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COMMUNICATIONS |
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Most post offices ( Kantor pos) open Mon-Thurs 8am-2pm, Fri 8-11am &
Sat 8am-1pm; aside from the usual services some also offer email and fax
facilities. Indonesia's poste restante system is fairly efficient, but
only in the cities; poste restante is officially held for a maximum of
one month, though often it's held for much longer. Overseas letters to
Western Europe and America take between seven and ten days to arrive.
In larger post offices, the parcels section is usually in a separate
part of the building and sending one is expensive and time-consuming.
The cheapest way of sending mail home is by surface (under 10kg only).
Don't seal the parcel before staff at the post office have checked
what's inside it; in the larger towns there's usually a parcel-wrapping
service near the post office. A parcel weighing up to 3kg airmailed to
Europe takes about three weeks and costs around Rp170,000; a 5-10kg
parcel costs Rp425,000 (by sea it will cost Rp170,000 and takes three
months).
There are two types of telephone office in Indonesia: the ubiquitous
government-run Telkom offices (open 24hr), and privately owned wartels
(usually 7am-midnight), which tend to be slightly more expensive, but
are often conveniently located. Both also offer fax services, though the
wartels rarely have a collect-call service.
Public payphones are useful for local calls and take Rp100 and Rp500
coins. Put the coins in only after someone picks up the phone and starts
speaking. Many payphones now take telephone cards only ( kartu telefon),
available in various denominations from 20 units (Rp2000) to 680 units
(Rp68,000). Cards can be bought from most local corner stores. In the
big cities there are also new kartu cip phones that take the new
microchip cards. Long-distance domestic calls ( panggilan inter-lokal)
are charged according to a zone system, with different rates; it's
cheaper between 9pm and 6am.
Rates for international IDD calls are fixed, though the premium charged
by the private wartels varies: Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the USA
cost Rp8500 per minute; Canada and the UK, Rp9300; Alaska and Western
Europe, Rp10,500. You get 25 percent discount between midnight and 6am
and at weekends. To call abroad from Indonesia, dial 00 + IDD country
code + area code (minus the first 0) + number. For international
directory enquiries call 102; the international operator is 101. Some
Telkom offices and airports also have home-country direct phones, from
which you can call collect (reverse-charge calls), or settle up after
the call; they cost more than IDD phones.
Internet access is becoming increasingly widespread in Indonesia, and
there are now tourist-friendly Internet offices and cybercafés in many
towns and cities; prices vary widely from Rp3500 to Rp40,000 per hour.
Email can make a good alternative to post office postes restantes - even
if you're not on the Internet at home .
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