Most mission areas to which Defence personnel are deployed are seriously lacking in the kind of facilities that we normally take for granted, such as electricity or running water, and good telephone and Internet connections are even rarer.
But if you are away from home for months at a time, you will want to keep in contact with those at home. And they with you.
The e-Welfare service provides telephone and Internet services. After all, regular contact with friends and family is important for the well-being of military personnel deployed on a mission. IVENT and SkyXS play a part in providing this contact.
What can you expect from the e-Welfare service? Is using the internet and making phone calls the same as you are used to at home? We have one clear answer to that question: No, the service is not as you are used to at home. Please read below why and what you can do to make effective use of the e-Welfare services.
The internet connection runs from the compound via a satellite to the Netherlands and has a limited bandwith. You share this connection and the available bandwith with all the other e-Welfare users in the compound.
For these reasons, it is unreasonable to compare the quality of the connection in the mission area with that what you are accustomed to at home. But if everyone takes heed of the ten tips for effective internet use, the available bandwidth will be sufficient.
e-Welfare provides Internet access according to a priority system. Some applications use a lot of bandwidth. In order to share the available bandwidth as fairly as possible while enabling everyone to surf, e-mail and chat with minimum delay, applications have been divided into categories: Real-time applications, such as telephony, television and radio, have priority. As a result, Internet and e-mail services may be slower during peak periods. Peer-to-peer applications and other download programs, as well as streaming audio and video, will be placed in the lowest category (in terms of priority). The Internet connection is used mainly between 17.00 and 22.00 hrs local time. During this period, therefore, it is likely that the network will be slower.
In short, the e-Welfare connection is not intended for;
Traffic from these applications will be blocked or slowed down in order to allocate more bandwidth and speed to the other Internet applications, such as surfing, e-mailing and chatting.
Click here to find out how to reach a deployed serviceman or woman connected to the e-Welfare network.
