Telkomsel's current tethering option with iPhone 3G

There was no public announcement but Telkomsel sent out a text message to its iPhone 3G customers several weeks ago telling them that the tethering option has changed. Tethering is a way to use your phone as a modem by connecting it to your computer either wirelessly or via a cable.

Yes, the company that couldn't decide how to package the iPhone 3G since it launched the phone back in March this year changed its policy yet again and apparently many new customers aren't aware of it. Then again not many are aware of the tethering option in the first place.

The new policy came with the latest promo package which began sometime before Ramadhan to coincide with the price drop on the 16GB model from 9.5 million to 7.5 million. With the new package, tethering is still optional via sms to 1377 but if you had to pay Rp 87,500 per month before, which gives you an additional 1GB quota for tethering, this offer is no longer available.

Tethering is now available for free and data usage is taken from the 500MB quota you get as the standard package, which if you notice, is the only package available now. There seems to be no more Turbo Plus or Turbo Premium.

Another catch is that the tethering menu in the Settings app may disappear if you upgrade to OS 3.1 or 3.1.2 and decide to use another operator. Your iPhone 3G is unlocked when you restore it to OS 3.0 so you're free to use it with SIM cards from other GSM operators. What they didn't tell you though, is that the tethering menu in Settings app disappears if you use a non-T-sel SIM card. I currently have no information on how to get it back. I'll update this entry once I do.

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Oct 21, 2009

Brett McGuire said...

These Telkomsel guys are dickheads. They specifically told me that there was NO tethering only a month ago. Maybe they use the same call centre as Indovision.

Nov 10, 2009

Budi Nugroho said...

@Brett: Dickhead? Tell me about it. Apple is making a great mistake siding with TOLKEMSOL! The unreliability of the network (Remember mid-July 2009, where there was a bomb but I can't get any news cause their stinking internet service is down for the whole 2 weeks?) And not to mention, they successfully screwed up my billing (on Halo iPhone bundle) twice. And having just activated in March, it's been 9 month of a pain in the ass.

Added with when 3.0 just came in July, they (Veronica-Telkomsel's Cust. Service) actually, fully self-aware directed me to mobile-notes.de to activate my tethering (thus using that 87.500 rups charge!!). Mind you, that mobile-notes.de has tons of how-tos in jailbreaking and hacking the iPhone itself.

Dickhead? That's an overstatement. They're a complete moron (if not utter embasile) both in marketing and technology. In my point of view, Telkomsel has successfully renders iPhone into an expensive piece of shit by Apple.

Let's just hope some guy at Apple realize this and update Telkomsel ipcc file to enable tethering from other operators.

In fairness, you would hear exactly the same complaints of AT&T in the US, I suppose. And people wonder why people unlock their phones :)

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