Internet in Iraq
By whcobb
SniperHill Internet
SniperHill Internet Iraq
Hello all.
This will be my second hub and in this hub, I am going to rant about our internet services here in Iraq. I am currently at Forward Operation Base (FOB) Sykes near Mosul in Iraq. This FOB is built around a fairly large airfield and is fairly large itself. This place has been here since 2004 if I am not mistaken and has wonderful ammenities and Morale, Welfare, & Recreation (MWR) facilities for the soldiers. We have a huge Multi-Use Facility that compensates about any desire you have for entertainment such as a full sized basketball gymnasium, a ton of TVs and gaming systems that include Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and Sony Playstation 3. There is a full sized movie theater that will probably seat about 200-300 folks. The place has a small library, conference room, a huge, well maintained gym with lots of variety in weight machines and free weights. There are pool tables, ping pong tables, small concert stage, darts, poker tables and a 42in. Samsung LCD Television for us to watch sports and other things on which I thoroughly enjoy being able to watch my beloved South Carolina Gamecocks play. Outside, there is a football field that doubles as a soccer field and a baseball/softball field. There are also phones and internet; internet that is almost as fast as some cable internet back in America.
We live in small, two-man, Containerized Housing Units (CHUs). In these CHUs, you have power, a bed, and wall lockers to place your personal items in. Some people, like myself and my roommate have added a refrigerator and 21 in. television that we purchased for $100 combined. My roommate had his wife send his Xbox 360 over, so we have the entertainment covered. We both brought computers so we have yet another form of entertainment. With us having our computers, we also have the option of purchasing internet services from SniperHill Internet which seems to be a great idea. Think about it... You have internet so all you have to do is download and install Skype or something of that nature and you can do video chat and telephone calls... Amazing.... Or so I thought.
Up until about 3 days ago, the internet was working fine and I had no issues. Then, on Monday (It's Wednesday here), the internet went down at 10pm, pretty much on the dot and stayed down until about 9am the next morning. Then, Tuesday night, the same thing. Now, here it is Wednesday night and what happens at 10pm??? The internet goes down. I was angry as hell because that's around the time that I usually call home via Skype Video chat to talk to my daughter, who is 2 years old and is always asking, "Is Daddy calling today, Mama?" It's really heartbreaking hearing about that and not being able to talk to her... She's a little cutie and very precious to me, just like her mother. Anyway... I had made up my mind and I still may, go over there and yell at these idiots tomorrow... The only thing that may be stopping me now is the fact that the internet is up now and I am able to send this hub out. Still, I may go give them a piece of my mind... I have it planned out... I go in there and say, "I pay $70 a month for this internet and it only works a fraction of the time... It automatically goes out every night at 10... the time I call home, which by the way, is the only reason I bought the internet. Do you know how hard it is for me to continue my efforts to raise money for my church and charity if I cannot update my website and blogs every day? This is ridiculous... You'd better fix it, or I will have to get my money back... One way... Or another; Remember, I have a gun with ammo and I know how to use it.
Anyway, I just wanted to rant because it is very upsetting to me. Google Adsense says it will pay me to advertise for them but I can't if the internet isn't cooperating. Infolinks says it will pay me if I advertise for them but I can't because of the internet. Kontera says it will pay me if I advertise for them too, but I can't because of the internet. Remember... I want to help my church out and the Salvation Army, especially at this time of the year, as much as I can, but I can't if I don't have the internet... SniperHill... Fix this.... Please, I beg you!
Comments
Nope... Still doing the same thing every day. You cannot get a subscription that runs and allows you to use the same username and password; you have to renew every month. It is actually ridiculous. I guess I shouldn't complain too much though because when I was in Afghanistan in 2003, I had to walk about a mile to the internet and you only got 20 minutes. Then, Iraq in 2004, I had to walk about a quarter of a mile and only got 30 minutes. Now, I don't have to walk anywhere, I pay $85 (The most expensive) for the top end internet and I am on an unlimited amount of time.
Wow, I hope other people read this, there are a lot of people I meet that act very self-entitled to every damn thing, every convienience is supposed to be handed to them.
Take care bud.
Hope they"ve fixed it by now! Look after yourself.
Same issue, same rant (FOB Sykes, PAD 3). The internet is so unreliable, I would say its down 30% of the time if not more. Half the time the internet is up, it is too slow to skype. Sniperhill allows us a max bandwidth of 15kbs (expert package $85 per month), and to use skype effectively requires about 10-13kbs, at night we would be lucky to see 9kbs. I am so frustrated with sniperhill, and feel like they are taking advantage of our situation. We as Soldiers tend to brush it off because we think of having internet in our CHU's as a luxury, and would pay any amount to communicate with our families. They know this, and use it to their advantage.
It would be nice it there were some competition here so we could tell Sniperhill to "shove it". Bottom line is connectivity issues need to be fixed!
written 10 Feb 2010
RANT! RANT! RANT!
PAD 3, eh? Pad 1 here... We have the oldest CHUs on the FOB and they are horrible too. I'm really getting angry at the sign up process that Sniperhill does too. I am supposed to be heading out of Sykes for some combined checkpoint crap in the next week or so, so I have been buying the week's worth of internet for the past 2 weeks. I believe that Sniperhill has been cutting my internet short by at least a day. This time, I documented the date and time that my net was approved. I swear, that if these idiots do not carry it out for one week exactly to the hour, I am going to send a very nasty email to them about it. Then, if there is no resolution, I go face to face... Then, it may ultimately lead to court action as I have a lawyer who is already willing to take the case.
These guys are preying on our situation. They know that they are about all we have to use here and they swindle every little bit they can out of us. I am really sick of how the net just stops working at various hours and does not work for hours on end when it does stop working... All last week, the net would go down at around 1600 (4pm Iraq) and stay down at least until midnight... It was really, really ridiculous.
Sniperhill is GARBAGE!
This is an important issue and I'm glad you brought it up,..It really does need to be addressed. That contact via skype / IM-ing means the world to us family members, just as it means so much to the one serving as well. Truth of the matter is, war is war and we all want to just say and hear those words, I love you's, while we still have them, thats what we live for. It's Horriable, one that a Service member has to even flip the bill for having internet services, but to have crapy service on top of that, potentially taking away the chance for loved ones to talk,..just so very wrong !!!! There is organizations and projects people can donate to, to provide better service, and free service to someone serving, however donations run low, due to lack of awareness.
Keep on hubbing,..Keep on giving the Shout- Outs !!!
HOOAH !!!
Dude, the reason why the net went down is because of the comm blackout we had due to a military death. Once immediate family has been notified, then the net will come back up- which usually takes 24-48 hours. So, keep that in mind next time the net is down for an extended period- it's because one of our comrades likely died.
Well... This hub was written several months ago... Yes, I know about the commo blackouts but I asked about some of the extended blackouts and yes, 3 were from deaths but there were a couple that were just Sniperhill was just being Sniperhill... Recently, the net has been horrible and often times, the main router in my pad goes down around midnight and stays down until they finally come out around 10 the next morning... They need to fix the issues and stop charging so much for their horrible service.
sniper hill....KICK THEM OUT OF THE FOB/COB AND BRING IN SOMETHING BETTER...SNIPERHELL SUCKS PERIOD!!, SLOW AND UNRELIABLE AND WORST EXPENSIVE....
iraq has no main internet infrastruction. Before you go bashing on companies research "sniping sniperhill." The internet is pulled in from Turkey as one main line. So imagine the traffic flow from all over Iraq. If you have an issue email them, call, or stop by their office. They respond quickly and even will come to your CHU even if you haven't filled out any paperwork. As for XboX live to keep this in a thread, ask them.
We here at Cob Adder have had similar issues. The internet goes down almost daily. for hours on end. Now they have been telling us that it will be upgraded to a "Fiber" network. Right- they have been saying that since I got here in June. Now I went up there a few days ago because their homepage says that "Fiber" is now available. They told me that they do have "Fiber" but they can't "turn it on" until they obtain the bandwidth; which will be at least another month.
I also use the internet to keep in touch with my loved ones, mainly on Yahoo messenger's video chat. However, I am also a World of Warcraft gamer, and I pay 15 Dollars a month to play, and now I can't play because a new patch was released that I can't download through SniperHill. Luckily I go on R&R soon so i can download it at home, but this just sucks. I wonder why SH is the only ISP out here, One would think that there would be more than just one contractor for internet services. They DO treat us like crap too. for the above poster: I don't know where you are, but the SniperHill guys here are jerks. They really do talk to us and treat us like crap. Every time I have emailed them for an issue (and there have been many times) I have not received one single reply, not once.
If there is some sort of class action lawsuit, please let me know, I will gladly put my John Hancock on it.
Just another one of their irate customers here. I've spent about a third of the time without service. For the people saying go easy on Sniperhill well let me point out something. Sniperhill is a business not some sort of MWR program. They are paid for a service and paid well. They do not, I repeat do not provide the services that we pay for a huge percentage of the time. If they can't provide the services we pay they shouldn't be implying that they are able to do so.
I'm soon to deploy to COB ADDER (March), and appreciate the information you all have been posting. Keep up the good work, and stay safe!
Sniperhill has lucked out, what a monopoly, to have the only network, and it does not work half the time and you have a captive audience, wow, these guys are smart, make money off of soldiers, and minimal work to get their dollars, capitalism at its best, got love what we are fighting for, freedom, fuck yeah, world police, RANT RANT RANT.
Ben Zoltak 2 years ago
Wow man that's rough, I wonder if you got more of it figured out by now. Thanks for illustrating what your barracks/quarters looks like, sounds a little better than camp. Of course, nobody was leaving IED anywhere during camp! Keep yer kiester covered WH!
Ben