Broadband connections to make life easier

Broadband connections to make life easier

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): We all know that the world now moves at Internet
speed. Unfortunately, our telecommunications infrastructure seems
to crawl at a snail's pace. The accompanying photo of cables
hanging from the two poles perhaps best reflects the level of
professionalism of our telephone operator. What would happen if a
drunk driver happened to knock these poles down? It would be
several months before I would be able to use the phone in my
house again.

How would you untangle cables that have been installed like
these? And how can you expect a crystal clear connection if the
cables are so disorganized?

The quality of service that we have been receiving only taints
the state company's image further, and like a lot of other people
I have stories to tell. I have two telephone lines at home,
because I work here most of the time. The newer line, which I had
intended to be used as a dedicated line for Internet connection,
has been virtually useless. The line is multiplexed, and the
connection quality is so bad that I have never been able to get
more than 14,000 kbps. Even having a conversation is close to
impossible because of the noise. Most of the time the line does
not have a carrier signal.

To use it, I usually use the other telephone to dial its
number first. Telkom promised that I would get a standard quality
phone line as soon as one became available. I have waited for at
least three years, and I'm still stuck with the multiplexed line.
My current plan is to have it disconnected altogether as soon as
KabelVision's Internet services become available in my area.

More recently, however, PT Telkom annoyed me when without my
knowledge, they switched on the call-waiting feature for the
second time. I had been given this feature earlier as a bonus
when I applied for Caller ID. I soon realized why Telkom gave it
for free. To give you an idea, picture this situation: When I
called X, my meter would start counting. Then if Y called me a
couple of seconds later, I would put X on hold and my meter would
keep running. I would take Y's call and Y's meter would start.
So, during the same span of time, two meters would keep running.
"What a clever way to sell pulses," I said to myself. So I
requested that the feature be turned off.

There are two other strong reasons why I absolutely do not
want the call-waiting feature. I use the same phone line for
accessing the Internet. As far as my modem is concerned, the
least noise the phone line has, the better. The second reason is
that, when the feature was activated, a lot of people complained
that I never picked up my phone. It turned out that they were
calling just when I was using the line to access the Internet.
The call-waiting feature gave them an unanswered calling tone.

I did not want to upset my callers, so I got rid of the call-
waiting feature.

I became angry twice when Telkom, having tracked my relatively
large monthly phone bills that always got paid in full, decided
that I should be helping them generate more pulses. So they
activated the call-waiting feature without notifying me, let
alone asking for my approval. I had to call them twice to have it
canceled. A couple of months later, Telkom once again switched on
the call-waiting feature.

Have you ever tried accessing PT Telkom's Website? I went to
the site hoping that I would be able to read more information on
the various types of service features that are available,
including Nada Sela (call-waiting). After what seemed to be ages,
and certainly a lot of pulses, I was disappointed that there was
no such information there.

With such telecommunications infrastructure, and the less than
encouraging performance of the only company that provides us with
the most basic telecommunications services, it is understandable
that most of us feel helpless.

Fortunately, due to an ongoing deregulation in the
telecommunications industry, they may not be as distant as we
believe. "There will be campus area networks with high speed
connections to the Internet that will help us," said Paul
Hardiman from PT Microsoft Indonesia during a recent discussion
with a group of IT journalists. The services will be offered by
more than just one provider.

The satellite-based Internet access that Pan Asia Sat Media
(PASM) is planning to offer us is perhaps one good example. This
Hong Kong-based company is working with their Indonesian partners
to provide this service to high-end Internet cafes, housing
complexes, commercial buildings, university campuses as well as
companies with large operations in remote areas. With one
Internet gateway that is directly linked to the satellite, the
access can be distributed throughout the campus area network in
the buildings, etc.

Unlike many other similar satellite-based services, PASM will
use satellite links for both downlink and uplink connections. The
downlink speed will be up to 1.5 Mbps, while the uplink, which
does not have to be large, will be 386 Kbps. Other providers may
still require us to use dial-up connection to the ISP for the
uplink, which means that we will still be stuck with the old
infrastructure.

Patrick D. Cheung, PASM's chairman, told me that his company
would lease a transponder on Telkom One satellite and would
support the network with a direct ATM link to their hub in Hong
Kong. "Hong Kong is a very good choice for the Internet hub
because of its large bandwidth link to the U.S.," he explained.
Unfortunately, PASM's service will not be available directly to
individual homes yet, as the remote gateway requires an
investment of US$80,000 each. However, groups of homes in a real
estate complex can perhaps justify the cost.

When they launch their services, PASM will not be the only
player in the satellite-based Internet access service. Telkom has
also been offering its own satellite Internet services called
TurboNet. Another provider from Hong Kong that is already
operating here is Infokom, which relies on the AsiaSat 3
satellite.

If you think broadband Internet access is beyond hope, you can
be more optimistic. It may not become available immediately to
you, but it is already on the horizon.