Something wrong here
Why is it that troops on the large (almost like US military bases) camps in Afghanistan, (Bagram and Camp Phoenix) can buy very slow dial up speed internet access for $35.00 a month, but to get decently quick speeds the costs can be up to $100 a month?
Now I know for some older vets, they may be saying “Hey we didn’t have internet back when I was at war” and I hear ya. When I was in Desert Storm there was no such thing as internet and I spent 9 months in the Deserts of Saudi Arabia and Iraq with only letters back and forth and I think like a total of 3 5-min. phone calls. So I have been there and done that. However that was then and this is now. Technology can pretty much reach every corner of this planet and seeing that the military has some fat bandwidth in country already and our government is just throwing money at banks, mortgage companies and many other failed companies why don’t they throw some of that money towards our troops and buy them some free internet so all can have it without having to pay out the wazoo for it.
Now if you go downrange from those big bases to a place like Gardez it gets worse. Down in Gardez which is considered “downrange” to places like Kabul, but is considered “up range” to places like Sharana or Bermel the soldiers there are having to pay extravagant amounts of money for internet access. In Gardez they don’t get the chance to pay a monthly fee. There is a company, which is based out of Las Vegas, NV called JPI Worldwide who is contracted to provide service members internet access. They charge by the minute. Yes, by the minute.
There are MWR computers on Gardez in a central building, but the time limit on those is 30 minutes and they are desktops that may or may not have the software that a person needs (chat, webcam, etc.) The price through JPI is around 2.5 cents a minute for internet access in Gardez and it is not even good internet access. It repeatedly drops, and the connect speed is rarely considered fast or even usable. I say the rate is around 2.5 cents a minute but can be as high as 3 cents a minute depending on what plan you pick (https://www.wifi-soft.net/portal/signuptemplate1.php?pid=8222349985). Depending on how much a soldier is online, the costs per month can easily be around $200 a month or higher.
These soldiers don’t have college courses, Karaoke, Green Bean coffee, etc. like the ones in Kabul and Bagram do, and are considered downrange. It is pretty sad that they have to pay so much for internet. Especially when back in 2006-2007 it was like $50 a month for internet access on Gardez (for those stationed there) and free in the MWR room and you could use your own laptop for soldiers there on a transient basis.
I thought things were supposed to get better as time went on, not worse.
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