Indosat 3.5g 3.6 Mbps???

[Guest]

I was at RIMO a couple of days ago and tried out the Indosat 3.5g that Sanurian mentioned earlier. I saw the same throughput, about 1.2-1.4 Mbps.

It certainly is fast and cheap for the average user and they also have a half price special for the first three months. The only problem is the limited coverage. For example there is no coverage in Seminyak. What the?

I asked the sales guy when the coverage would be expanded but he had no idea. He was pretty savvy on explaining the prices though!

 

[nomad4ever]

I'm still in the process if switching from XL to Centrin (which works in Seminyak and is cheaper than Indosat, even though less throughput), if I could find their HQ or Jl. Kaliasem in Denpasar.

Do they still have their Rp. 245.000 unlimited volume offer or did it really expire in May?

;-)

 

[O]

That offer did expire in May. I believe now it's around 330 000 Rp/mth + initial registration fee but you can check directly with them 0361 228 228. Their office is near Puputan square, close to the art museum although that doesn't usually help since all the roads in Denpassar seem to lead there, no matter how many wrong turns one takes... Only thing that helped me is the Bali street atlas.
Good luck

 

[Guest]

That offer did expire in May. I believe now it's around 330 000 Rp/mth + initial registration fee

The current offer expires on July 31 outside Jakarta and Surabaya. They also have two package deals for the service plus a HSDPA modem or the service plus a HSDPA phone with a phone account. There are no contracts and you can pay by the month via an ATM.

You need a KITAS or KTP.

You can see the package deals, the mobile phone fee structure and coverage maps here: http://3g.indosat.com/about/tarif.php

 

[nomad4ever]

Thanks 'O' and Allen for the tips! Guess I have to check that out soonest, to not let the July offer expire as well, hehe.

Art Museum I know, so it shouldn't be that difficult to find then....

 

[BaliLife]

sorry guys,

this is all a bit techy for me (and i'm an IT Project Manager - god help the bank) - well it's not too techy, it's just so much info.. let me ask you this... my new place will be in jimbaran with presumably all types of access... we use use the internet a lot.. a heck of a lot... what's my best option? doesn't have to be super fast, but fast is nice... and pref a plan that doesn't limit (or has super high limits or low additional fees for excess downloads)? assuming i don't want to pay an arm and a leg...

ct

 

[Guest]

If you are a project manager you are probably familiar with this axiom: "you can have it quick, you can have it complete and you can have it high quality but you can't have all three together".

 

[nomad4ever]

Just coming back from the CentrinOnline Office in Jl. Kaliasem in Denpasar. This is what I found out:

- the special offer of unlimited volume via 3G XL Network for Rp. 245.000 plus tax is still valid until 31/7/2007, one-time fee is Rp. 39.500, the monthly fee will remain the same for 6 months
- you will get a 'special' XL SIM card, where the Speed is artificially restricted to 6 kbps both upload/download
- The XL (Centrin) network shows only 3 bar out of 5 coverage even at the Centrin Office (2-3 bar at my location Seminyak/Kerobokan)

I brought my laptop and XL SIM card and ran both connections after each other using the same 3G PCMCIA Laptop Card (Cingular).

3G XL is definitely *much* faster (app. 5-10 times), subjectively felt when surfing heavy-load websites. Download speeds there where between 150-50kbps with 3G XL, Centrin about 5.7-5.8 constant. Centrin speed seem to be pretty stable (probably due to the artificial limitation), but only *slightly* faster than Dial-up.

The price is definitely attractive, but would mean a huge step backwards for me considering speed, so I will stick with the XL 3G for now.

 

[nomad4ever]

sorry, I meant 10-50kbps for XL 3G not 150. ;-)

 

[BaliLife]

hi allan.... very familiar with the quality, cost, time triangle - it seems our snr directors aren't though... hehehe...

thats why i try to used soft terms, "prefer", "fast is nice"

i know we're gonna have to make some sacrafices on connectivity there (canada connectivity is good), but i'm just trying to understand, what makes the most sense, if someone wants decent speed, unlimitted use, without paying a ludicrous amount..

ct

 

[O]

Thanks Chris for the update on the Centrin 3G service. It seems I was lucky to sign up early as I do not have any restrictions of download speed on my SIM card acquired at Centrin in May. My DU meter shows a download speed between 15 and 60kbps.

Centrin might have been victim of their own success and may need to keep the overall bandwidth usage low. Plus now they can justify the price difference between the XL direct service and the one offered via Centrin. Looks like XL finally realized that they were loosing customers to Centrin and asked them impose restrictions on speed access to keep their customers. Looks like it worked since they kept your business! And it's true that 5kbps would be hard to accept after being used to 50..

 

[BaliLife]

Megabeast,

Where in canada are you? We're in vancouver and will be movin to bali late this year..

Ct

 

[nomad4ever]

3G XL had one big outage in my area since last friday. Only GPRS connection was available. 3G was unusable. For sure nobody picked up at all when calling their hotline numbers. So I went to their office at Sunset Road. Hordes and crowds of waiting customers. Took 1 hour for my turn.

XL tried the usual bullshit that I changed my settings or misconfigured my computer. At least they admitted that they had a few technical problems with their antennas over the weekend.

Running around my house with my laptop I noticed constant disconnects and permanent change in signal strength from 0-5 bars to HSDPA sign in my 3G manager.

Today it was working again like nothing had happened! Stable and permanent signal, signal strength 2 bar of 5 as before.

Arlglglglglglgl!!!

 

[spitfire]

Happens to my Indosat 3G as well regularly. Signal yes, internet no. Can take 5 minutes to few hours or more.

 

[widder]

Hi Chris and all the other forum members who appear to have a PhD in mobile phone/internet technology - gosh I am envious! Although using a laptop quite efficiently, I was left behind in the field of mobile phone technology - until recently I thought they were actually used to make phone calls, but one of my colleagues who is about half my age enlightend me. As a matter of fact, I don't have one :shock: I am in the process of moving to Bali, and my question is, whether I should get a mobile here in Cairns prior to leaving, and then get a new SIMS card and internet bundle when I get to Bali, or whether I should just wait till I get there. I have absolutely no idea how all that stuff works, like connecting my laptop to my mobile to get internet access etc. Since my laptop has wifi capacity, do I actually need to bother? Obviously I need help - I don't mind broadcasting some of my short-comings cheers, Sybille

 

[spitfire]

If handphones in Ausralia are usually sold (or come free) in combination with a subscription, buy it in Bali. You will not need the Australian subscription and to get a separate phone will probably be cheaper here. You can also find a lot of second hand phones.

3G is a different technology from WiFi. To use 3G or GPRS with your handphone and laptop, you will need to be able to connect your handphone to your laptop so it can be used as a dial up modem to the internet. In my case, I use bluetooth, but not all laptops have that built in. A special USB cable will usually work also.

To use 3G or GPRS on a PDA handphone, you don't have to do anything special, however in combination with a laptop it will probably not work. I (and Indosat technicians) cannot configure my pda phone to work as a dial up modem in combination with my laptop! So when I want to connect my laptop to the internet, I switch my Simcard to a simple Nokia 9310i and connect to the laptop with bluetooth to pass on the internet signal.

Recently I just bought the new 3G with a USB modem. This makes life very easy. Just plug-in the USB modem in any computer. It will install the dashboard to connect and you're of. No handphone needed anymore and interchangeable between any computer. I keep using my old handphone number which gives me access to GPRS on my pda phone as well, to quickly check emails while on the way.

Just a note: The modem doesn't work with Vista automatically, but it can be configured to work. I use it.

 

[widder]

Thank's Spitfire, just one follow up question, how do I know whether my laptop has bluetooth? I had a look in the hardware device manager, but there is nothing which says "bluetooth", or would I find it somewhere else? Thank you for your patience, Sybille

 

[johannes]

Hello,
as we have no telefone-line to our house in Jimbaran I always go to internet-shops. Now bought a laptop for Bali and would like to know what is the easiest way to use internet with it. I know that there are some warungs/cafes where I can use the internet for free when comsuming some food or drinks.
As I am a senior and not so firm with internet-connections with handphone etc. I not really understand all the informations before.
Is it possible to get an internet-connection only by handphone?
Johannes :?

 

[spitfire]

Re: RE: Indosat 3.5g 3.6 Mbps???

Thank's Spitfire, just one follow up question, how do I know whether my laptop has bluetooth? I had a look in the hardware device manager, but there is nothing which says "bluetooth", or would I find it somewhere else? Thank you for your patience, Sybille

post your brand and model/type number and I should be able to tell you.

 

[spitfire]

Re: RE: Indosat 3.5g 3.6 Mbps???

Hello,
as we have no telefone-line to our house in Jimbaran I always go to internet-shops. Now bought a laptop for Bali and would like to know what is the easiest way to use internet with it.

....and not so firm with internet-connections with handphone etc. I not really understand all the informations before.

In that case Johannes, to use your laptop at the internetcafe. Then you'll have at least some sort of professional help in case you have problems. Connecting through handphone or even USB modem requires some insight as sometimes nothing is wrong with your settings or connection and you'll still have no internet because the provider is down.