Job Discussion Forums

[traveller]

HI,

I'm interested in working in Indonesia next year, perhaps Jakarta or one of the other big cities on Java.

I'd like to know the available internet speeds there for home use, availability, stability, and costs. I'd also like to know about Internet regs and censorship in the country, if any.

While working there, I hope to start up or join an internet-based business...

Thanks!

[laughing_magpie06]

Slower and more expensive than in the west.

[traveller]

How much does it cost for a good internet link, around 1 Mbps or so?

[laughing_magpie06]

Can't remember exactly but I think I paid roughly 300,000 rp per month when I had it on at home. To be honest I always found it much cheaper to go to a net cafe so did it that way pretty early in the piece.

[wannaBguru]

1 mbps? dont think it really exists. 90% of internet here is the dial up variety. most to the cable providers advertise at 286kbps, but rearely acheive that as they overload their servers and have a very limited amount of bandwidth available. i have cable thru cbn and have to buy cable tv from them in order to get the internet. tv=250,000 cable 500,000 .... total 750,000 plus tax. rarely got a speed higher than 20kbps, more often than not it was around 5kbps when using the mcafee speed test.

i had net2cyber for a year. when i first got it, i was averaging 150kpbs, but after more people moved in (1 month), it quicly dropped and i averaged about 40k. also, they blocked P2P sites. i paid about 250,000 rp/month (1 us dollar= about 9000 rp).

now there are some internet providers advertising speeds of 512. most of them limit the amount of download per month. speedy (internet service provided by the national telephone company) costs around 800,000/month but u are limited to 2 gigabytes per month. after that, they start chargin by the megabyte or something. my friend got a bill for 8 million.

there are quite a few new providers with different packages on the market. my friend just got cable internet and it costs 350,000/month unlimited. he says that it is faster than dial-up but not much. u can upgrade to a higher download speed, but must pay 660,000/month.

to sum it up, indo is still in prehistoric times as far as the internet goes. i think u will be very frustrated. but times are changing and hopefully there will be a decent service at a resonable rate sooner or later.

[traveller]

Thanks, wannaBguru - your post was very informative! Also, a tip of the hat to laughing_magpie06.... At least I know how slow it is over there, and what to expect - if I go.

[GuruStip]

No posts in a year or more, then two in one day!

Indosat offer 3G internet (usually between 1-2MBps) for 350.000 a month (1.2 GB bandwidth per month), 625.000 (3GB), or 900.000 (5GB).

At the moment, you get a free modem thing - either a PCMCIA card for a laptop or a USB jobby for a laptop or a desktop. All of Jakarta is covered, as is Bandung, Surabaya and many other places. Bogor doesn't yet seem to be on the list.

We've had it a week - it flies and is fairly reliable, though sometimes drops the signal and we have to log in again. As there are no cables, you can take it anywhere with you, including other covered cities (the modem has a 3G SIM-card inside, like a mobile phone).

[traveller]

Hi!

[mulutmubesar]

I guess Im one of the first users of CDMA phones, that also works as a household line and dial up netwrok. Starone, a project of Indosat network is my provider. Though it may be very slow (115.2Kbps) its compact and I can get online wherever I am, as long as I have my phone connected to my laptop. Ive been loyal to this provider for almost 3 yrs now and it costs me 200 000(more or less) monthly.

[PlasticPill]

[traveller]

(Pops in)

I second PlasticPill's question...