improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message this article is an orphan as no other articles link to it . please introduce links to this page from related articles ; try the find link tool for suggestions . july 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message sniperhill internet services llc sniperhill type private industry satellite communication founded 2004 headquarters houston texas usa website http www.sniperhill.net sniperhill internet services llc or sniperhill is an american commercial internet service provider isp that operates on us and nato bases in iraq and afghanistan . it provides wired and wireless commercial internet access to us and coalition armed forces direct hire dod department of the army da and state department civilians and authorized civilian contractors and international businesses participating in operation new dawn ond and operation enduring freedom oef . 1 contents 1 summary 1.1 services 1.2 access 1.3 technology 2 criticisms 2.1 costs 2.2 latency 2.3 limitations 3 history 4 references 5 external links summary edit as of february 2012 the company s base wide operations on us and nato bases throughout afghanistan and iraq were located in baghdad kirkuk and um qasr in iraq and bagram airfield jalalabad kabul kandahar mazar e sharif camp dwyer and shindand air base in afghanistan . services edit services offered are titled internet forces and are tiered by download speed and length of each plan . the different plans range from 24 hour service entitled recon all the way up to expert 30 days of unlimited service with a download speed of up to 64kbit s. the maximum length of each plan is 30 days . businesses supporting us nato missions can opt for small business plans . access edit users can auto obtain wireless connectivity using dynamic host configuration protocol dhcp ip addressing . upon launching their internet browser subscribers are redirected to a captive portal homepage where they can either sign up or logon using an existing account . technology edit in each area of operations technicians position a satellite earth station and erect and operate a main communication tower . sectoral flat panel antennas affixed to the main tower provide 360 degree coverage for up to three square kilometers . a point to multi point or terrestrial fiber optic backbone distributes and allocates bandwidth throughout the combat living areas . each communication tower transmits an encrypted invisible signal through the use of licensed frequencies to commercial grade wireless router antennas and wireless access points located throughout the u.s. base . data is encrypted between the company s hosts using the advanced encryption standard aes 256 encryption algorithm . criticisms edit costs edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . july 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message operating an isp inside warzones is costly due to the existing infrastructure unconventional methodology danger placed upon employees and the maintenance and use of the satellites that are required to get the bandwidth in and out of the oif theatre . none of these constraints exist in the u.s. and other developed parts of the world . also bandwidth costs in the u.s. and elsewhere are nowhere near those found in iraq because of america s internet and wi fi infrastructure the surplus of fiber optic backbones and high speed cable lines to propagate bandwidth . with the infrastructure in place now within these camps the garrison command ensures no soldier directly interferes tampers or destroys any of the wireless capabilities the sniperhill contract has brought . the most common repair to such equipment is from normal wear and tear from the excessive heat and sand . occasionally interference occurs from the hosting teleport . soldiers performing logistical operations within sniperhill s area of operation temporarily ron rest overnight at these various camps . the target practice service is the most widely used option for the troops whose obligations involve convoy movement as their stay is most likely to be less than 48 hours . this service costs 10 a day . latency edit network latency is the delay between requesting data and getting a response or in the case of one way communication between the actual moment of broadcast and the time actually received at destination . compared to ground based communication such as fiber optics or cable lines geostationary satellite communications experience higher latency than that of ground based communications due to the signal having to travel 22 000 miles out into space to a satellite in geostationary orbit and back to earth again . limitations edit the signal delay can be as much as 900 milliseconds or more which makes most satellite based internet service unusable and unstable for applications requiring real time user input such as online games or remote surgery . the functionality of live interactive access to a distant computer can also be subject to these problems caused by high latency . these problems are more than tolerable for just basic email access and web browsing and in most cases are barely noticeable but are problematic for real time applications and those requiring large amounts of bandwidth such as 512 kbit s or 1 mbit s. history edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . march 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message sniperhill was founded in 2004 . it began its first operations in iraq in early 2007 ; the exact month and day is unknown . in march 2009 the company rebranded its webpage and slogan . while it kept its sniperhill brand name it changed its positioning statement or tag line from surf the net safely to click move communicate an adaption of us army jargon shoot move communicate . according to a report in 2010 2 the provider was the first american isp to bring fiber optic internet services to us forces in iraq . on october 26 2011 sniperhill was awarded a longterm contract by the army & air force exchange service the exchange to provide subscription based in room internet services on us nato bases throughout afghanistan . in december 2011 the isp was awarded a similar contract by the exchange to provide the same services in iraq . in early 2012 the official sniperhill website changed its look from an all black appearance to an all white appearance . while the sniperhill logo appeared to be a new version on the new look website the click move communicate tag line remained unchanged . references edit high speed internet for soldiers in us bases in afghanistan & iraq sniperhill becomes first fiber optic based internet service provider in iraq houston april 21 press release . prnewswire . 2010 04 21 . retrieved 2014 03 12 . external links edit company website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title sniperhill & oldid 722782454 categories internet service providers of the united stateshidden categories articles needing additional references from may 2012all articles needing additional referencesorphaned articles from july 2010all orphaned articlespages using infobox company with unsupported parametersarticles needing additional references from july 2010articles needing additional references from march 2014 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search 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