Changing Internet Connection - Quality Matters

Few years ago, having an always-on or unlimited-online-time internet connection in Jakarta, Indonesia, is quite something of a luxury. At that time, when I am new to the internet, my only internet connection is the 56k dialup, which connects at 44kbps most of the time. Having even a 64kbps unlimited internet for a reasonable fixed cost is next to impossible, especially in my area in which no cable TV network are present (hence no internet through cable modems are available). Things get better with the introduction of GPRS, and IM3 (free GPRS internet) was my choice, and later, Matrix GPRS (fixed cost unlimited).

My first real always-on internet connection was through Diginet, a wireless ISP which happened to cover my residence area. At first, it provides a good connection, up to the promised 512kbps. The service, however, was poor from the beginning: unqualified support staffs, bad finance (billing) process, etc. Since the connection was good, I don’t really care about the others. Afterall, it was the ONLY choice available, to fit in my budget.

After the first couple of months or so, problems start to happen. Random downtimes, which span well into hours or even a couple of days to fix, which happens at least a few times a month. Wireless signal quality from my home to the towers are nearly perfect, as it’s just some 700metres away, therefore it’s not the problem. As I found out later on, the problem comes from the bad network setup, low quality hardwares, etc. If you’re looking at an internet connection which disconnects randomly (especially if it’s raining), shutdown on holidays, then, Diginet is your choice, seriuously!

The problem becomes more annoying as the now-greedy provider thinks “up to 512kbps” can be interpreted as “limit the connection to 128kbps”, and you can’t complain since 128 <= 512 which is not contradictory to “up to 512kbps”. Mind you, it’s not the network load, peak hour, etc, its a HARD limit (e.g. your downloads speed flat out at that number). At some point, the limit even goes down to 64kbps…

The bandwidth condition is actually more complex than that: the number above is for HTTP connection only. For non-HTTP connection, the international bandwidth is about 2KB/s, or 16kbps. Even my G729 VoIP equipment (which requires only 16kbps one-way) can’t work properly… The connection to local internet (Indonesian Internet eXchange - IIX) is also limited to 256kbps. Nowhere near the promised 512kbps…

So, after some more than two years of frustrating service, I decided that, no more Diginet! (two of my friend has some similar experience, so it’s not an isolated case). Seems that their way of doing business is not something I can tolerate.

The solution comes by subscribing to another wireless internet service, this time provided by a more reputable ISP called CBN. Their offer was a “up to 512kbps” internet connection, through wireless which is branded as the CBN DirectNet Wireless. With all of the equipments provided, it costs IDR 440.000,- per month, minus the frustrating support services like Diginet always had (even their cheaper cost of IDR 220.000,- doesn’t justify the difference). Their Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) consists of a Mikrotik RouterBoard for wireless, which is connected to their towers at 5ghz with the help of a simple Panel Antenna made by Kenbotong. This is a major upgrade, compared to Diginet’s homemade yagi antenna coupled to a radio device made by Senao (which is good, but its the only good thing in Diginet’s service). After a few hours of installation by their team, the internet connection just works.

Below is the speed of my new internet connection, along with the old one for a comparison. A few days of use and I haven’t had any serious problem yet.

(The connection speed to the international internet)

(The connection speed to the local IIX internet)

Now that’s what I call “up to 512kbps” connection, which hold up to my standard of the quality of service I expect from an internet provider. Hopefully this one lasts longer, as I’ve been a customer of CBN for many years (for dial-up) and the service was always satisfactory. Living in Jakarta and looking for a better connection? Maybe this is what you’re looking for, and they said they’ve covered most of West Jakarta, as well as other areas.

-Andrian Kurniady