In Reply to: Mobile phone use in Bali????? posted by Cavalier on Sunday, 26. February 2012 at 09:19 Bali Time:
this again
Buy a Bali pre paid SIM, cost around 5000 rp and you then you buy credit ( I buy 50000 rp at a time).
If your in Tuban then I would go to the top floor of the Discovery, little hardware shop has a mobile booth in it.
All Bali SIM's have a prefix that gets you cheap calls . You can call without it but will cost a lot more. The perfix uses a VOIP gateway which is why sometimes it can be a bit flakey. I had a bit of trouble connecting or once connecting had only one way conversation. Best to hang up and try again. Calls to Mobiles cost more.
We Take 2 Moblie phones, one with and Australian Global Roaming SIM for urgent calls recieved from home , remember calls recieved from callers in Australia will be charged as if they were calling/SMS'ing you back home BUT YOU get charged International Global rates from your carrier. So I usually keep these calls short and sweet.
We then use the second moblie for the Pre-paid Bali SIM to call home, between us or call people back if needed to using the prefix.
Smart Phones with Global Roaming
Turn off Cellular Data and Data Roaming ( Iphones) - Global Data Roaming is very expensive.
Carrier VOIP Prefix's
01016 - IM3 & Mentari
01017 - Simpati
01000 - Pro XL
How to use example is using Mentari SIM
To PSTN (Land Line)
Dial 01016 + Country Code + Area Code + Destination Number
Example: Making call to Perth Australia
Country Code : 61
Area Code : 8
Destination No. : 9xxx xxxx
To call the number :
01016 61 8 9xxx xxxx
To Cellular Phone eg Australia 04xx xxx xxx
Press: 01016 + Country Code + Destination Number without 0 ( drop the prefix 0)
eg 01016 61 4xx xxx xxx
This also applies if the person you are calling is in Bali using a an Australian Mobile with Global Roming enable thats in Bali ( or anywhere)
eg Bali Sim calling Australian Global Roaming enable Mobile that's in Bali
To ring from a Bali SIM to an Australian SIM (whether the Aust. Sim is in Australia or in Bali ) it works like this
Use the VOIP prefix this gets you to the VOIP gateway for cheaper calls,
Now because the SIM is an Australian SIM you use the country code 61 then dial the number WITHOUT the first zero (0).
The call is routed to Australia where it reaches your local carrier (Telstra,Optus,ect )who finds your SIM via Global Roaming partners and send the call back to Bali.
Using a SIMPATI SIM would be like this 01017 61 4xx xxx xxx
Now it is different going the other way Aust. SIM in Bali to Bali SIM you just dial the Bali SIM number as per normal including front zero.