Me and IMEI - Running Errands in Sumatra (Ep.04)

[@jamiebutikofer1378]

Good vid, thanks Doug!

[@kyalanis]

Cc.. Just another awesome video

[@PlanetDoug]

Thank you, KY. 👍

[@WanderEats]

Those young kids really chased after you when they saw you stopped. That was a cool experience I am sure.

[@TS-pq8km]

It was a nice moment. Could not help noticing the food stall in the background. Hopefully young Doug shares some culinary delights in his future videos.

[@PlanetDoug]

They were quite friendly. And it's certainly not an uncommon experience for me here. It's always fun.

[@carrolus1]

Who would believe I just watched a video of a man buying a kettle 🤣🤣🤣

[@abdulrahmanabdulghani8833]

I visited 2 Telkomsel offices.One in Medan and recently in Padang.Two beautiful officers at Grapari.

[@naylynn.aung.yangon]

Here in Myanmar, you are entitled to have 2 numbers per ID (National Identity) from the same telco operator. If you are using different telco operators, you can have up to 8 numbers because Myanmar have 4 telcos in total. The registration process is very simple and we don’t have to register our IMEI.

[@andytan8264]

You say you are working on something big. Want to share

[@PlanetDoug]

I'm still working on it, and I plan to share it soon. It's just taking time to dot all the i's and cross all the t's. 😁

[@MegaStooi]

If you plan on returning to Indonesia in the future or staying for more than 90 days this trip, an idea is to buy the cheapest phone here and use it as a hotspot or even a mobile wifi device. Whichever is cheaper.

[@PlanetDoug]

That's probably the best way to handle the situation. Or the easiest. But we'll see how long I can nurse along the phones I currently have until they are banned for all eternity.

[@trivacker]

If we use the cheapest phone bought locally, is there any method that they can detect the IMEI of our main phone that was brought from our country of origin? If yes, will they ban the IMEI?

[@MegaStooi]

@@trivacker Good question. Theoretically they can but I doubt they are. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to use the hotel wifi.

[@hyzeinkem7536]

The process of getting a sim card sounds a lot tougher than applying for a visa to travel to North Korea lol

[@PlanetDoug]

It has definitely been difficult for me. I've had lots of problems with my phones and SIM cards in Sumatra. But I've chatted with other people who enter Indonesia through the airport in Jakarta or Bali, and they don't seem to run into the same issues. They just get a SIM card and that's it. I'm not quite sure why I've run into so many problems. Perhaps I did it the wrong way.

[@samraj3179]

Doug, instead of replying, I' am fine, thak you, when you are on the fly, you could reply like Malaysians do. Fine, thank you. If you are not moving, you could add, the word yourself, meaning you are enquiring their well being. This ia a typical Malaysian way of keeping it short and sweet.

[@ByondArt]

Remind me of your adventure buying kettle in yangon Myanmar.. 😅 Imei registration likely nothing related to sim.. more likely to fight illegal import, stolen phone. They ban new iPhone too that apple didn't commit required investment in their country. Or include certain % of local parts to produce products

[@PlanetDoug]

Yes, I've had this same kettle experience three other times. I think this is the fourth time. I discovered this type of kettle in Myanmar, and I was so excited that I made a whole video about it and did an unboxing of the kettle right out on the street. That kettle lasted a long time. It finally died in Thailand during the pandemic. I replaced it with a nearly identical kettle that I bought in Dumai. It was quite an adventure tracking that one down. But somehow that kettle didn't last as long, and I had to buy a replacement in Medan. And that kettle from Medan lasted an even shorter amount of time. And I had to replace it with this fourth one. I like this style of kettle, but I should probably look for a more modern type of travel kettle that doesn't burn out and break down so quickly. I read articles about how Indonesia has banned the latest iPhones and other products. The government is getting serious about protecting the local markets and preventing black market electronics being smuggled into the country from abroad and sold. You're right that that is what the IMEI registration is all about. Getting a SIM card takes a long time for me, but it's no problem getting one. It's the phone itself that gets blocked because they want to prevent people from selling it in Indonesia. Of course, I have no intention of selling any phones. I'm just a tourist, and I'll take the phone with me when I leave, but the IMEI still got registered with customs.

[@Lostlife2030]

Indonesian Telecom companys Technically far behind in the field of communication chips and the Internet .

[@apa5749]

i'm Indonesian i complain about this a lot, last month i just got home after 2 years working in Thailand. when i visited rural provincial towns in Thailand, i got 5G signal most of the time and it's cheap. same thing in Malaysia. then i got home and the only area that i can get 5G signal was just some neighborhoods in the city centre.

[@kennytancg]

@@apa5749 its bane. It takes more than 90 days to cover the entire Archipelago

[@Yoggi_Koto]

Just buy a phone in indonesia Doug, a cheap one is enough as long as it has cell network. Whenever you visit indonesia, you can buy any sim card and use it without having this IMEI issue

[@Yoggi_Koto]

Or if you just need internet connection, another option is a portable mini router that can be used with sim card

[@mohamadzahidzainulabidin6862]

Mr Dough Why don't you use Esim ,,, then you don't have issue buying local sim card to use internet

[@PlanetDoug]

None of my phones can use an eSim. I guess they date from before eSims became popular. They can only take a physical SIM card. But, to be honest, it wouldn't make any difference. Maybe it's not clear in the video, but the problem has nothing to do with the SIM card. I can get as many SIM cards as I want. The problem is that the phone itself is registered with customs. The physical phone, not the SIM. And customs blocks the phone after a certain amount of time. 🤣 And both of my phones were blocked by customs. That's the problem. It has nothing to do with the SIM card. I had to get one of my phones unblocked before I could even use the SIM card.

[@kugelschreiberzusammenbaue3585]

i used my thai number and bought a roaming package for indonesia.

[@PlanetDoug]

That's a good option for a shorter trip and if you don't need much data. I end up using so much data that I think a roaming package would be super expensive. I looked into it because I have a SIM from Malaysia. And I might be able to use it here in Indonesia with a roaming package, but I think it would turn out to be very expensive.

[@Dapig-d6q]

Beware near palembang or malang...many people at that arae is arrogant

[@azamzain24]

be aware that locked zippers can easily be open with a pen.....videos have been made to show these...😞

[@rawleydavis8881]

CC

[@apa5749]

i'm an Indonesian and i tell you, the whole IMEI thing is annoying. even Indonesians complain about this a lot. last month i just got home after 2 years working in Thailand and i own 2 phones. both were bought in Indonesia before i started to work in Thailand and when i got back home, the customs in the airport insisted that one of them was from abroad because if it is, then i have to pay for an import fee or they will block the IMEI. i told em "if you think i'm lying to you, this phone is gonna get blocked anyway" they created this problem and then they ask why Thailand is way more popular than Indonesia in terms of Tourism. they don't have this thing in Thailand. my phones worked just fine for 2 years without getting blocked.

[@PlanetDoug]

I honestly don't know if any other country has this system of registering phones and other electronics with customs. I haven't come across this IMEI registration policy anywhere else but here in Indonesia. As you said, it's a lot simpler in Thailand. And it's also simpler and faster/easier in Malaysia and Vietnam. There's no need to register with customs, and getting a SIM cards takes just a minute or two. I still don't really understand what the poor woman at Telksomsel is typing as she sets up my new SIM. She types so much and it takes so long, it's like she is working on a novel back there. 😁 And if you combine that with the relatively short 30-day tourist visa and the difficulty involved in extending it, it does get challenging to visit Indonesia. I had so much trouble getting the 30-day e-VOA for this trip. And the online form was so confusing and had a lot of glitches. Put all that together, and it's certainly a lot easier to go to Vietnam or Thailand for your trip. I do like it in Sumatra, but it feels I have had to work pretty hard to be here.

[@apa5749]

​@@PlanetDoug The only thing i had to register in Thailand was just the SIM card itself with my passport/work permit. I hope they revise it in the future for tourists and expats who wanna stay here for a long time. As someone who was born and grew up in North Sumatra, I also feel sad to see many tourist destinations not getting as many foreign tourists as they used to be in the early 2000's. Mt. Sibayak, Lake Toba, Nias, etc.

[@trivacker]

I'm Malaysian and love to travel to Indonesia. Maybe will travel frequently in the future. I respect your local domestic affairs, but I do hope Probowo will change these rules.

[@Arnold_X3]

Just use an E-Sim

[@PlanetDoug]

I can't use an e-SIM with my phones. But it wouldn't help anyway. It's not the SIM card that is the problem. The problem is the phone itself. Customs blocks the phones after a certain amount of time. They don't block the SIM. The SIM is fine. They put a block on the phone itself.

[@CSChua]

Cc

[@LeoChaplin]

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