Internet Service Providers
Getting online is one of the first things you sort out after arriving, and the picture has changed completely since this article last carried its price tables. The cable, ADSL and CDMA USB-modem era is over. Two technologies now matter: fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) for a fixed line, and 4G, with 5G spreading through the cities, for mobile.
Fibre first. If your street has fibre, take it. A home line now delivers tens to hundreds of Mbps, unlimited and unthrottled, for roughly Rp200,000 to Rp550,000 a month before the 11% VAT providers add (not the 10% those old tables quoted); entry plans of 50 Mbps start around Rp230,000.
Check coverage first. Fibre availability is street by street, not city by city; one side of a road may have it and the other not. Ignore coverage maps and salespeople, both optimistic — ask your neighbours what they actually use and whether it drops out. If you rent, don't assume the provider your building pushes is your only option; ask what else reaches the unit.
IndiHome (Telkomsel)
The former Telkom Speedy ADSL service is long gone. Telkom's consumer broadband is now IndiHome fibre, run by its mobile arm Telkomsel since 2023. It has the widest national footprint, so in smaller towns it is often the only fibre on offer. Internet-only plans run from about 50 Mbps (Rp230,000) to 200 Mbps (Rp490,000); TV and phone bundles are available.
XL Satu (formerly First Media)
The old First Media / FastNet cable service is now part of XL Satu, XL Axiata's home-fibre brand; the Lippo Group is out and the migration completed at the end of 2025. It is strongest in Greater Jakarta, Surabaya and Bali, from around Rp229,000. Oxygen.id and MNC Play are further fibre options worth checking locally.
Biznet Home
Biznet's consumer brand, formerly Max3, is fibre, unlimited, with symmetrical upload and download speeds — useful if you work from home. Monthly plans run roughly Rp250,000 to Rp700,000, at speeds up to around 300 Mbps.
MyRepublic
Fibre from about Rp230,000, rising to 1 Gbps, unlimited and symmetrical. MyRepublic also sells "Air", a 5G fixed-wireless service giving up to 100 Mbps for roughly Rp100,000 a month where its fibre has not yet reached; Surge's "Internet Rakyat" offers much the same. Both are worth checking outside the big cities, where fixed broadband still reaches only about a fifth of homes.
Mobile data
The mobile market has consolidated to three operators: Telkomsel, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (branded IM3 and Tri), and XLSmart, which now carries the XL, Axis and Smartfren names after the 2025 merger. All run 4G nationwide, with 5G live in the major cities. Prepaid data is cheap — roughly Rp35,000 to Rp99,000 for 18 to 60 GB a month, Telkomsel dearer for its wider rural reach. The old CDMA and pocket-wifi brands (Bolt, esia, Smartfren Connex) are defunct; you now tether from your phone. See Mobile Telephone Services for the detail.
Signing up as a foreign resident
For a mobile number you need your passport plus a KITAS or KITAP; no tax number is required, and you may hold at most three prepaid numbers per operator. Register at an official operator outlet, such as a Telkomsel GraPARI, not a random kiosk. Since 1 July 2026 SIM cards are sold inactive until your identity is verified — citizens by facial recognition, foreign nationals by passport and residence permit. Existing numbers are unaffected. A fibre line needs the same documents plus proof of address.
Prices shift constantly and vary by neighbourhood, so treat these figures as a guide and confirm current plans on the provider's own site. The old rule holds: the cheapest option rarely saves you grief.
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