U.S. Soldiers In Iraq Get Wi-Fi Largest base now unwired with mesh network Information Week notes that Aruba Networks has installed a new Wi-Fi network serving 20,000 soldiers at Joint Base Balad, the largest U.S. military base in the region. The new "self-healing" mesh network is comprised of ruggedized access points, and is supposedly a significant step up, given the article says soldiers previously had to rely on "hard-wired solutions in Internet cafes" to access their e-mail. "With both the embedded user-based firewall and WIDS [wireless intrusion detection system] in the Aruba architecture, the network is logically protected from both inside and outside attacks and rogue devices," assures an Aruba rep.
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 openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
kudos:2 | Networks Already Existed There are several "hobby-shop" WISPs in Iraq. Granted, this may be the most formalized wireless deployment (it's contracted by AAFES), but it most certainly isn't the first. | |
| | | No QoS whatsoever These networks that they're deploying and the ones that have already been there for a while have no QoS whatsoever. They are not only in Balad, but also in pretty much every "densely" populated base in the zone.
The bad part about this is that AAFEES/MCCS (the guys that contract the private services for the military members) sign contracts without requiring any kind of quality of service whatsoever, so soldiers/sailors/marines/airmen end up paying upwards of $80 a month for something that's about as fast as dial up and as reliable as a satellite phone inside of a tunnel. Worst part? These contracts are made for about a 10-year period, so our service members are stuck with a crappy provider that isn't really required to provide the service.
Let's not forget that most deployments out there right now are very short, and the provider's contract is very long, and there's really no way of telling the new guys that the service sucks (not that it matters, they'll get it anyway, cause there's nothing better out there). So these companies just see our military men and women as huge cash cows that will just keep dispensing money on demand since they have nothing else out there. | |
| | | Ha! they be uploading shizzle and stuff on utube and watchin some of that porn.
/ebonics. | |
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MadtownPremium
join:2008-04-26
Madera, CA | Bring them home Instead of providing Wi-Fi why don't they just bring them home, no need for them to be in Iraq. I bet this is going to cost us (USA) more money, when we're spending way too much as it is. | |
| MrHappy316Wish I had my tankPremium
join:2003-01-02
Summerville, SC Reviews:
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| What a Crock We had Wired internet in my Camp in Afghanistan and they were getting ready to do wireless. We got around the whole 100m issue with repeating routers but when your internet was only limited to 128k max if you paid out the money then everything is good. Most folks kept to the 64k plan but both met our internet needs while we were there. It was actually faster than the internet provided by the governement at our workstations. | |
| | | Already Here Arkel has had it in Fallujah for over a year. now. Its not new and all that say it rips you off at 75 a month doesn't' know how much it cost to have a 7mbps x 1.5mbps satellite feed and the bandwidth that over 5000 people use a month. But I will say working on contracts for it its over 15,000 a month. I get an average of 256K and that is better then places in the US that still has only dial up. And these contractors do not get anything from the Govt. Actually AAFES/MCX gets a percentage of there sales. So that is to the person that thinks its costing them money. Lets get facts stright and leave personal feelings out of it. | |
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