Bali Expat Forum - Bali Travel Forum

I'm not sure if this warrants a "New Topic". Maybe.

I've been a TelkomSpeedy customer for quite a while. Every now and again, something screws up. My first reaction is to check my broadband modem, in case some settings have changed there. Check all kinds of things, but what I've noticed is that 99% of the time, it's something to do at Telkom's end.

Today is a classic example. My modem's PPP light suddenly started blinking. That means something is not right, somewhere. = No internet. I spent about 45 minutes checking stuff, rebooting my computer, cold-booting my computer, re-setting the modem system, manually re-setting the modem, rebooting, etc, etc. (My wife had already rung the Telkom "support" line to see if there was a major system problem. The number in Bali is 147.)

I rang it myself later...the first time it was "there are no problems, at the moment". I rang again, maybe an hour later, and the person took my details and promised to ring back the same day. A half an hour later, we decided to ring again..."yes, there is a 'problem' somewhere in our system".

Less than 15 minutes later, everything was good again!

Then I got a phone call from Telkom in Jakarta thanking me for pointing out whatever the 'problem' was in Bali. (I'm not sure if the 'problem' only affected my connection and my immediate neighbours, or all of TelkomSpeedy Bali's customers.)

Whatever they changed or "fixed", our connection seems to be faster than usual. Not sure for how long. I believe it's worthwhile to quizz Telkom, repeatedly, when you think your internet connection's gone haywire.

I'm just wondering if any TelkomSpeedy users in Bali have noticed any difference?

For those of us who have been using Grisoft's free AVG software, (version 7.5+), there is a new version available (version 8). There are several "issues" surrounding that which I won't go into. The "best" free anti-virus program at the moment seems to be Avast 4.8. Definitely worth considering.

The "best" free anti-virus program at the moment seems to be Avast 4.8. Definitely worth considering.

Used this for years and have never had a virus problem. Gets my vote

hey Phil, i'd like to know the issues with AVG coz that's what i use ....

For charlie, and others

To start with, let me point out that I've been a happy user of free AVG versions for several years, on top of using other programs, (including paid-for versions). My favourite paid-for anti-virus was NOD32, (small, fast and sleek). The only reason I moved away from it was because I was slightly late paying for my renewal licence, (I was on a pitifully slow dial-up ISP in Bali). Eset, the makers of NOD32, were unimpressed with my pleas for clemency so we parted company. I also was very impressed with Kaspersky.

Please understand that I am in no way knocking free AVG 8. If you spend a lot of time on technical computer forums, (like I do, for various reasons), it's hard not to read about the experiences of people moving from AVG7.5 to AVG8. So what follows are some random comments taken from several different websites...(All comments pertain to systems running Windows XP.)

One main "issue" is what actually gets installed when you run the exe program and the unintuitive ways of disabling things you may not want. For example, the LinkScanner. It is possible to get rid of it, but not without some additional probing.

...The biggest news with AVG Anti-Virus 8 is that it includes Linkscanner, a technology that actively blocks malicious content from Web sites that may have been hijacked or otherwise compromised. Also, antivirus, antispyware, and antirootkit preventions have been combined into one product. The new drive-by download protection combined with AVG's award winning effectiveness in blocking and removing antivirus and antispyware code is tempered only by its somewhat slow performance in CNET Labs benchmark tests. While individual applications loaded fast, scan and boot times trended toward the slow end...

...Including a link scanner and integrating AVG Antispyware and AVG AntiRootkit provides an even more effective product. An unfortunate problem that has plagued AVG products for quite some time has not been eliminated even though AVG did a complete rewrite of the virus scanning engine. The on access scanner still tends to slow down computers to the point where they are not usable at times. This isn't a constant factor and has been improved significantly, but you will notice it when it happens. Beyond the slowdown issue, AVG Antivirus 8 is a complete product that will help keep your computer clean and safe...

...I have been using AVG for years, and after reading this review I decided to upgrade to AVG8. Maybe AVG8 is not bad, but it seems to me definitely worse than the 7.5. Compared to AVG7.5, AVG8 is even more bloated, the interface is less usable, with less possibility to configure; the CPU usage seems increased; the AVG8 process takes "only" 18MB of RAM, while the previous version requires 1-2 MB. I was asked to restart my computer twice, once when installing and once when uninstalling AVG8 (according to the review, no restart was required). I am now a happy user of AVAST antivirus...

...I was running 7.5 antivirus on my laptop with Vista. Decided to upgrade to 8.0 for free. What a mistake, I lost my wireless connection and dsl also. After hours of trouble shooting and with tech support help no luck. More hours of trouble shooting on my own,only to find out the add-on's they added to internet explorer with the yahoo tool bar was the problem. Even when I tried to disable the add-on's and get rid of yahoo toolbar it didn't help. By the end of the night I was getting a message that AVG 8.0 was missing a driver and email scanner was not working,what a mess. Once I deleted the program everything was find with internet explorer. As a long term user of AVG I was not a happy camper. Now running NOD32 3.0 smart security,very happy with it. Makes AVG 8.0 look like a second rate antivirus program...

...It has been known to be buggy and slow according to some of the C-Net reviews. This could be the sign of a new release or hopefully not a bad omen of what is to come from a once-great company...

...Version 8 of AVG Antivirus is a definite improvement over version 7.5. The scanning features have been sped up and the new interface is a clean and modern take on a time tested product...

So - whom are we to believe? My only "advice" here would be to hold-off for a while and see what happens. In the meantime, I think free AVG7.5 will have updates until the end of this year.

How about your web browser? The "sizzling" Firefox 3 has finally been released, (amid lots of fan-fare, including a world record attempt for the most downloads of a program in one day). I'm not sure how the record attempt went but Mozilla's servers spat the dummy early on release day, (Day Zero?). I didn't go to any "Firefox parties", (thankfully).

I managed to download it later in the day without any problems. It's a small 7.8MB download. It installed amazingly quickly, again without any problems, (all my bookmarks, etc, intact, although I backed them up first, just in case). My impressions, so far? Definitely faster on my system. Possibly the best web browser to date...I reckon it leaves Internet Explorer dead in the water, and Microsoft with playing a catch-up game.

Having said that, some hackers have already "released" some security vulnerability code aimed at both Firefox 3 and earlier versions. Nobody should be surprised by that...happens all the time with all kinds of software, eg, Apple Quicktime, Adobe Acrobat, etc. There haven't been any actual "attacks", yet, and the good people at Mozilla are working on it. Expect a security update soon.

If you do want to download Firefox 3, be careful of fake sites. I used this one:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/?from=getfirefox

In the meantime, just be careful which web sites you go to and you'll be OK. Nothing new about that.

I hope this helps.

I've just moved to a new house in Sanur. I thought it would not be a big deal to move my account from one phone number to another. Wrong.

Went to the main Telkom office in Denpasar to explain what's going on. Sympathetic, friendly, took down all kinds of details and promised to ring back soon, send a technician to check the new telephone line, etc. Nothing happened for more than ten days. Kept ringing them to see what's happening. "Just wait and be patient"...

Went to the office today only to be told there's a "quota" and no new connections are currently available. But I already had one, so where am I in the scheme of things? Telkom cut off my Speedy connection and now I have to wait for I don't know how long, for a new available connection. I'm far from impressed.

Went to Telkomsel around the corner in Jalan Diponegoro. Their service sounded promising, more "features" and cheaper than TelkomSpeedy. After waiting about two hours, told that their service is a bit flaky in Sanur...so, what to do next?

Checked with a technician friend of mine and he thinks he might be able to do something because he has lots of contacts in Telkom. If the staff in Telkom want some extra money to do the right thing, I wish they'd tell me.

Now I'm back to a painfully slow dial-up connection until I find a solution. Using TelkomInstan, for example, is a right pain in the arse. I've been getting connection speeds between 4kbs, (no joke) and a blazing 33.2kbs. It's not funny. I feel like I've been transported back in time about 13 years ago.

Comments from anybody using a realistic Bali ISP, meaning reasonable download and upload speeds with an affordable price, would be much appreciated. I'm working on it, and when I find a viable alternative, I'll let you know.

Im using Global Extreme. I find them good but couldnt tell you any of the technical stuff. It was down a few times in the early days but I think that may have been problems at my end rather than theirs. Now it seems fast and pretty reliable.

Worth giving them a call maybe. 0361 736822.

Yep I'm on Global Xtreme too. They were terrible a few months back but have improved out of sight (although I think I'm jinxing it saying that). The trick is..when it goes slow to ring and ring and ring. And it improves.

Thanks for that mimpimanis

Global Extreme seem to charge like wounded bulls, too. I've looked at their web-site and pricing and am not overly impressed. I probably should go to their physical office and make more inquiries. Never know. Lots of Indonesian web-sites never up-date them.

Hi, SG

...The trick is..when it goes slow to ring and ring and ring. And it improves...

I've found that to be the case with all kinds of "services". When things go wrong and nobody tells anybody, (usually more than once), whatever the status quo was reigns supreme. Sad but true.

I was impressed by a very "hippy"-looking fellow today waiting in the Telkomsel office in Denpasar. He was there before me. Forget what his number was...193, 561, 27, or what. Didn't catch his name but we had a chat outside having a smoke. He asked me if I was having a problem with Telkomsel's Flash thing. He reckoned his wasn't working properly for two weeks and that Telkom had mysteriously cut off his normal telephone line. I can't vouch for the details...he told me he's a musician. I told him I was a new potential customer.

He was still there when I finally left. An unusually soft-spoken American. I spent nearly two boring hours waiting. It crossed my mind why big companies like that don't have a basic information pamphlet available to peruse in the first place? I mentioned this to my wife and she was of the opinion that how would the "workers" have a job? They're trained to talk to us, one on one.

I surrender. Miss Ratih, whom we finally got, has astonishing eyes and lips.
Maybe the wait was worth it after all.

For those of you contemplating starting an account with TelkomselFlash, especially their so-called "unlimited" service, don't bother. My experience with them has been utterly abysmal. I will be cancelling it as soon as I whip up the energy to sit and wait in their "Customer Service" department in Denpasar. I kid you not - this has to be one of the all-time worst ISPs I've ever encountered.

On a very much more positive note, I'm happy to report that TelkomSpeedy rang a couple of days ago to inform me that their service is now available again in Sanur, (and many other parts of Bali). And it gets even better than that. Thinking of upgrading from a 384Kbs to a 512Kbs connection, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that their connection is now 1Mbs for the same price as their slower 384Kbs connection used to be. There's also talk of a price reduction in the near future! I guess the ISP wars in Bali are hotting up.

That's good news for consumers and not before time. I know I've bagged TelkomSpeedy a bit in the past. Things seem to have improved dramatically lately. I just hope they can keep it up. So far, so good.

Oh the misery of needing internet in Bali - I've tried several times to move to Bali...each time trying a new ISP...but every time after a month or so I've whimpered back to my home in Jakarta for reliable internet (necessary for work)...

I completely, totally, understand your pain

I am using Indsat 3g service with a CDMA connector. Sloooowww but reliable around 5000 per hour. Will do until I am in my perment home.

Hey, Jimbo...

...I am using Indsat 3g service with a CDMA connector. Sloooowww but reliable around 5000 per hour...

Believe me when I say I know exactly how you feel.
I'm not sure, however, how you know your CDMA is "reliable". By the time something downloads using that, I'd usually be asleep.

I asked some technician or other recently what internet connection he uses at home. The same as you, as it turned out and I think I almost saw tears forming in his eyes.

This re-vamped TelkomSpeedy seems to be going fine. I keep seeing figures in my DU Meter I've only dreamed about in the past. Sure, it's important to keep things in perspective but while using a broadband testing service yesterday, I was amazed to see a reported download test from Jakarta of 1,044kbs. Possibly a fluke.