Anyone know webcam setups for families of US servicemen in Afghanistan?

[Don K]

My cousin's husband is about to be deployed to Afghanistan and she asked
me to help setup a home webcam she bought. Supposedly he will have
access to a two-way webcam over there for this purpose.

Never having had a webcam, I know very little about them, but even so,
I probably know more than she does.

I don't know what she bought yet, but I assume it came with some sort of
setup software.

My question is, is there some particular communication protocol, like
AOL instant messenger, or some sort of video email, or whatever,
that the Army uses from these places to link back to families, or
is it just a matter of clicking on a website and somehow getting
a two-way video link?

Don

[John Weiss]

"Don K" <dk@dont_bother_me.com> wrote...

>
> My question is, is there some particular communication protocol, like
> AOL instant messenger, or some sort of video email, or whatever,
> that the Army uses from these places to link back to families, or
> is it just a matter of clicking on a website and somehow getting
> a two-way video link?

I don't know what the Army uses. However, I do know that many/most USB
webcams are pretty much "plug 'n' play" these days. There may be a driver
CD packaged with the camera, but in many cases Windows will install the
driver automatically.

Also, Skype (www.skype.com) is a very common Internet telephone system.
Calls between computers are free. You can set it up for calls to and from
regular telephones at extra (though modest) cost. As long as you have a
microphone and speakers (or, again, a plug 'n' play USB headset), once
Skype is installed it will detect and use both the camera and sound system.
Enabling the video is a simple option in the Skype setup.

I do not personally use other web video comm programs, but I believe both
AOL and MSN have video chat modes.

[Don K]

"John Weiss" <jrw...@nospamattglobal.net> wrote in message news:46f4d0e9$1@kcnews03...

Thanks for the info. Looks like Skype would be charging ~35 cents a minute.
If she has to do that, she will do it, but I'm hoping maybe the Army will
have a stateside gateway or something setup.

>
> I do not personally use other web video comm programs, but I believe both AOL and MSN
> have video chat modes.

I probably need to get a support-contact at his present stateside base from her.
I'm sure they must have something written down telling families what
set-ups will work.

Don

[Anthony Matonak]

Don K wrote:
> "John Weiss" <jrw...@nospamattglobal.net> wrote in message news:46f4d0e9$1@kcnews03...
>> "Don K" <dk@dont_bother_me.com> wrote...
>>> My question is, is there some particular communication protocol, like
>>> AOL instant messenger, or some sort of video email, or whatever,
>>> that the Army uses from these places to link back to families, or
>>> is it just a matter of clicking on a website and somehow getting
>>> a two-way video link?
>>

>> Also, Skype (www.skype.com) is a very common Internet telephone system. Calls between
>> computers are free.
>

> Thanks for the info. Looks like Skype would be charging ~35 cents a minute.

Skype only charges for calls to or from regular phones.
Regular phones do not have video cameras so any two-way
video link must be between computers. Skype calls between
computers are free.

Anthony

[Don K]

"Anthony Matonak" <antho...@nothing.like.socal.rr.com> wrote in message
news:46f595b6$0$16510$4c36...@roadrunner.com...

Oh, I misunderstood.
Thanks
Don