Spent $300 on a local SIM card plan in Bali and it was a total waste

I got here last month and bought a tourist SIM from a shop in Canggu for about 300 bucks, thinking it would give me fast, reliable internet for my video calls. The first two days were fine, but then the speed dropped so low I couldn't even load a basic email. I tried moving around to different cafes, but the signal was just as bad. Has anyone found a better mobile provider that actually works across the island?

3 comments

3 Comments

hernandez.gavin1d ago

Yeah, that's the classic tourist SIM trap. Those shops in Canggu charge a huge markup for the same card you can get at an official Telkomsel or XL store for way less. I always go straight to a mall and get a regular monthly plan. The coverage is still spotty in some areas, but it's more reliable than those prepaid tourist packs that seem to throttle data hard after a few days. For video calls, I've had the best luck finding a cafe with its own fiber WiFi as a backup.

schmidt.iris1d ago

Ugh, I learned that the hard way too. I mean, @hernandez.gavin is totally right about the mall kiosks. Last trip I got a Telkomsel plan at Lippo Mall and it was way cheaper, like half the price for more data. The speed was okay for most stuff, but yeah, video calls were still kinda rough unless I was on wifi.

andrew_baker91d ago

Honestly thought those tourist SIMs were fine, but now I just use cafe wifi everywhere.