Broadband connections to make life easier<\/p>\n
By Zatni Arbi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): We all know that the world now moves at Internet
\nspeed. Unfortunately, our telecommunications infrastructure seems
\nto crawl at a snail's pace. The accompanying photo of cables
\nhanging from the two poles perhaps best reflects the level of
\nprofessionalism of our telephone operator. What would happen if a
\ndrunk driver happened to knock these poles down? It would be
\nseveral months before I would be able to use the phone in my
\nhouse again.<\/p>\n
How would you untangle cables that have been installed like
\nthese? And how can you expect a crystal clear connection if the
\ncables are so disorganized?<\/p>\n
The quality of service that we have been receiving only taints
\nthe state company's image further, and like a lot of other people
\nI have stories to tell. I have two telephone lines at home,
\nbecause I work here most of the time. The newer line, which I had
\nintended to be used as a dedicated line for Internet connection,
\nhas been virtually useless. The line is multiplexed, and the
\nconnection quality is so bad that I have never been able to get
\nmore than 14,000 kbps. Even having a conversation is close to
\nimpossible because of the noise. Most of the time the line does
\nnot have a carrier signal.<\/p>\n
To use it, I usually use the other telephone to dial its
\nnumber first. Telkom promised that I would get a standard quality
\nphone line as soon as one became available. I have waited for at
\nleast three years, and I'm still stuck with the multiplexed line.
\nMy current plan is to have it disconnected altogether as soon as
\nKabelVision's Internet services become available in my area.<\/p>\n
More recently, however, PT Telkom annoyed me when without my
\nknowledge, they switched on the call-waiting feature for the
\nsecond time. I had been given this feature earlier as a bonus
\nwhen I applied for Caller ID. I soon realized why Telkom gave it
\nfor free. To give you an idea, picture this situation: When I
\ncalled X, my meter would start counting. Then if Y called me a
\ncouple of seconds later, I would put X on hold and my meter would
\nkeep running. I would take Y's call and Y's meter would start.
\nSo, during the same span of time, two meters would keep running.
\n\"What a clever way to sell pulses,\" I said to myself. So I
\nrequested that the feature be turned off.<\/p>\n
There are two other strong reasons why I absolutely do not
\nwant the call-waiting feature. I use the same phone line for
\naccessing the Internet. As far as my modem is concerned, the
\nleast noise the phone line has, the better. The second reason is
\nthat, when the feature was activated, a lot of people complained
\nthat I never picked up my phone. It turned out that they were
\ncalling just when I was using the line to access the Internet.
\nThe call-waiting feature gave them an unanswered calling tone.<\/p>\n
I did not want to upset my callers, so I got rid of the call-
\nwaiting feature.<\/p>\n
I became angry twice when Telkom, having tracked my relatively
\nlarge monthly phone bills that always got paid in full, decided
\nthat I should be helping them generate more pulses. So they
\nactivated the call-waiting feature without notifying me, let
\nalone asking for my approval. I had to call them twice to have it
\ncanceled. A couple of months later, Telkom once again switched on
\nthe call-waiting feature.<\/p>\n
Have you ever tried accessing PT Telkom's Website? I went to
\nthe site hoping that I would be able to read more information on
\nthe various types of service features that are available,
\nincluding Nada Sela (call-waiting). After what seemed to be ages,
\nand certainly a lot of pulses, I was disappointed that there was
\nno such information there.<\/p>\n
With such telecommunications infrastructure, and the less than
\nencouraging performance of the only company that provides us with
\nthe most basic telecommunications services, it is understandable
\nthat most of us feel helpless.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, due to an ongoing deregulation in the
\ntelecommunications industry, they may not be as distant as we
\nbelieve. \"There will be campus area networks with high speed
\nconnections to the Internet that will help us,\" said Paul
\nHardiman from PT Microsoft Indonesia during a recent discussion
\nwith a group of IT journalists. The services will be offered by
\nmore than just one provider.<\/p>\n
The satellite-based Internet access that Pan Asia Sat Media
\n(PASM) is planning to offer us is perhaps one good example. This
\nHong Kong-based company is working with their Indonesian partners
\nto provide this service to high-end Internet cafes, housing
\ncomplexes, commercial buildings, university campuses as well as
\ncompanies with large operations in remote areas. With one
\nInternet gateway that is directly linked to the satellite, the
\naccess can be distributed throughout the campus area network in
\nthe buildings, etc.<\/p>\n
Unlike many other similar satellite-based services, PASM will
\nuse satellite links for both downlink and uplink connections. The
\ndownlink speed will be up to 1.5 Mbps, while the uplink, which
\ndoes not have to be large, will be 386 Kbps. Other providers may
\nstill require us to use dial-up connection to the ISP for the
\nuplink, which means that we will still be stuck with the old
\ninfrastructure.<\/p>\n
Patrick D. Cheung, PASM's chairman, told me that his company
\nwould lease a transponder on Telkom One satellite and would
\nsupport the network with a direct ATM link to their hub in Hong
\nKong. \"Hong Kong is a very good choice for the Internet hub
\nbecause of its large bandwidth link to the U.S.,\" he explained.
\nUnfortunately, PASM's service will not be available directly to
\nindividual homes yet, as the remote gateway requires an
\ninvestment of US$80,000 each. However, groups of homes in a real
\nestate complex can perhaps justify the cost.<\/p>\n
When they launch their services, PASM will not be the only
\nplayer in the satellite-based Internet access service. Telkom has
\nalso been offering its own satellite Internet services called
\nTurboNet. Another provider from Hong Kong that is already
\noperating here is Infokom, which relies on the AsiaSat 3
\nsatellite.<\/p>\n
If you think broadband Internet access is beyond hope, you can
\nbe more optimistic. It may not become available immediately to
\nyou, but it is already on the horizon.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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