Keeping in Contact With Family, From Afghanistan?

LiNKz writes "Within a short while I will be heading to Afghanistan and in the interest of keeping in communication with my wife and family I've been looking at different means of it, from VoIP to cellular services. I'm not sure how well connected or how stable of a connection the base I'm deploying to has, which means VoIP might simply not be an option. I have, however, noticed in my searches that Afghanistan has recently boomed with cellular coverage though that too seems to be difficult to ascertain. I'm curious if the Slashdot community has any information or experience regarding international cellular services offered in this country and the means of obtaining it."

Comments

Try something new: "voicebeep"

[nitroamos]

It's a cross between instant messaging and asynchronous voip.

http://voicebeep.com/sayit

MWR provided internet and Voip

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm currently deployed in Afghanistan at FOB Blessing and the broadband phones and internet that the MWR give us for free is actually really quite good considering where we're at. It's free and works perfectly, the only problem is the small amount of computers (8) and phones (3) available for this base with our numbers. Most of the other outposts have a MWR room with similar things in them, maybe less or more comps or phones..

Not many people use the afghani cell phones or their blackberrys (apparently depending on the plan they work here albeit very expensive).

hope this helps or reassures you!

Re:MWR provided internet and Voip

[shiftless]

Yo dude, hello from Camp Phoenix, Kabul! Never been to Blessing, but I've heard of it. IIRC, you fuckers are always getting lit up, or at least you used to when I went through the area a couple years back.

To the OP, most larger bases have a SPAWAR system. That's a very good satellite system with a bunch of phones and computers available. You purchase minutes off the SPAWAR web site and make calls back to the states for $.04/min. You can also use Skype, as VOIP bandwidth is guaranteed. Laptops are generally not allowed on the system, but the network actually has very few (if any) restrictions. I download torrents all the time, for example, by running uTorrent off a thumb drive. The system is really slow during peak hours but in the middle of the night you can get some fantastic download speeds. I've hit 400k+ a sec before on torrents.

Smaller bases (small FOBs) may only have DSN phone access. In that case, you just call back to a base in the states, have them transfer you to an outside line, and use your calling card to complete the call. Just as cheap as SPAWAR, though more hassle.

At any rate, what it comes down to is, you will have no problems keeping in touch with family, even if you are stationed on the smallest, shittiest FOB in Afghanistan. So don't worry about it!

P.S. be sure to bring a big external drive. You'll need it to hold the thousands of movies people will let you copy off their drives.

There's an RFC for this

[digitalhermit]

RFC1149 is the obvious approach one would take. Though there is some packet loss, the packets can be sufficiently large to transmit entire messages without fragmentation.

Regulations

[breakzoidbeg]

Communication Through un-official means may get you into some trouble, so be discrete no matter what option you choose so be careful. When the prime minister of Canada visited our base in kandahar they blacked out official communications and were really on top of unauthorized communications (no e-mail even). Keep your head down mate!

Hey, it's you!

[binarylarry]

Osama, is that you?

Re:Ham radio

[LVSlushdat]

I worked at a MARS (Military Affiliate Radio Station) station in Vietnam back in the 70s, and have been a ham since then, and I can tell you you're gonna have major difficulty doing any kind of HF phone patches from that part of the world.. HF propagation from there to the US is pretty spotty at the best of times. I've lost contact with the MARS program, and would guess that with all the better communications options today for deployed military morale traffic, that old-style HF phone patches have gone the way of the dodo bird...

Video Skype

[flyingfsck]

Video Skype on a Linux Netbook is the easiest way to do it.

A Little Info

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm currently in Afghanistan as well.

SPAWAR provided phones at the MWR are cheap. Take a look at the link: http://oif.spawareurope.net/

Also, Bently-Walker provides good satellite Internet out here. That's what I'm using right now.

Iridium

[The Dancing Panda]

Is price an object?

If not, you can buy an iridium phone for around $1400. Plans are around $30/mo, and $1.45 a minute, Or you can do prepaid. They work everywhere, and are pretty portable. You can call the phone from the US for regular long distance charges using a pass-through number.

Re:Ham radio

[rohan972]

I forgot those dessert dwelling peasants attacked our freedom right? Give me a break.

Yeah, what could they possibly do. It's not like they could fly planes into buildings packed with people or anything.

Re:Not an issue anymore

[Crewdawg]

I would disagree slightly here. I am an IT Manager that has a dozen or so remote sites in Afghanistan and Iraq. I would not consider the internet and call centers plentiful. We are often forced to use VSAT to get any connection at all. When there is a military provided connection it is usually a SIPRNET or NIPRnet. Use of VoIP and personal communications on these networks is usually prohibited. We do have good luck with Skype and even Vonage when there is an internet connection, though it is often heavily delayed (think 800 - 1200ms delays).

Re:Ham radio

[kgamiel]

I recently acquired my (now deceased) grandparents home. He was a WWII veteran, radio man, who taught at the Coast Guard Academy and served in the Navy in communications. Until he died when I was 17, he had a 100' tower in his yard (many kid accidents caused by guy wires) and was a dedicated HAM, he hosted the repeater for the region. Among the many dusty certs on the wall of his small shop/office is a MARS cert. What a fantastic program and comradery. From what I can tell, that and like-minded groups of guys would hear the poster's question and move hell or high water to make it happen, that was their cause. Do we have such geeks today? I suspect we do and if so, we need to celebrate them with crusty-edged paper that bears their name and shows up on Slashdot decades later. If not....