Communicating With Your Soldier

This is perhaps the most crucial element of sanity for both your soldier and your family! From experience, I'm going to provide a brief overview of communciation resources, and their pros/cons. At the end, you'll find links to the Best of The Best companies and organizations dedicated to keeping our soldiers in contact with our families.

First, we must realize how extremely fortunate we are to have so many resources available now that no previous generation has had!

I had a great-uncle who served in WWII, and my mom said that it routinely took 3-4 months to receive a letter from him, and sometimes longer.

We now have internet phones, webcams, text messaging, instant messaging, email, and of course, most MWRs are loaded with computers available constantly.

Cell phone usage is extremely expensive! Even text messages, while much less expensive than a phone call, cost a minimum of 50 cents each, both ways. That means your soldier pays not only for each text message sent to them, but also for each text they send back in response to you. Having had the responsibility of handling the finances for both deployed sons, I can assure you this adds up very quickly!

Instant messaging via Microsoft Messenger (now referred to as Windows Live!), Yahoo! Messenger or others is a free alternative to the text message, but is dependent upon both parties having computer access. Webcams are the most marvelous invention ever for the families of deployed soldiers! There, too, both parties must be connected to the internet and sitting in front of the computer screen.

Internet phones are fabulous! The one drawback is that your soldier's internet connection must be a solid 'broadband' strength for the best quality. That, friends, is seldom going to happen in Iraq or Afghanistan! Then again, even the MWR phones with calling cards are subject to static, disconnections, and poor connection quality.

Calling cards provide the soldier prepaid time to call home, and make welcome gifts tucked inside cards and letters. However, BE AWARE that some cards will automatically deduct as much as 100 minutes from the balance of the card just for dialing home -- before you even answer their call! Check the deduction requirements prior to purchasing your cards!

CellPhonesForSoldiers.com : Started by a teenaged girl and her brother, prompted by hearing of a local soldier's huge cell phone bill, CellPhonesForSoldiers has gained international attention. It's such a simple concept, and takes recycling to a very personal level for us military families! Accepts donations of used cell phones and turns them in for calling cards that are sent to our troops by the thousands every year! I am an eBay PowerSeller, and each package I ship includes at least one prepaid Cell Phones For Soldiers mailer bag. If you do business with Amazon.com, you will almost always receive one of these mailer bags in with your order. You can even print a pre-paid mailing label from their website to mail in your old cell phone!

Vonage.com : Vonage is the absolute best internet phone service available! You DO NOT have to be sitting in front of a computer to use "VOIP" service! You actually have a router that plugs into your cable internet connection, and then into your phone with a typical looking phone jack. All that is required is a broadband connection. Vonage sends the router, and it's so extremely simple to hook up. (I did it in under 10 minutes!). You can keep your existing phone number, and the most expensive plan they have is $25.00 a month, which gives you Unlimited usage.

The best part is there are several options that your soldier can take with him or her (or you can send later). One is the "Soft Phone", which is a simple software program that is downloaded on the soldier's notebook computer. To use it, your soldier clicks on the phone icon, a 'cell phone' looking keypad and screen appear, your loved one punches in your phone number and hits the call button! It will work on notebook speakers, but headphones are best. It costs about $10.00 a MONTH as an add-on to a Vonage account.

Shawn used this during his deployment, and it was a God-send for us as well as his fiance.

There is also a USB phone, which is a thumb-drive with the Vonage software pre-loaded and a headphone jack incorporated into it. This allows your soldier to call you from his laptop, a buddy's laptop, or any computer with a good internet connection.

Shapiro is currently using a Vonage USB phone. There are NO roaming or international charges!

SKYPE service is also a good option, but there are limitations. You do have to be at your computer to use it, as it's more like instant messaging. You can use your webcam with it, so you can see your soldier while talking to him/her. SKYPE is free for the basic service (ie., Skype to Skype), however there are charges for calls to non-skype users and landlines.