Posted Sun 01 February 2009 06:10 PM
In my past 2 deployments I supplied MWR internet to over 300 soldiers in their rooms to stay connected with their loved ones. Using satellites for connection and it was not very reliable. In order to keep it cost effective for Soldiers I was forced to assign 60 users per satellite which is double of the maximum capacity. Soldiers were able to use instant messenger 100% of the time but very few times it was any good for them to do anything more ie use photobucket or any of the popular picture websites to share their experience with family and friends. I was also directly responsible for soldiers in my unit getting a cumulative total of over 5000 college credit hours and some even got their college degrees while using my systems. This time arround i would be more than pleased to keep all soldiers in my unit connected to their loved ones again but i am going to need some help with answers to my questions. The sattellite Idea just dont seem to be good enough in my eyes because i know that GSM technology and 3G speeds for wireless data is available worldwide.


I will be deploying to Tikrit soon and i was wondering if anyone can tell me if the use of wireless broadband is any popular over there. In my last deployment i knew some soldiers that were using the local cellphone companny through the locals that worked at the flea market(Bazaar)to get unlimited text with their spouses back home. If the american quad band phones worked with their sim cards i dont see why wouldnt we be able to get a local data plan using a cell or a aircard to get wireless broadband. Can anyone please tell me if my idea is going to work while i am there?

Although I applaud your morale and educational efforts and accomplishments, I cringe at the security problems that can arise from these networks..

+1 to what IT_Gamer posted. You don't have to look far; remember why flash drive use indefinitely suspended?

When I was in Iraq in 2004-2005 KBR had set up MWR centers that had computers in them and were on a separate network from any official network.

I was at Anaconda but knew folks in Tikrit that used them.