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VoIP Beats Conventional Phone Service In Iraq

Posted by timothy on from the you-would-think-so dept.

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)."

3 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. VoIP in Iraq rock out! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Good to know the 'Raqi's can still give long-distance shout-outz to all their dead civilian homiez who were shot by Bush for oil blood.

    Good morning to you, my niggggaaaa!

  2. But can they even afford it? by TrollBridge · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    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.

    --
    There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
  3. VoIP by Junis+Katz · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Since Jon and I got married, I have been having trouble communicating with him. I can now plug this new service into my C64, and my beloved and I can talk about iPods and Kabul's geek culture all day long! I asked Jon if we could move to Iraq so we could get this service on broadband, but he told me that an Afghani chicken hut would have to suffice for now.