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Blackanthem Military News
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Last Updated:
Mar 17, 2010 - 6:39:30 PM |
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Blackanthem Military News
 CAMP RAMADI, Iraq - Some of the biggest concerns Soldiers of the 188th Forward Support Company had was internet service available in their Containerized Housing Unit at Camp Ramadi.
Would it be installed and how much would it cost? How do we go about getting it? Would the connection be fast?
Once we arrived and started our Relief In Place, these questions were answered by the Forward Support Company in 1st Battalion, 158th Field Artillery.
Yes, internet is available. Yes, it is installed. And yes, it was costly but worth it in the long run.
Our next option was to contact various Soldiers throughout the outgoing unit to see who had the satellite systems and if they were willing to sell them at a fair price. This is where all the fun began, I say that sarcastically.
First off, as the outgoing unit stated, the systems were expensive. We purchased one at the high, but going-rate of $1600. This system currently had 10 Soldiers on it and would easily (ha ha!) transfer over to our 10 Soldiers.
When we contacted their provider on pricing, we got a nice surprise. They would gladly transfer the service, but the price would go up from $3300 every three months to $3600, plus there would be an additional charge of $300 every three months for maintenance costs!
This obviously wasn't going to work, so we began the arduous task of locating another provider.
We all hoped to have the internet service purchased and have it operational within a couple of days of moving into our permanent CHUs. The process of locating and purchasing these systems began as soon as we arrived, and was generally completed by the time we were moved in. Not a problem, right?
Locating a different provider was more of a challenge. It's not like in America. We do not have providers on every corner. A lot of research went into finding a provider on the internet, which, by the way, was done in the evenings at the Camo Café (more internet we pay for while finding other internet to pay for).
Finding a provider took about a week with constant e-mails going back and forth with explanations of what our equipment was, how many people would be on the system, and whether or not this was all compatible. After all was said and done, we located a provider, were given all the specifications and measurements and were told, "Good luck, have fun!"
This, too, was accomplished by the time we moved into our permanent CHUs. We were able to get faster service at a lower price, $2800 every three months. Progress!
We settled in our CHUs and began the process of getting our service started. The first signs of trouble began when we took a look at the equipment and wiring that we purchased. All of the wires and cables from the satellite dishes and CHUs in our block had been cut somewhere along the line. Equipment and wire to fix these issues were in very short supply, so we had to have tools, wire, ends and materials sent to us by mail. This took well over a week, so our wait for internet continued.
While we were waiting, we decided to go ahead and aim the satellite and at least get that part done. Aiming the satellite should be easy, right?
We had the azimuth, the elevation, the polarization, all of the technical details to accomplish this. Wrong!
You don't just go out and point the dish in the general direction and say, "Good to go!" The satellite is very tiny out there in space. It's like finding a needle in a hay stack, so you need a spectrum analyzer to accomplish this feat. We found this out with further research at the Camo Café after three days of going up and down on the roof to adjust the satellite dish with no results.
Now that the aiming was accomplished, where can we find a spectrum analyzer? You don't just go out and buy one, so we had to find someone that had one. We went back to the initial local provider here. Yes, they had one and would be more than happy to find our satellite for a different provider, for a price; $300 later, the installer was up on our CHU roof trying to locate a satellite he had never heard of before, a provider he had no clue about, and passwords that he hasn't got the faintest idea of how to get around.
Between the installer and many helpful individuals figuring out the azimuth, elevation and polarization of the satellite dish, this process became a huge monster. We were communicating between our provider in Europe, (a two-hour time difference); our installer, who wanted to only work after dark when it was cooler; and a bunch of Soldiers who had their own ideas of how the install should go. Needless to say, this wasn't working out.
Nothing seemed to work and everyone was getting extremely frustrated. Three continuous nights of this and our installer had finally had enough. He said that he would take the entire system back to his shop and get it figured out there. During the two days that it was in the shop, all of the materials and equipment arrived in the mail. We ran all the wires and the connections were completed. Once the installer came back out to put the system back up, he told us that he replaced two pieces of faulty equipment, reconfigured the polarization, which was wrong from our provider and re-situated the dish on the roof of one of the CHUs.
Here it is, now August 18 (two weeks after we have all moved into our CHUs) and the system is finally operational. It is definitely not the fastest system out there, but we are all happy that we can communicate with our loved ones back home. It was a frustrating experience, but we are finally good to go!
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