3.5G using Telkom Flash

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Maybe some of you haven't got the information, that Telkomsel is implementing 3.5G Data Connection. With Telkom Flash as brand, they cover some areas in Jakarta such as Pondok Indah and Kelapa Gading as initial trial. The interesting news is the pricing scheme.TelkomFlash is using time-based as pricing scheme. As basic rule, you are charge Rp. 350 per minutes of using it. There are other package offered, such as monthly packages. See below table.

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Tabel tarif

**PAKET**	**TARIF**	**TIPE PELANGGAN **
**PAY as YOU GO**	**Rp 350,- / menit**	***kartuHALO simPATI*** 
**PAKET MINIMAL**	**Rp 30.000,- / 3 Jam ** (berlaku untuk 1 hari semenjak pembelian)	***kartuHALO simPATI*** 
	**Rp 100.000,- / 24 Jam ** (berlaku selama 1 minggu semenjak pembelian)
**PAKET BULANAN**	**Rp 200.000,- / 40 Jam**	***kartuHALO***
	**Rp 400.000,- / 100 Jam**
	**Rp 800.000,- / 250 Jam**

\<\<updated on 26 May 2007>> Telkomsel has just revised their pricing (using excuse "12th Anniversary of Telkomsel"). From 26 may - 25 June 2007, above pricing scheme is discounted 50%. So as illustration, you only have to pay Rp 150 per minute of connecting. This is to reduce price gap compared to Indosat Mentari IM3 (Rp 100 per minute).\<\< end of update >>

Well I think Indosat should follow this action since I don't see any benefit of using Matrix 3G right now. I am very interested to Telkom Flash but it seems that changing phone number and sim card is the last thing I would do.

In summary, Telkomsel Flash and Telkom Speedy is currently offering time-based scheme for Internet. Telkom Speedy now gives you 2 options for subscribing, time-based or amount-based. I try to give recommendation when to choose amount-based or time-based scheme.

Choose Amount-based (per kilobyte / gigabytes) when :

• Most of your Internet Activities is browsing and blogging
  like this I've spent 30 minutes to write this blog, it's a waste of time to choose time-based for browsing+blogging, not to mention reading a long email from customer.
• You are chat-addicted person
  Chat using GTalk, Yahoo Messenger, or MSN is a perfect time-wasting activities. These Instant Messaging applications are using small amount of data packages.

Choose time-based package when:

• You are a good leecher / downloader.
  If the Internet speed is as advertised, download can be a lot faster using bigger bandwidth. Try downloading as efficient as possible, using FlashGet or Download Accelerator will help.
• You are a YouTube mania
  Watching online video needs huge amount of data. Try to download the youtube file (FLV) into your computer and play it offline using FLVPlayer to save time.

Note: Read my next blog about Step-by-Step to Connect to Telkomsel Flash.