Rodney Reloaded…
OK, you’ve all read in the previous blog post of my growing hatred of Indosat M2 Broom “Classic” service due to it’s pricing structure, plus the annoying fact it never delivers anything near the promised 3.6Mbps speeds. As a technical person, I realize the speed is actually “up to” 3.6Mbps, but only in a perfect world.
If there are no sunspots AND there are zero negatively charged protons in the atmosphere AND there is extra electrical power being fed to Indosat’s broadcast towers AND Jupiter is aligned with Mars and Venus in triange formation, THEN you will MAYBE see 3.6Mbps speed!
Even more sneaky is Indosat is doing “Bandwidth Throttling!” Put simply: they track users’ bandwidth usage then increase or decrease the speed for the user. Heavy-traffic gets slowed down, like BitTorrent and video streaming, while text-oriented stuff (like general browsing) is not slowed down. So, when hitting YouTube, maybe your wonderful pseudo-3.6Mbps speed will drop to just 5 or 10Kbps. BUT if you go to a speed-test site, to test your bandwidth speed, Indosat will then “throttle up” the speed, so it will test at near 3.6Mbps, then slow down when you return to your YouTube viewing hahaha. YouTube is just an example here. And yes, one of the Indosat Techs told me this: I taught English at Indosat’s Headquarters for over 3 months, and some of the students are system people.
I decided to ditch my IM2 Classic service, and go with IM2’s Broom Unlimited (for description, read the previous blog post). I called more than a dozen vendors that sell the Broom Starter Kits (which are used to activate the service) but none had kits for Broom Unlimited. They only had Broom Starter Kits for Classic only. 
A BIG misconception many people believe is the starter kits are generic, and thus can be used for activating Classic or Unlimited service accounts: WRONG! Some kits can be for either service, but MOST kits can only be used for Classic. There is NO visual difference between the kits: no wording or special code. Vendors just are told at the time they get the kits which they are. Vendors I contacted only had kits for Classic service! *~ cry ~*
I then decided to go to IM2 Broadband Center (main center) in Plaza Semanggi, a mall I absolutely hate. I got there and guess what: they don’t have any kits except for Classic! The IM2 customer service guy told me they are intentionally not selling the Unlimted Kits, as so many people want them (uhhh, that is a bad thing????). He went on to say there “may be” some Unlimited kits available in June. *~ WTF! ~*
I had The Evil Twin on the phone, and she gave lots of advice. Eventually the guy said “there is a new service: Broom ‘Xtra’ Unlimited. Only Giant supermarket downstairs at the underground level sells it.”
I asked him what is Broom Xtra as I never saw it on their web site or heard of it. He explained: The standard Broom Unlimited service is Rp. 100k/month, with 256Kbps speed for the first 2GB of data, and the rest of the month is at a slower speed of 64Kbps of unlimited data. The new Broom “Xtra” Unlimited service is Rp. 125k/month, with 256Kbps speed for the first 2.5GB, and the rest of the month is at 64Kbps of unlimited data. Basically, you get 25% more data at high speed for 25% more $ for the starter kit (starter kits are a one-time cost). Fair enough!
The only downside is the IM2 Broom Xtra starter kit is Rp. 200k instead of Rp. 150k (the price of the Classic/Unlimited kits). I’ll live with that one-time extra price! 
But here comes the kicker: The Indosat guy said “Giant’s selling “Extra” at Rp. 275k because they are the only location in Indonesia that has it until late May/early June! *~ WTF!? ~*
I go to Giant, and yup, they have it! BUT at that higher price. As you can see below, the price is clearly Rp. 200k, but Giant has a monopoly. OK, I still say that one-time price is acceptible.
![](http://www.rodneyonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/broom_extra-2.jpg "The Legendary Bigfoot, uhh I mean Broom \")
I’m using Broom Xtra right now. *~ Loves It! ~*
The Indosat guy is right, it’s very fast: faster than then predicted 256Kbps. I rechecked and Broom Xtra is not listed on their website, and not even found via Google search. It is a brand new product they were planning to announce in the future, and the only way to get it is by praying the IM2 guy tells you, AFTER you visit their location.
Now, how did Giant get the unheard of kits? I am sure some deal is made, and asked. IM2 guy said “the vendor stand owner knows ’someone’. Thus that extra Rp. 75k is going into the vendor booth owner’s pocket — and probably a percentage to the IM2 guy as well! Oh well, corruption is widespread in Indonesia. I will look at this time as “helping the Economic Crisis.” hahahahahaha.
The Matrix Has You, Rodney…
Internet access in Indonesia is not quite as widespread or has as fast access speed as in the USA. And certainly Jakarta lacks the city wide free Internet access that Singapore currently sports. But, one thing I do like is access via 3G networks: simply plug in a SIM card into a USB modem, and connect. My personal favorite access provider is Indosat. I like Indosat’s prepaid service, called Broom! Broom comes in two flavors: Classic and Unlimited.
Broom Classic gives you high speed, 3.6Mbps, access for a fee based on credit vouchers (about 200k Rupiah will get you about 300MB of data). Once you use up your Rupiah credit, you must buy more credit. That 300MB can last you for 1 day (if you do lots of YouTube videos or porn) or 3 months, if you only do email. The time it lasts depends on your personal type of usage.
*~ I’m currently buying about 600K Rupiah of credit a month! kyaaaaa ~*
Broom Unlimited gives you just that: unlimited data for only 100k Rupiah per month, but at 256Kbs for the first 2GB of data, and the remainder of the month would be at 64Kbs. If you leave your computer online 24/7 to download, there is no limit, but simply at a slower connection than Broom Classic.
I currently have Broom Classic, and I hate it. I, nor anyone else I know with Classic, NEVER sees speeds anywhere near 3.6Mbps! I barely even see 256Kbs using Classic! So, why bother?
I’m buying another Broom Kit (Rp. 150k) and activating it for Unlimited! Unfortunately, you cannot change Classic into Unlimited (Indosat knows they making a fortune on people using Classic, for nowhere near the promised speed!).
I received a free Broom Kit with a new modem I purchased. I tried to activate it for Unlimited but could not. I called customer service, and was told “oh, kits with modem already set to classic” hahaha. They trying soooo hard to force people to classic. Screw That!
Tomorrow, I’m going Unlimited!
Take care!
Bahasa Indonesia Lesson for Today
Prabayar: Prepaid
Taxi Cab Coolness…
I meet the most interesting taxi drivers when I travel around the city and in other countries. I only wish I had taken pictures of them all. But, I do have two stories to share about taxi drivers who are out-of-the-box thinkers, and made their taxis so cool and unique! Pics of the taxis are at the end of the post. Don’t bitch about the pictures’ quality. I was in moving/bouncing taxis shooting with my Blackberry’s crappy camera! And no laughing at the drawing!
Fresh-N-Fruity:
If I am not using a private car and driver, I take a taxi to and from work. I usually find the taxi driver waiting inside of the taxi, with the windows rolled down. I usually dread getting in, as there will usually be mosquitos!
*~ I always feel like King Kong swinging at tiny airplanes! ~*
A few days ago, the taxi was waiting, with windows down. I got in with dread, but found a wonderful surprise: a fruit basket! This driver had a fruit basket between the front two seats, bottles of water in one front seat’s back pocket, and an assortment of magazines in the other front seat’s back pocket!
By the way, for my American friends: that brown fruit is Snake Fruit (I cannot remember the actual Indonesian name for it, but was told that is what it is nicknamed). The outer covering really feels tough and smooth and like scales!
The smell of the fruits and foliage was sooooo nice. No mosquitos, and no Jakarta traffic smell! Umm. The driver was very proud of his taxi, of course, and had a big grin at my surprise. He showed me a newspaper clipping where he was interviewed and his taxi was pictured! It was so cool. :)
Bling!
Last year I went to Singapore so many times that the immigration people knew my name, and began to even question was I living there on a tourist visa, and simply leaving and returning every month hahaha. When I had to go to the Indonesian Embassy for my work visa. As the embassy is always packed, I would have to get there EARLY morning to insure all can be processed before I flew back to Jakarta a few days later. So, I went out from the hotel early to find a taxi.
*~ Yes, you can NOT get the Indonesia work visa within Indonesia. You must get it from an Indonesian embassy in another country, go figure! This is the only country, by the way, that cannot process a work visa within its own borders–I’ve checked. I’ve no idea why! ~*
I flagged down one guy with these cool blue sunglasses, and got in. The car smelled like a buddhist temple (not in a bad way)! But, there were soooo many decorations! toy cars, coins glued to the steering wheel, and lucky charms from three religions hanging from the rear-view mirror! And he was playing some way cool music. He was a member of the music group, and taxi driving was his day job. He definitely had style!
Take Care!