VoIP Beats Conventional Phone Service In Iraq

andyring writes "According to this article at Wired, without reliable long distance or particularly international telephone service in Iraq, citizens in Baghdad and elsewhere turn to voice chat over programs such as Yahoo Voice Chat or other similar programs. Broadband at Internet cafes in Baghdad runs about $1/hr, whereas an international phone call (if you can even get a connection) is about $1/minute. The service is so popular, it sucks up almost all the available bandwidth from the government-run ISP, State Company for Internet Services (site is Arabic)."

Comments

But can they even afford it?

[TrollBridge]

OK, fair enough, they're willing to embrace this technology. That's a good first step.

So when will they be able to afford this technology? How many Iraqi citizens even have computers? I know I'm coming from a position of ignorance, but it seems to me that the Iraqi people have bigger problems at the moment than lacking a quality communications infrastructure.