I've heard that they are allowed to have cell phones in Iraq, is this true? I don't know much about what he can have while in Iraq but someone told me cell phones are something they CAN have and it's up to your spouse to get one or not.:dunno Is this person just telling me things to get my hopes up!!:twisted

I dont know about Iraq ,but my hubby had one in Bahrain. T mobile has towers in Bahrain and someone told me if we got phones together in the states we can use Mobile to Mobile and it would be free. We were not told about the roaming. I think our first cell phone bill was $1500.00 :shock.

yeh tmobile has great service over there....except its like 4.99 a minute...fyi

Cingular also has service over there but yeah the bill would be outrageous. My hubby actually has a cell he got over there (his higher up allowed him to have it because he was "in charge" of several guys and in case they needed to get in touch with him). They can buy Iraqi cells, which have free incoming minutes that you can call with a calling card but I do think it depends on where he is and his command, becuase I know some higher ups don't like or prohibit them.

Those costs sound very expensive. I'm waiting to hear from him to see if he will be allowed or not.

It's different with every command as mentioned earlier, my dh's will not allow them under any circumstances. If they get caught with them, they are in big trouble. Unless they are out on missions constantly or in a really remote location, there really isn't a need for them as the phone centers are way better now than what they were during our first tour. He can actually call Fort Hood and they will connect him to me free where he is now so he calls quite often.

DB was specifically told they could NOT have them. At deployment a soldier was severely reprimanded for attempting to sneak one onto the bus with him. Poor guy. I think it depends on the command and the situation. I know a lot ladies on here say that their SO has one.

My dh was not allowed to bring his from home, but was allowed to buy one there from the Iraqis. He uses prepaid minutes that he buys from the Iraqis - to call me it is about .99/minute. The connection is often horrible. I can call him also - I found a calling plan (prepaid) that allows me to call him for .10/minute (his incoming calls are free for him) but connecting is pure torture. I would say I only actually get his phone to ring about 20% of the time I call him. Usually I get a message saying calls are blocked to that area. He is also an officer, so I don't know if that makes a difference in him being allowed to have one. Contractors often need to call him on it so that could be why he was allowed it - I can ask him the next time we talk. I know they worry about fallen soldiers names leaking out from soldiers cells when the base is on blackout...

Anyone know what the situation is wrt cell phones in Afgh?

Mine got one from someone else that left. It uses Iraqi phone cards you buy for it, and it's about $20 for an hour of talk time.

My DF called me from the phone centers, if he we would have had to deal with it any longer, he was going to get a cell phone. But the IM and payphones worked ok for us :)

what about vonage? or yahoo talk? on yahoo, if you have a headset, it's only 1 cent/minute, but i don't know how that applies to international chat. and vonage, i've heard good things and bad things about the service...the only bad part i heard about it was the customer service.

I don't think they can have them in Afghanistan - that place is so poor, I don't think there is any local service or even any towers out there. When my dh went back in 2003-2004 they couldn't have them, one of our brigades here at Drum just finished a tour there this year, and I haven't heard any wives say their dh's had them either.

As for as my dh in Iraq, we talk on gmail, and I prefer doing that to the cell phone conversations, to tell you the truth. The connection on the phone is just so bad!!

My boyfriend has one of the Iraqi prepaid cell phones.It was up to each platoon if they could have cell phones or not.At one point after a month of having them they were taken away but given back 2 weeks later.We dont talk on it much since I hear from him on yahoo messenger everyday so he uses the phone to call his family mostly and then me atleast once a week.

The connection on the regular phone at the phone centers SUCKS! Like bad, we constantly talk over eachother cause of the delay, and im forever saying "huh?", "What?", "Say that again?"

Ugh, im so glad thats about over.

My man has one over there...its worked out great except be ready for dropped calls and then not being able to get back through. He bought a calling plan from www.nobel.com and its actually fairly reasonable...IF I call him its much cheaper. He calls then I call him back. Hope this helps

I want to say its about 11 cents a min hmmmmmm maybe a little more. I think it was around 10 bucks for an hour call

Me and my hubby use Yahoo talk and messenger, and sometimes he will go to call me at the payphones. It works for us. Saves us alot of money too.

Thanks Ladies, I just received a email from him, he said he didn't have a lot of time to make it a long one but it was simple and to the point. I'm hoping he can do it more often but who knows.

my b/f got a cellphone there from a haji shop. he has free incoming, so i call him from a phone card i got which ends up being .20/min. he can also text message but he has no voicemail. the coverage is a little shotty, but fairly decent considering its freaking IRAQ. probably all just depends on where he's at.

it being up to the spouse whether they can have one or not... that just makes me giggle ;)

what about vonage? or yahoo talk? on yahoo, if you have a headset, it's only 1 cent/minute, but i don't know how that applies to international chat. and vonage, i've heard good things and bad things about the service...the only bad part i heard about it was the customer service.

also skype is free, but both callers have to be using skype. not sure what the one way rate is. my computer is so crappy though i would never rely on it to make phone calls.