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thedrifter
12-19-06, 11:10 AM
December 19, 2006
Two new offers help military families stay connected

By Karen Jowers
Staff writer

Two companies are making donations to ease the financial burden of communicating for deployed military members and their families, joining the ever-growing numbers of companies, organizations and individuals who have been making such efforts.

The company Web.com is giving away free Web pages to the first 2,007 people who sign up. The donation includes a free domain, and the tools to build the Web site — such as www.CaptJaneDoe.com — and all the associated services, such as e-mail addresses, blogs, video, audio and pictures. Service members and their families will have the ability to upload material to their own sites as a way to stay connected. The free period is for one year and is valued at $120.

To sign up for the free Web page, service members and their families can call toll-free, 1-800-338-0934. The promotion is open to all current and former members of the military and their families, including National Guard and reserve members, retirees and veterans.

Also, about $100,000 worth of free Pingo prepaid phone cards have been distributed to military communities by iBasis, a company that provides Voice Over Internet Protocol services and prepaid telephone services.

The donation was made in 40,000 prepaid cards worth $2.50 each, distributed in October at the Association of the U.S. Army convention to commanders to take back to their troops.

The system uses VoIP, but a person does not have to be at a computer or have an Internet connection to use the system. Simply sign up once on the Internet, and from there, a local dial-in number is provided.

The cost per minute varies depending on the country called, said Chris Conti, a spokesman for iBasis. For example, calls to London cost 2 cents per minute. Calls to Afghanistan cost 28.5 cents a minute. Calls to Baghdad cost 13.5 cents a minute, and 17 cents per minute elsewhere in Iraq. No extra fees are imposed, he said, and the costs are the same regardless of where the call originates in the U.S.

The cards cannot be used to make calls from overseas.

In another organized donation effort that is one of the largest to date, Americans have donated some 174,617 Military Global Prepaid Phone Cards to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, worth about $4.3 million, through the Army and Air Force Exchange Service’ “Help the Troops Call Home” program. Those cards are $39 each for 182 minutes of calling time, with no extra fees. Shipping fees may apply if the cards are bought online.

Ellie