Mobile service providers and Wi-Fi in Bali, Indonesia

When you decide to stay for a longer time in Bali, it is very easy to buy a SIM for your mobile phone. This will prevent extra costs from your own provider in your home country. When you are from Europe, calling in Bali will be very expensive with your own SIM. The best thing is, you can keep your old number and connect it with the SIM, so you don’t have to tell all your friends and family that you have a new phone number. This will save a lot of time. Besides, its very useful if you want to call to book a surf lesson at Odysseys Surf School, Kuta Beach. We made a list with of the three biggest providers in Indonesia.

 

  1. Telkomsel

Telkomsel is the biggest provider in Indonesia. Telkomsel has currently 122 million subscribers. You can choose three different prepaid cards that Telkomsel offers: simPATI, Loop and Kartu As. The most common is simPATI. The price to buy a SIM from simPATI is 50.000 rupiah. Then you have credits to call for 50.000 rupiah. For Internet you need different credits. This will cost 119.000 rupiah for 6gb for 1 month.

 

  1. XL Axiata

XL Axiata is the number two provider in Indonesia. They have 100 million subscribers at the moment. Also, XL Axiata has different packages of data and credits for their customers. The costs for 6gb data for one month are 120.000 rupiah. 200 minutes and 400 SMS costs you 36.000 rupiah. For one month calling and data costs you 156.000 rupiah.

 

  1. Indosat Ooredoo 

Indosast Ooredoo is the number three mobile service provider in Indonesia. At the moment, they have almost 69 million subscribers. A SIM for Indosat Ooredoo is a bit cheaper than Telkomsel. For 6gb data for one month is 80.000 rupiah. The costs for calling to all operators are available in different packages. For 325 minutes a month you pay also 80.000 rupiah. So for one month you pay 160.000 rupiah for 325 minutes and 6gb data.

 

To buy a SIM in Bali, it’s very easy. In Kuta, there are many places where you can buy one. For example, in Mataram there are many stores where you can buy the card. You recognize the stores because of the big banners with the name of the providers. The stores sell cards of all the different providers and they will help you to install the card into your phone. It can be that you will need to cut the card because it’s too big. No worries, they can cut your card on the spot and this will only cost 2.000 rupiah. For credits and data, you can go to the same stores or buy online at the website of the provider.

 

When you stay in an accommodation without Wi-Fi, we understand that you don’t want to use all your data from your mobile phone. For 300.000 rupiah you can buy a wireless router from the brand Smartfren. This will give you 3gb data for one month. To buy new data, this works exactly the same as buying data for the mobile phone. Just go to the store and buy the amount of data you want for one month.

 

The difference between the providers is mostly the reach of the providers. SO before you buy a SIM, ask the employee if there is a good reach in the area where you stay.

 

If you have a bad or good experience with one of the providers, we are curious to read about it in the comments!

 

 

Head image: Google