My Mobile is contract one,when i am in Bali can i buy a sim card and place it in my phone,how much are they and what time usage for example.

or is better to buy a phone deal out there,just being around Bali i will have to make a few calls now and again or texts even.

Whats best and how do cost of calls vary around Bali.

Would be grateful for some help

Yes, you can buy local sim card which will be much cheaper than using your own (otherwise all calls & SMS's go via UK). Not sure how much, sorry.

You can also buy Pulsa (time) for your phone and pay according to whatever you think you'll use.

SMS messages are very cheap.

Catherine

Hi guys!
When I am there again in October I am thinking of local sim card because we will be a small group and ease of communication, blahdy blah etc. Can local sims be bought that have a reasonable cost for calls to Australia?

Cheers, David

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Hello Catherine

Nice to see you still around on the forum,nice new forum.

Yes thats good sim option or as you mention Pulsa and yes texts cheap,will try and find out more next week before i go.

As for David yes you can.

Have you managed this year to go to Bali Catherine.

Thanks

Just a few comments on mobiles:

1. If your phone is on a contract make sure it is "unlocked" or if not the local Bali Sim cards will not work.

2. If the phone is not "unlocked" you can do either one of the following:

a. Buy a second hand phone in Bali, about 400,000RP and sell it before you go home, about 250,000RP,

b. Buy a cheapie second hand phone on Ebay, about $30AUS and take it with you and sell it on Ebay when you return, about $30AUS.

3. The local sim cards all vary in price depending upon your needs. XL, Simpati are good. You can buy credit for as little or as much as you like and top it up just about everywhere. But the credit only lasts for one month. So we found it better to buy small credit and top it up as need be.

Hope this info helps.

Larry

Hi Larry

Thank you on those point,with sim card to our own mobile,what cost for sims for usage Ex: 2hr,3,4,5 use and do cost of call vary if you are in various parts of Bali.

Take it easy !

Unfortunately haven't made it to Bali this year. Don't know where the time goes! Was hoping to get there before the end of the year but time is running out.

Regarding the local sim card. I ended up buying a small, basic Nokia phone in Bali just for use there. It cost around $90AUD which I think was a little more expensive than the same phone in Australia would have cost. I was stuck as my mobile wouldn't take the local SIM card and I didn't have the codes I needed to unlock it. At the time it was a rather ancient phone which I think may have been part of the problem.

Although the phone shop alongside Bintang Supermarket in Seminyak is very popular and realiable they do charge a bit more than some other places. I asked them why when I found out they charged more and they said 'because they can'. Can't get a much more direct answer than that, lol.

Catherine

Hi Catherine

Sim card my phone company will charge me $40 US to unlock my phone,what a rip off,looks like will just email,only want 2hrs usage at most,

Been told not much for sims depending on how much usage you want.

Shame you have been able to get to Bali this year,thought reading forum early on in year you were heading there.

Anyway been down under soon and looking forward to meeting up with some aussie

See You !

Sim cards very cheap , pulsa (prepaid credit various amounts) sms to australia cost approx 600 rupiah for simpati , dearest to use but best coverage , calls home can be cheap ask for code to use with your sim when calling home if use code 10000 rupiah maybe get you 10 minits if no code 5 minits will cost you about 50000 . Locked Phones are not a problem you can always find someone to unlock for about 250,000 . if buying a phone go into denpasar for the cheapest deals stay away from the tourists spots or you pay more simple as that . Hope this helps

Just back this morning from almost 4 weeks in Ubud!
Used a SimPati sim all the time I was there for sms, phone and also internet (really cheap!). I was able to receive and send email from my phone for almost nothing and also used the phone as a "modem" by connecting it to the computer (I used bluetooth but I guess a serial port or USB on a more up to date phone is possible).
Local sms is now 100 rp, 600 to international phones. Call rate indo to indo is 0.5 rp per second! About 8000rp per minute international or by using the 101017 prefix it was about 1,000 rp per minute.

Cheers all,

David

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Smile and the world you are travelling in will smile back at you