"Broadband" and "high speed internet connection", to my way of thinking, mean the same thing. Indonesian "broadband services" vary tremendously in what they offer, and more importantly, what they can actually deliver!
...But since I also read that there is a broadband service availabe as I'm sure it has, is it limited to only Hotels and Offices use because rarely I hear an individual have it in their home in Jakarta. Why? Expensive, complicated or too much waiting game? As I'd like to have it in my home if possible. That's one question of mine that until now hasn't been answered satisfactorily...
There are
many "broadband" services on offer here. They are
not limited to hotels, etc, although big hotels
might have enough money to pay for the fastest available options.
There are small wireless USB modems available that cost about
Rp1.2
juta. Once installed and configured properly, you can use any available services out there. For example, Indosat, Telkom, XL, Telkomsel, etc. You have a choice of either buying pre-paid SIM cards for a certain number of hours (time-based), or how much you want to download/upload (volume-based). Every company has different available speeds and different prices. OR - You can sign-up for a contract with a company, although my experience with
TelkomselFlash was a total disaster.
If you have a telephone line in Jakarta, I would go the
TelkomSpeedy way (ADSL). It took two days to get my service running here in Bali. And so far, it's still the most fuss-free option I've encountered. And pretty good,
if you regard 1Mbs down/128Kbs up as "broadband". (I don't, but it works and is affordable.)
I just made a few
Skype calls to the USA and Australia and at last, I didn't feel like I was talking 5 meters under water with heaps of strange echoes.
