Upgraded Internet coming to Misawa

[unhappycamper]

Upgraded Internet coming to Misawa
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, October 27, 2009

TOKYO — By the end of November, the Internet at Misawa Air Base should be on-line all the time, according to officials from the Army and Air Force Exchange Service.

In the next few weeks, Verizon will install a 70 percent larger circuit in the Tokyo area, according to Andrew Weaver, an assistant vice president with AAFES.

~snip~

The five-year contract with Verizon began last spring, part of an effort to privatize on-base phone service at Air Force bases worldwide, Weaver said. Because the phone lines at Misawa also carry the Internet access — on a line called a digital subscriber line, or DSL — officials had to look for a provider for both services.

Military officials had hoped to use the timing of the change to provide more parity for Internet speed throughout the base, Weaver said. Under the old system, homes with Internet hookups north of the flight line got only 1.5 mbps, compared with 12 mbps on the rest of base.

But when Verizon took over this spring, the increased speed meant more people were downloading more information — especially after dinner and before bedtime, Weaver said. That increased use clogged the system, he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65647



unhappycamper: :tinfoilhat: I'm guessing that Verizon was awarded the contract as a reward for Verizon turning over all telephone and internet activity to the NSA since 2000 or 2001. It kinda adds new meaning to "Can you hear me now?"

[Mojorabbit]

1. I lived near that base

in the 70's with my first husband. A lot of good memories..