Indonesia Good to Know

Keeping in touch with the outside world from Indonesia is rarely a problem, at least if you stay anywhere close to the beaten track.

Telephone calls

As getting a fixed line remains an unaffordable luxury for many Indonesians, wartel (short for warung telekomunikasi) can be found on most every street in Indonesia.

If you have Global System Mobile (GSM) cellular phone, ask your local provider about "roaming agreement/facility" with local GSM operators in Indonesia (ie: PT Indosat, PT Telkomsel, PT Excelindo etc).

• Making local calls: Dial (telephone number)
• Making long distance calls: Dial 0-(area code)-(telephone number)
• Making international calls: Dial 017-(country code)-(area code, if any)-(telephone number)
• Beside "017" prefix, you can use "001", "007" or "008". For example: 001-(country code)-(area code, if any)-(telephone number)
• You can make International calls through operator: dial 101 or 102.
• Making long distance collect calls: Dial 0871-(area code)
• Connecting to the Internet: Dial 080989999 (from your modem), costing you Rp. 165/minute in business days and Rp. 100/minute in Saturdays and Sundays
• TELKOM Calling Card access number: Dial 168

Mobile phones

The Indonesian mobile phone market is heavily competed and prices are low: you can pick up a prepaid SIM card for less than Rp 20,000 (US$ 2) and calls may cost as little as Rp 1,000 a minute (subject to the usual host of restrictions). SMS service is generally very cheap, with local SMS as low as Rp.100-150, and international SMS for Rp.400-600. Indonesia is also the world's largest market for used phones and basic models start from Rp 200,000.

The largest operators are Telkomsel (brand Kartu HALO, simPATI, Kartu As), Indosat (brands Matrix, Mentari, IM3), 3 AXIS and Excelcomindo (brands Jempol, Bebas). In general Telkomsel has the best coverage, especially in remote places, while the other three are slightly cheaper; on Java and Bali, any will work just fine.

If you have Global System Mobile (GSM) cellular phone, ask your local GSM operator about "roaming agreement/facility" in Indonesia. Most GSM operators in Indonesia have roaming agreement with various GSM operators worldwide. Using roaming facility, you can use your own cellular phone and GSM SIM card in Indonesia But, of course, this means you will pay several times more than if using local SIM.

Most Indonesian operators use GSM, but beware of the few offering CDMA phones: they are slightly cheaper, but generally not usable outside major cities. Be sure to double-check when buying!

Internet

The modern-day version of the wartel is the warnet, which feature Internet-connected PCs as well, and many shops now do double duty. Prices vary considerably, and as usual you tend to get what you pay for, but you'll usually be looking at around Rp 5,000 per hour. In large cities, there are free hotspots in certain shopping malls, McDonald restaurants and StarBucks cafes. Some hotels provide free hotspots in the lobby.

If you have GSM/WCDMA Mobile phones, you can easily use them for internet connections with most prepaid cards with the major operators. Packet-based and unlimited monthly/weekly/daily packages are both available (the latter are becoming more popular), and the available deals and combinations change constantly. The best way to know current deals is to visit operators' websites (generally in Indonesian only, so you may need to use a service like Google Translate), or to ask dealers selling SIM cards.

As of August 2010, Rp.100,000-200,000/month (or from Rp.10,000/day)will get you unlimited Internet on Telkomsel, Indosat or XL, with maximum speeds varying from 256 kbit/s to 2 Mbit/s in 3G covered areas — although in practice often much less due to congestion, and the highest speeds are only available in the main cities and tourist destinations. Despite the claims of various dodgy airport shops, you do not need to buy a modem bundle to use these packages with your phone.

Other information services

• Current time: Dial 103
• Information about TELKOM services: Dial 162
• Phone directory: Dial 108
• Phone directory in other cities: Dial (Code Area) 108
• Hello Yellow Phone Directory: Dial (62)(21) 7917 8108

Online Yellow Pages: Indonesian YellowPages ; Code area of large cities in Indonesia:

• Balikpapan (0542)
• Banda Aceh (0651)
• Bandung (022)
• Batam (0778)
• Denpasar (0361)
• Jakarta (021)
• Jogyakarta (0274)
• Kupang (0380)
• Makassar (0411)
• Manado (0431)
• Medan (061)
• Palembang (0711)
• Pekanbaru (0761)
• Semarang (024)
• Solo (0271)
• Surabaya (031)

Tourism Promotion Centre

• Ministry of Tourism and Culture. Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat No.17, 9th floor, Jakarta 10110, Tel.: (62)(21) 383 8303.
• Indonesia Tourism Promotion Board (BPPI), Wisma Nugraha Santana 9th flr. Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 8, Jakarta 12930. Tel.: (62)(21) 570 4879. Fax.: (62)(21) 570 4855.

Emergency

Here is a list of emergency numbers in Indonesia (please note that while these numbers are accessible for free from all non-mobile telephones, they may not be accessible from mobile phones :

• Police : 110
• Fire department : 113
• Ambulance : 118
• Search and rescue team: 115.
• Indonesian Police HQ. Jl. Trunojoyo 3, South Jakarta. Tel.: (62)(21) 7218144.
• National Search and Rescue agency (BASARNAS): Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur No.5, Jakarta 10110. Tel.: (62)(21) 348-32881, (62)(21) 348-32908, (62)(21) 348-32869, Fax.: (62)(21) 348-32884, (62)(21) 348-32885. Website: Basarnas

Others

Embassies, high commissions and consulates

The Departemen Luar Negeri (Deplu) or Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintains a complete searchable database of diplomatic institutions. All embassies are located in Jakarta (see that article for listings), but a few countries maintain consulates general and honorary consulates elsewhere, mostly in Surabaya, Bali and port cities (eg. Malaysia in Pekanbaru, Philippines in Manado and so on).