Reader Question: Why Do Troops Pay $75 a Month for Internet?

After we reported here yesterday that soldiers on large bases can purchase Internet access from a private contractor for around $70 a month, allowing them to circumvent the Department of Defense's ban of YouTube.com, MySpace.com, and 10 other popular websites from their servers, several readers wrote in questioning why the access is so pricey compared with rates back home. (We're hearing today that the figure is $75 a month.)

Beth in Kentucky asks, "Do the soldiers with Internet access on base know how badly they are being ripped off? $75 for Internet access? My broadband service costs half that. We don't pay them enough to begin with, we give them low-rent hospital care when they come home, and now, we can't even give them a decently affordable internet service? What no-bid contractor got a hold of this one?"

U.S. News Pentagon reporter Anna Mulrine did some asking around and found out that Internet access at Iraqi bases is provided by a company called Jackal Wireless, which operates a service called "Operation Internet Freedom" in Baghdad International Airport and several other bases in Iraq.

"It's the only game in town," one U.S. military official said, adding that the military is looking into bringing in more companies "to make it more competitive"--and hopefully cheaper.

Jackal doesn't list contact info for media requests and didn't immediately respond to an E-mail, but they acknowledge complaints about the price on their Frequently Asked Questions page:

Q: Why is everything so slow and why are your prices so high?

A: Because bandwidth here [in Iraq] is really REALLY expensive. What you can get in the U.S. for $500 a month will cost $10,000 here. All the Internet links in and out of this country are by satellite and satellite time ain't cheap!

Jackal also advertises shorter, cheaper plans on its rates page, including a day rate of $8.

--Anna Mulrine and Chris Wilson