Telkomnet Instant

I have known internet since 1998. However, I started to use it often a year later. Since I didn’t have computer hooked to the internet at home at that time, to go online I needed to go to internet cafes for personal use, or once in a while I used the computer at my (ex) workplace when the computer was not used to work.
In 1999, the users of internet were charged about Rp. 6000,00 until Rp. 7.000,00 per hour with a very very slow access.  When I told a cyber friend of mine living in California at that time, he said that it was very expensive, especially because the access was very slow. He said that he could access internet for twenty four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year for free. Quoting that internet was very useful for people who claimed to live in this modern and globalization era, he said that the expensive charge to access internet would hamper Indonesia to catch up with other countries’ advancements.
In 2004, I could buy a computer set, complete with modem so that I could access internet from home (there was already phone access at home). At that time the most practical way to access internet from home was by using TELKOMNET INSTANT. I didn’t need to apply in one internet service provider before using it. I didn’t need to pay anything if I didn’t use the internet for the whole month because TELKOMNET INSTANT didn’t charge me to pay anything, such as, subscription fee. Using TELKOMNET INSTANT was really easy. Besides, the access was very much faster than the access in cyber cafes. (It generated another ‘problem’ though, fast access made me addicted to going online! LOL.)
However, the impractical thing from using TELKOMNET INSTANT was I could not make a phone call or get a phone call when I was accessing internet because the phone line was being used. Another problem was that I had to pay more expensive when I went online from home, compared to going online in cyber cafes. For someone with limited income like me of course this was really a big problem.  Going online during weekends indeed made me safe some rupiahs per hour. Unfortunately, the access was not as fast as during weekdays. I was wondering if this was caused by more and more TELKOMNET INSTANT users during weekends? Because they also wanted to access internet from home during weekends due to the cheaper fees?
When some mailing list friends of mine—who live abroad, such as Baltimore, America, Vienna, Europe, and Auckland New Zealand—went back to our beloved native country, they complained on the slow access (for me, going online from home using TELKOMNET INSTANT was already very fast, but for them it was still very slow.  FYI, they used SPEEDY to go online in Indonesia) and the expensive fee. This made them wonder when Indonesia will catch up with other countries if the people in Indonesia still face this problem? They have proven that internet has really made one area advanced due to the multi functions of internet.
Telkom as one government-owned company must realize this. To catch up with other countries, Indonesia must provide internet—which can be claimed as huge library—for free. Besides, they have got to learn from other countries how to make the access fast so that users do not need to fall asleep first only to wait for one website to be opened! As comparison, when using TELKOMNET INSTANT from home, the highest speed I have ever used is 150kbps, while my good friend living in New Zealand can access it until 2mbps.
PT56 13.30 140807