/JavaScript SPAs can provide navigation and the likes of TiddlyWiki[1] can allow for collaboration. A network of couriers can move as fast as road traffic and distribute stuff pretty widely.

Contents can be re-shared locally over ad-hoc or mesh WiFi networks even without Internet access.

Encryption and steganography can obscure the contents of drives from casual inspection. You can stuff a lot of extraneous data in Office XML documents that are just zip files and look innocuous when opened.

1. For current events content add descriptions, locations, and timestamps to everything. The recipients need that context.

2. Even unencrypted files can be verified with cryptographic signatures. These can be distributed on separate channels including Bluetooth file transfers.

3. Include offline installers for browsers like Dillo or Firefox. Favor plain text formats where possible. FAT32 has the broadest support in terms of file system for the flash drives. Batch, PowerShell, and bash scripts can also be effective in doing more complex things while not needing local installation or invasive installations on people's computers.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Paquete_Semanal

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TiddlyWiki

bb88
States like Iran have signal catchers, where they can get a rough idea where a signal is coming from through triangulation. The US military has had this for over 20 years now. Often these coordinates are fed in as targets into weapons systems.

If you're going the radio route these come to mind:

Meshtastic: 1W, one band, local. Useful if Iran doesn't know about it. But easy to jam and probably triangulate.

Wifi Halow: 1W, can possibly hop between bands, but probably also really easy to jam and triangulate.

WSPR: Possibly good, transmitters can hide in the noise floor, and can go long distances with 100mW of power, but slow. Probably triangulable, very easy to jam once located in the spectrum. Data can be transmitted and received with off the shelf components.

Military Radios: Very good. Transmitters can frequency hop, making triangulation and jamming difficult. Also encryption. You can easily transmit in the same frequency space that Iran would be using to avoid jamming. But also, mostly unobtanium. I have heard stories about US military radios showing up at Ham Fests.

SOLAR_FIELDS
Not knowing much about radio hardware your post made me wonder why we don’t see too many options for radios that can do this outside the military. Is it because there’s rarely a practical use case outside of avoiding jamming? Or is the hardware to do so prohibitively expensive?
wolvoleo
WSPR carries almost no payload data and by default it literally broadcasts your location. You could modify it but it will still take ages to send a short sentence which is probably the last thing you want when you want to avoid getting caught.

Short bursty spread spectrum hopping seems to be more what the military do and they also care deeply about triangulation.

bb88
My point is that if you can't do spread spectrum, you've got to think about creative ways to get messages out. Something in the noise floor looks promising even if it's not fast. Further I've seen designs for WSPR that allow the radio to be something like a TTL buffer chip.

If you "announce" yourself you become a target for the signal intelligence folks. Sat phones became a liability in the 2nd gulf war, as they lit up like a beacon saying: "Bomb goes here!".

themafia
An important factor to consider when answering this question, is that the average monthly wage in Iran is only $200 to $500 USD/month.
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
LarsDu88
Is it possible to setup LoRA mesh networks in Iran? LoRA chips should be on the order of <$5 bulk shippable from China

You'd have to have a huge network spanning the entire country to get a message out however

jiveturkey
I was going to suggest LoRA.

But a country-sized network with the purpose of evading a blackout would likely have to be full mesh. A network organized into a hierarchy (aggregated routing tables) requires some coordination that could quickly be identified and squashed.

The size of such a mesh is limited by scaling factors, so this couldn't span a nation. Let's say you could do that though. The network would be completely choked up with traffic to the point of unusability.

I think starlink, satphone, maybe packet radio on small scale are the most realistic options.

uyzstvqs
Yggdrasil (mesh network) would be the longer-term solution. It is fast, resilient, and pure IPv6. But you'll have to establish IP links between interested parties to peer over. Eventually some will be able to peer over the internet, and connect everyone else to the rest of the world.
orbital-decay
Yggdrasil was never designed to be censorship-resistant and can be blocked with trivial DPI.
SilentM68
Doubt that one solution alone will be enough to counter info blackout in any country. You need a combination of old and new strategies.

Starlink (satellite, bypasses local infrastructure; currently jammed but partially works in some areas, free access offered): Obtain smuggled terminal (dish + router). Place with clear sky view. Power on. Download Starlink app (iOS/Android) or use web interface. Connect phone/PC to Starlink Wi-Fi. Follow app prompts to activate (no subscription needed in Iran now).

Meshtastic (LoRa mesh, long-range offline text): Buy compatible device (e.g., Heltec/RAK ESP32 LoRa board). Flash latest firmware via web flasher (meshtastic.org). Install Meshtastic app (Android/iOS). Connect via Bluetooth. Set region (e.g., EU433/US915 based on hardware). Create/join channel with shared key. Messages hop device-to-device.

Noghteha (Bluetooth mesh, Iran-specific, offline): Download Noghteha APK (Google Play or sideloading). Install on Android. Open app—no account needed. Enable Bluetooth. Messages auto-hop via nearby phones in mesh.

Briar (Bluetooth/Wi-Fi P2P, offline secure messaging): Download Briar APK (briarproject.org or F-Droid). Install on Android. Create account (nickname + password). Add contacts: meet in person and scan QR, or share link via other channel. Enable Bluetooth/Wi-Fi for sync when in range. Messages store & forward when devices meet.

Delta Chat (email-based, works if any outbound email possible): Download Delta Chat app (delta.chat). Use chatmail server for auto-account (no personal email needed). Or add existing email. Add contacts via QR/link. Send messages (E2EE). Relies on email transit; resilient to blocks if email partially works.

Carrier pigeons: (communications w/ nearby states).

Code Talkers: Use minority Iranian languages (e.g., Kurdish, Balochi, Azerbaijani) as codes for voice/radio comms, training speakers to encode military/civil strategies, similar to WWII code talkers—resilient if monitors lack fluency.

Sci-fi alien languages (e.g., Klingon, Na'vi) could work if users learn them for encrypted messaging apps or calls, but impractical due to learning curve and detection risks in which case create your own code talker language with an AI.

e.g., StratCode System Alphabet: Use 10 simple symbols for phonetics (easy to draw/speak):

⊙ (oh) - Open circle for vowels like O/A. | (ih) - Line for I/E. △ (ah) - Triangle for A/U. × (kh) - X for hard consonants K/G. ~ (sh) - Wave for S/Sh. □ (th) - Square for T/D. ○ (eh) - Empty circle for E. / (fh) - Slash for F/V. \ (rh) - Backslash for R/L.

(mh) - Plus for M/N/H.

Combine for words (e.g., ⊙| = "oi" sound).

Vocabulary for Strategies (map to animals/plants for disguise; speak/draw symbols):

Attack/Advance: Eagle (△×~) - △ for sky, × for strike, ~ for swift. Defend/Hold: Turtle (□\⊙) - □ for shell, \ for slow, ⊙ for safe. Retreat/Evacuate: Rabbit (/~) - / for jump, \ for run, ~ for quick. Scout/Observe: Owl (⊙○+) - ⊙ for eyes, ○ for night, + for wise. Supply/Logistics: Bee (~\□) - ~ for buzz/work, \ for hive, □ for store. Communicate/Signal: Wolf (×/+ ) - × for howl, / for pack, + for alert. Protest/Rally (civil): Flower (△⊙|) - △ for grow, ⊙ for bloom, | for unite. Hide/Conceal: Fox (~/) - ~ for sly, / for trick, \ for burrow. Alliance/Join: Tree (|+) - | for trunk, \ for roots, + for branches. Disrupt/Block: Storm (×~○) - × for thunder, ~ for wind, ○ for rain.

Encoding Example: "Attack then defend" = "Eagle Turtle" (△×~ □\⊙). Learn by associating symbols to sounds/objects; practice short phrases.

mhitza
Briar is an option in such cases but its not realtime. Mote of an email/newsletter app that hops delivery across Bluetooth/ WiFi.

https://briarproject.org/

dyauspitr
Say I wanted to send out one important 1 min long video and I only have access to long distance calling and a PC at home. How could I send that file over? Would that just be dialup and if so why can’t that be used in this situation?