How To Improve Troop Morale Overseas

VOIP Technology And Troop Morale
-- Strategy Page (H/T Instapundit)

September 27, 2008: The U.S. of phone cards (to pay for telephone calls home) in Iraq has fallen from 12 million minutes (at about 20 cents a minute) a month last Fall, to about half that now. The main reason for this has been the introduction of high-speed internet at military bases. This was made possible by the construction of high speed internet links into Iraq, where the there was very little access until Saddam was overthrown in 2003. With high speed connections, troops can make voice, or even video, calls to back home, at no (or very little, like a penny or two a minute) additional cost. This has proved to be a big boost to morale.

In 2004, AT&T was asked to set up pay phones throughout American bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. AT&T set up 64 calling centers, with nearly 2,000 pay phones. The phones were connected, via a satellite link, to AT&T's international fiber optic network. The fiber optic part of the system is cheap to operate, costing a penny or two per minute for phone calls. The satellite part is more expensive, as was the cost of building the call centers and installing the phones. To cover the costs, AT&T was given an exclusive deal. You could only use AT&T calling cards on the AT&T phones. It cost about 21 cents a minute to call someone back in the United States on this system. When first installed, this was a good deal, because the phone systems in Iraq and Afghanistan were still in a shambles, with many people using satellite phones (which cost 50 cents to a dollar a minute.)

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My Comment: I use IChat when I talk with my nieces in California, and Skype when I talk with my cousins in Russia. It is incredible technology to be able to see your love ones live. For my mother .... this is better than fresh apple pie.