Skip to main content

Experience using Cyberindo Network Exelcomindo (CBN XL) 3G in Indonesia

Overall: Pretty good.

1. In spite of 3G theoretical bandwidth of 384 kbps, CBN XL bandwidth is limited to 64 kbps (that's kilo bit per second), which translated to 8 KBps (Kilo byte per second). In practice, it's around 6 to 7-ish KBps. But early on March, it was around 20KBps according to Sony Ericsson update manager.. I guess they cut it down.

2. The connection is pretty stable. Disconnect is rare even when your 3G modem moves around Jakarta while connected.. Maybe 1 out of ordinary disconnect every 2 days. That's excluding a what seems to be a pre-programmed disconnect every 24 hours period of connection. I guess it's their method to enforce the so called dynamic IP..

3. Sometimes it's difficult to start connection. When that happens, wait for a while and repeat. I give up trying to find the culprit (either from CBN or from XL). Some other time, you can connect but you can't resolve any website name. Reconnect until you're assigned to the correct DNS.

4. The latency seems higher compared to dial up. In short, the connection might take a while before responding to a request. For example, if you click a link, it might take a while before the modem start receiving data on the link.

Self-ping takes around 300ms to 400ms. That's above a healthy people average reaction. Consequently, I think real time online gaming is not feasible, but I haven't tested it yet..

5. For a quick reference, bluetooth 1.2 can sustain CBN XL bandwidth.

Edit 24 April 2008: It seems since 15th March 2008, Cyberindo reduce the bandwidth to a paltry 3KBytes/s. The lag is also unbearable. I guess they decide reduce the quality of this unlimited subscription service to make people move to their new service, which are volume based.

*sigh* I hate entity who don't have the guts to be frank..

Comments

Anonymous said…
i/o of using HP for modem, have you tried GSM Modem on USB ?
Amitz Sekali said…
I use Option Globetrotters Quad Option pcmcia modem card under both windows and linux. Under linux 2.6-ish, the kernel will create a "serial USB" for the pcmcia card, which is used to connect.

I also connect over USB using Sony Ericsson M600i.

I hope that somewhat answer your question, since I never strictly use any pure GSM/GPRS/3G modem..

Popular posts from this blog

A quote from "Virgin": "Saya Masih Perawan".

The intended readers of this post are liberals. You have been warned. I had just turned on my tv and saw the last minutes of the movie "Virgin" (2004), made in Indonesia. It's the first time I see this movie. The movie title's alone is enough to cause controversy in Indonesia, a country with the largest moslem population in the world. The content is said to be even more controversial ( http://www.opensubscriber.com/message/buletin-studia@yahoogroups.com/293663.html) due to it's vulgar depiction of sex and ..cursing. Many groups deemed it immoral enough that it was pulled from circulation within 2 weeks (correct me if I'm wrong). Anyway, I'm particularly interested in the last scenes of this movie. A high school girl is standing on a platform talking about something (I didn't pay attention). Many people such as fellow students and some adults watch her. After she finish talking, she pause. But everybody seems waiting her to say something. Finally...

The boiling frog: Internet censorship (Fitna) in Indonesia.

Have you heard the story of boiling frog? Taken from wikipedia: "The boiling frog story states that a frog can be boiled alive if the water is heated slowly enough — it is said that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will never jump out." This blog told me about a decision of a major ISP in Indonesia to censor the controversial fitna film. Regardless of whether that movie deserved to be ban or not, I fear that this censorship is the beginning of boiling frog phenomenon. The justification for the next censorships will be more and more ridiculous that it won't take too long for Indonesia returning to a police state again.. And I do think that the censorship decision is ridiculous. Yes it is probably important to ban this movie in Europe where a majority or people in power are not moslem, because the hatred towards moslem induced by that film put many minority moslems in trouble. But in Ind...