Mobile phones in Afghanistan
 

Do mobile phones work in Afghanistan, and if what what will the British Army use for comms should they ever go in?

Semaphore! Now, go and play with the traffic, there's a good boy.

.......not forgetting Speckled Jim, of course!!

Well, if by some mishap the Clansman doesn't work they could take a few hints from the locals. The Arabs had a working optical network from Cordoba to (I think) Libya going in the 10th century -- a chain of heliographs that could relay a message in around twenty minutes. And they used their own Speckled Jims for parcel post: one hungry chief in Morocco had his favourite Lebanese cherries delivered on the day they were ripe by tiny silk bags tied to the legs of a flock of homing pigeons. One cherry per bird (the usual allocation, I believe), and he ordered 400.

Course, things have gone downhill a bit since then. Was it £144 million the MOD spent on Bowman before realising it wasn't going to cop so much as a walkietalkie. You can get a lot of pigeons for that.

R

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan all have mobile phone systems - but not Afghanistan, perhaps unsurprisingly. I guess 'TaleCell' has yet to find any customers.....

Satellite phones?

Red Indians (sorry) Native Americans', did very well with smoke and blankets once upon a time. I think it was about the same time that the MoD put out to tender for the Clansman replacement. Or at least that's what I heard on the old bean-tin and piece of string that we're using to communicate with each other down here in the South Atlantic at BEagle's favourite place!
:D :D

Things are always worse than they seem!

Runner? Cleft stick? Full employment for all? Aircrew fitness test?

:rolleyes: :eek: :(

There is a good offer on at moment in Bagram airport arrivals foyer - BTali One-to-One, package comes complete with solar charger etc etc and fairly cheap rates.

VodaTal kill-as-u go and Virgin freedom also have good packages at moment, contact your local Alliance rep. Good news on Top up cards, most shops are open 6-til-Late that sell a variety of papers, mags, sweets and ammunition should you happen to run out.

Good luck boyos :D