The service people
That, ironically and misleadingly enough, is the motto of Indonet, or indo.net.id. The problems are legion. Sometimes the screen says optimistically that data is coming at 31,200 bps, but after 12 minutes, yes, 12, only 1,042 bytes have been received. (At least that was yesterday's record.) I might have been patient a little longer, but then my server disconnected me. Twelve minutes of phone and Internet connection time, for nothing. I made another three tries before being able to download two simple, brief, e-mail text messages. Later the same night, things were worse, though possibly less costly, since I could not even get a phone connection for two hours. (Had someone disconnected the lines for the night to save energy?).
A month or so ago I started sending e-mails during peak phone rate times, thinking there were likely to be fewer users on line and service might be better. I was wrong.
"If the service is not good, why don't you just cancel?" True to their motto, this was Indonet's suggested solution to my problem. There is a pragmatic reason for not giving up/in: my e- mail address is on business listings. More important, capitulation doesn't really solve the problem of poor service, just moves it to a different place. I would rather "fight than switch".
What is the problem? With my Medan server, I believe it is that they are oversubscribed in relation to their service capacity. Sign up as many users as you can and maximize income -- never mind that the band width is too narrow to handle the volume, never mind that they haven't acquired their own dedicated service line, never mind how poor service is. And just for good measure, add an Internet cafe to your place of business so you can attract more income from high school (SMA) students who prefer to log on to their favorite porno website (no, I'm not making this up) without parental interference -- further clogging your line for subscribers.
The poor quality of service of Internet providers like Indonet has ramifications beyond that of driving people like me nearly to bad language. Without reliable telecommunications service, how can people do business efficiently both to and from Indonesia? We are not talking about the Internet as a medium for friendly e- mail chats or holiday greeting cards (or pornography). The quality of service, both technical and personal, will impact Indonesia's viability as a site for business. How will Indonesia compete with countries like Singapore and Malaysia and even Vietnam in a few years, if the tolerance level for poor communications service remains so high?
On Dec. 29, Mr. Erik Versavel hit the nail on the head when he wrote, "It's not about television channels." And it's not just about poor Internet service, either. As Mr. Versavel noted, it's about respect for consumers, consumer's rights, consumer empowerment. In an environment where people cannot even demand that the "social contract" be honored in straightforward everyday commercial transactions, the sense of entitlement to shape the form and content of one's government cannot mature. The emergence of a strong consumer rights movement can be a pivotal element in a democracy's development. Which may explain why representatives of the status quo like Indovision and Indonet and the Immigration Office -- would anyone care to name others? -- are so steadfastly unresponsive to consumer complaints.
DONNA K. WOODWARD
Medan, North Sumatra