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Contracting, communications squadrons team up to boost Wi-Fi, morale

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Shaun Emery
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Members of the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing utilizing the DAWGnet wireless internet network here will notice a dramatic boost in internet speeds, following the completion of a network upgrade Oct. 26. 

Boasting speeds seven times faster than previously offered, the new network provides wing members more reliable service to connect with friends and family back home.
 
Col. John R. Gordy II, 386th Air Expeditionary Wing commander set a goal of Nov. 1 for the network to be up and running. 

"In my last commander's call, I said that we would be going from four megabytes to 20 megabytes, but due to the skill and professionalism of our contracting squadron, we were able to negotiate 30 MBs for the same price." 

The enhancement project began in July. Because the new network service contract was contingent on host nation approval, it was frustrating for 386th Expeditionary Contracting Squadron members. 

"It was tough because it was really out of ours and the contractor's hands," said Senior Airman Amber Thornburg, 386th ECONS contracting officer, deployed from Pope Air Force Base, N.C. "Waiting was hard, but I'm relieved to see the project come to fruition," she said. 

"I'm excited for everyone who will benefit from the increased service. It's a dramatic increase, so the change will be noticeable," she added. "Hopefully it will help improve everyone's ability to stay in contact with their families." 

According to Capt. Ashley Maybin, 386th Expeditionary Communications Squadron Plans and Implementation Flight commander, staying in touch with friends and family will be easier because a majority of the new bandwidth will be dedicated to web-based communications programs. 

Additionally, the communications squadron estimates a 40 percent decrease in government network congestion, and an 80 percent decrease in the wing's Defense Switched Network long-call list. 

While DAWGnet users can rejoice at the new, faster network, according to Colonel Gordy there will be some fine-tuning of the system over the next seven to 10 days with short periods of limited or no service. 

"This is necessary to validate that we are receiving the service we're paying for before we do the final acceptance with the provider," he said. "The 386th ECS will try to limit these outages to those periods with traditionally low usage. Please be sure to thank communications and contracting personnel when you see them."