PHONE

Indonesian are crazy about handphone. Once I saw a panhandler was making a call while he was begging on a intersection. He was probably was making phone call to his stock broker. Seeing somebody making a phone call while riding a motorcycle is not something unusual here. So, welcome to Indonesia.

There are several cellular providers in Indonesia, but generally accepted that Telkomsel has the widest coverage throughout Indonesia. I wish they were paying me for writing this. The kind of SIM card that I recommend is SIMPATI.

Two ways of  topping up your card. Buy a a top up card and do it yourself by scratching the numbers on it and following instruction (in English) or get the seller do it electronically (wait until the amount you put in already added to your account before you leave). There is a small charge to it. My advise is to  buy a stack of cards in large amount (Rp 100.000) whenever you have the chance. They are relatively hard to get. Nothing worse than being stuck somewhere where you have phone signal but unable to make a call.

I am running out of time. I will write and about Internet service later.