Bali Internet--How To Stay Connected on Your Phone

[@danielmcgrarh9510]

Helpful video mate well done

[@Wagefreedom]

Thanks very much Daniel, glad you found it useful.

[@markformston6606]

Hello Tom. I have heard that Go-jek/ Grab drivers sometimes pass on jobs if they see the client (me) has an international number (as per Whatsapp) as it's too expensive for them to call me back if necessary. Excuse my ignorance, but if i buy a local SIM , do i retain my normal mobile number, or get given a new "local" number? Thanks

[@vivianLx3]

How could I get fast internet for my laptop? Perhaps streaming or uploading videos?

[@Wagefreedom]

Hi Vivian and thanks for your question ---- just about any restaurant or cafe nowadays has free Internet, and usually it's good enough for downloading and streaming. If you live here and you sign up with a local ISP for an internet connection, even cheaper connections like 250,000 rupiah per month would be plenty good enough for fast downloading and streaming. Internet connection reliability and speeds have really improved in Bali in the last few years, to say nothing of the way it was 10 or 15 years ago! Also I should mention, a lot of people I know get a little portable modem and use SIM cards to tether their laptops from when they are out and about, or even for home usage. Mobile operators are offering more and more bandwidth per month for a given price as time goes on, it's great!

[@vivianLx3]

Wage Freedom thanks for the response! I'll be working remote from Bali during pst hours and vpning in. Cafes might be closed :( would you suggest anything else? Hotspots?

[@Wagefreedom]

Hi Vivian -- if you're visiting and not signing up for service from an ISP then you can get the portable modem I talked about earlier and buy SIM cards. It's cost effective since you can get a lot of bandwidth for a reasonable price from carriers like XL, Telkomsel, Tri, and many more. When you know where you are staying ask around for what has the best coverage in that area. Lots of people who live here do that, just control their access 24/7 from anywhere. There are 24 hour coworking spots around. These are relatively expensive compared to an ISP or going thru your own SIM card, but good for networking of course. I don't know where you'll be staying so here are a few: In Canggu: www.dojobali.org/en Legian/Seminyak: hubbali.co/ Ubud: hubud.org/ Good luck Vivian!

[@vivianLx3]

Wage Freedom thank you so much! You've been so helpful. I'll be staying in seminyak so your suggestion helps a lot :)

[@andy-travels2345]

hi tom I usually get my sim card at the airport,, if I,m staying for a week or so,,,mite be going back to bali later in the year thanks for the info

[@Wagefreedom]

Hi Andy -- hey you're welcome, getting your sim at the airport must be the most convenient, absolutely, but if you want to save a little and you're staying around Seminyak, the people at the phone counter at the entrance to the Bintang market on Legian are very good and they'll set you up for 180k with a sim, the last time I checked. Just fyi bud.

[@tishayalston6522]

@@Wagefreedom I'm planning on staying in Canguu but once I leave the airport I lose wifi. How am I able to call a gojek etc if I won't have wifi

[@Wagefreedom]

Hi Tishay--almost all restaurants and other establishments have Wi-Fi around. If you're here for a while you'll definitely want to get a local SIM card though, they are not expensive.

[@maxriley1225]

Hi tom, thank you for the informative video. i use around 25GB per month and am travelling all the way from Medan to West Nusa Tenggara over 3 months. my phone is unlocked, would you recommend buying the telkomsel sim card and topping up 6gb for Rp60k multiple times a month or a different strategy for this duration of time? thank you for any help you can give.

[@Wagefreedom]

Hi Max--- thanks for your question. That is exactly what I'd do, Telkomsel or XL. You'll have no problem doing that all the way to Bali and further east, my wife goes back to Medan periodically and tops up her data on her Bali sim card.

[@mdzakyalfaris96]

My using Provider Three Indonesia