Any fast internet (good wifi) in Ubud (Bali)?

Any fast internet (good wifi) in Ubud (Bali)? - Hands Typing on a Laptop Keyboard

I am looking for a good wifi connection in Ubud (Bali, Indonesia).

I need to upload a fair amount of videos and pictures (6+ GB), and give a couple of Skype/Hangout phone calls.

I used Wifi.id (in Java mostly) in the past but here I went to 2 advertised locations on their website, one I could not find at all, the next one (in a restaurant) was down for some reason.

If anybody knows a place with a decent wifi, that'd be great. Thanks.



Best Answer

So, here I gather a few names mentioned in the web pages listed in the resources below:

  • kismetbali.com: a cafe/restaurant/shop providing fast internet, see on the website `Finding fast internet in Ubud has been quite a challenge. We pay top dollar to provide our customers with fastest Fiber Optic available in the region. Uploads or Downloads its Ultra-Fast.
  • Coffee & ...: a cafe not far from the monkey forest
  • Tutmak: a cafe
  • Clear Cafe
  • Paradiso: a raw food cafe attached to Earth Cafe, located just off of Jalan Hanoman
  • hubud.org: a workspace, so yes some commitment is needed (a monthly one), probably only good if sticking around for a while. Book & see prices for Hubud
  • and more ... listed in the resources

The 3G or LTE solution

If planning to be on the move, getting an LTE sim card or a 3G sim card is probably a good solution too. See the other answer provided for further details on LTE sim cards.

Telkomsel has the best coverage in Indonesia in my experience, but it's a bit more expensive, 255'000 IDR for 8GB of data valid 30 days on a 3G network (in 2015).

Telkomsel 3G prepaid data offers

Indosat has a poorer coverage in Indonesia in my experience, but it's cheaper (& usually works fine in cities), if I remember well the price is around 180'000 IDR for 8GB of data valid for 30 days on a 3G network (in 2015).

Telkomsel 3G sim card speedtest result when in Bali (Sanur): Telkomsel 3G sim card speedtest result

Telkomsel has offers for LTE (4G) sim cards, but I think it's only coming with contracts (not prepaid), see picture below.

Telkomsel 4G offer


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How can I get fast internet in Bali?

WiFi is easily available in hotels and cafes, and typical connection speed for WiFi 512kbps \u2013 2mbps (some providers can offer higher speeds). Mobile connection is also cheap and fast \u2014 we got a SIM card with 4 gigs of internet data for 90,000 Rp (US$6). The three main providers in Bali are Telkomsel, XL, and Smartfren.

How do I get WiFi in Bali?

To get your phone connected to the internet in Bali, you need to buy an Indonesian SIM card. Telkomsel or XL are the best brand to go with for Bali. You can bought SIM card at the airport in Bali \u2013 when you walk out of the international terminal, there's a few small kiosks selling snacks etc.

Is there free WiFi in Bali?

Yes there is free wifi at the airport, you have to register but once connected it's good. Good luck with Uber.



😡 Terrible Internet Speeds in Bali




More answers regarding any fast internet (good wifi) in Ubud (Bali)?

Answer 2

Most Wifi Upload Speeds Are Probably Less Than 5Mbps

It looks like most terrestrial ISPs in Bali are using legacy copper (ie. repurposed telephone and coaxial TV cables). The highest upload speed you'll achieve at any single site served by legacy copper is most likely limited to 5Mbps. The 5 Mbps upload speed limitation is inherent to most legacy copper networks because their bandwidth is rather limited and ISPs allocate much more spectrum to download than upload. I have found a few exceptions where coax cable provided up to 15Mbps upload, but that seems to be very rare.

In my travels I have found that the vast majority of wifi hotspots are served by legacy copper (you can infer as much rather easily with the right network tools). While I have never traveled to Bali, I don't see why the situation would be any different there.

How Long Will the "6Gb" Upload Take?

I assume you you need to upload 6 gigabytes of data (as opposed to gigabits).

If you were able to find a hotspot where you could use the full 5Mbps upload bandwidth, the 6 GB of data you need to upload would take about 3 hours). That's best case scenario. I would expect it to take 4x to 10x that long because you'll probably experience network congestion or QoS that reduces your upload speeds. So you're looking at maybe a half GB upload per hour if you are sort of lucky.

Fibre Hotspots

MetroNET seems to be an ISP in Bali that uses fibre. Fibre, in general, does not wind up with an inherent upload speed limit the way legacy copper does. I would try to find a hotspot served by this network for there is at least a hope of achieving the upload speeds to get your images and video out. Even if the site has a fibre connection, your connection might still be throttled so you'll still have to do some testing to be sure.

Ookla Speed Test is Your Friend

I generally run Ookla's speed test on any network I might need to use while traveling. I find bandwidth to always be a struggle when traveling, so I like to know early what speed networks are available.

LTE

Your best bet may be a local LTE SIM card. I regularly achieve 20 Mbps upload speeds over LTE when traveling. That would bring your 6 GB upload down below an hour. You'll have to be near a good cell tower and consider bandwidth caps, but it might be your only practical solution.

This solution is kind of a moving target because it depends on finding a network operator that offers reasonably-priced prepaid short-term data plans. So far I have found that the availability of such plans for any given network operator changes from time to time (at least in North America and Europe). I tried to determine if one of the Indonesian operators offer such a plan without success (I can't read Indonesian).

Answer 3

There's really great wifi at Outpost coworking in Ubud another one of my favorite spots is Bali Bohemia. Really chilled out environment although sometimes there wifi cuts out and they have aggressive monkeys all around that will potentially try to steal your food. For coworking, Outpost, best place for productivity in my opinion. Coffee shops, Bali Bohemia is nice.

Answer 4

Nowadays there are also providers that use coax and fibre optics. In Ubud you can get a cable internet (coax) connection through Biznet. They have packages up to 100mbps.

Please see this article for more information; http://balipedia.com/articles/how-to-get-a-good-internet-connection-in-bali

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: cottonbro, Erik Mclean, Nothing Ahead, Andrea Piacquadio