The Agony of Unreliable Internet Connection

Yes, finally, I can get active again writing for my blog! My computer arrived in early February, and only about a month ago that I switched my dial-up connection to a broadband one (cable), so hopefully, things have settled now that I can start writing again consistently.

Even though the cable is supposed to be much faster than dial-up, the broadband infrastructure in Jakarta is not yet advanced enough. Compare this: advertised speed for dial-up is 56K, while advertised speed for cable is 64K. 64K!? That’s only 8K difference! Back in the States, the advertised speed is 768K and up to 1Mb! That’s a 712K difference, at least! See what I mean? The only good thing with cable is probably that I don’t need to pay for continued phone line use, which is a good thing since I racked up the phone bill for the past three months before the switch. ;P

And not only that, even the broadband acts very strangely here. It only connects up to the advertised speed after 7-8 pm and then deteriorates after about 6-7 am. One could theorize that not many people use the internet at night. Well, it should hold for dial-up, yes, but broadband!? Not only that, the connection is sketchy, dropping so often in the middle of browsing. Oh, how I missed surfing the Internet to my heart’s content…!

My brother gives me some explanation about this quirk [well, since he owns an internet cafe, I think that qualifies him as the family expert on this matter]. He said that the local broadband operators have to lease some sort of a “tunnel” that will then connect to Internet sites outside Indonesia, which is expensive, so they limit the number of people connecting at any one time. This explains the non-existent performance during daylight, but I think it still doesn’t explain the sketchy connection.

Yes, I expect too much, perhaps, considering the infrastructure is not as advanced. But I grew accustomed to the blazing speed of my former host country. Due to these inconsistencies, I almost come to blow on several occasions with the operator’s tech service here. Luckily, my brother’s explanation cooled me down, and I tried to live with this predicament.