Internet in Bali: the IMEI rule, the Gilis and your data

Bali is the backpacking and remote-work destination, and in Indonesia the phone is the tool that solves everything: Gojek to get around, WhatsApp to book, maps for roads that fork with no signs, and a translator for the rest. Coverage is also better than people expect in the tourist areas and considerably worse than they expect as soon as you leave them. This guide covers how to arrive connected, where there is genuine signal, and how much data to bring.

How to get online in Indonesia

Roaming with your own carrier

Indonesia sits in the most expensive zone of most tariffs: daily passes with a few hundred megabytes, or pay per megabyte. For a two- or three-week trip it almost never adds up. Check your tariff before you leave, but expect to rule it out.

A local SIM from Telkomsel, Indosat or XL

Bought at Denpasar airport and at official shops, with your passport and compulsory registration. They are cheap and work very well. Two warnings: do not buy from the improvised stalls at the airport exit (the classic place to be sold a package that is not the one advertised), and bear in mind the IMEI registration issue: Indonesia requires imported phones using a local line to be registered, and without it the handset eventually stops connecting. For stays of months, the local SIM is still the cheapest option; for a normal trip, it complicates more than it saves.

Travel eSIM

You buy the days of the trip, install the QR at home on wifi and land connected as a roaming visitor. Your own SIM stays in the phone with its data off. No queue, no passport, no registration and no risk of being sold something else.

Real coverage: who covers what, and where it drops

Four carriers: Telkomsel (reaches furthest by a distance, and usually the one behind travel eSIMs), Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, XL Axiata and Smartfren. On Java and Bali all four work; beyond that, Telkomsel is the one that holds up.

Good coverage with fast 4G: all of south Bali (Denpasar, Kuta, Seminyak, Canggu, Sanur, Uluwatu), Ubud, Amed, Lovina, and on Java the cities and main roads (Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Malang). Also west Lombok and Labuan Bajo.

Where the signal suffers, whichever carrier you are on:

• Inland and western Nusa Penida: patchy at the famous viewpoints and gone on the inland tracks.
• Gili Trawangan, Meno and Air: fine around the accommodation, weak in the islands’ interiors.
• Fast boats between islands (Sanur–Nusa Penida, Padang Bai–Gili): lost within minutes of departure.
• Volcanoes and treks: Batur at sunrise has signal for much of the climb; Rinjani, on Lombok, has long stretches with nothing.
• Flores and Komodo: Labuan Bajo has coverage; on the boats and in the national park islands, almost none.
• Raja Ampat, Sumba, inland Sumatra and Borneo: very limited coverage, concentrated in the towns.

The usual, unvarnished: the eSIM uses Telkomsel’s network or whoever’s, not one of its own. Where there is no mast, no eSIM works, ours or anyone else’s. If your plan includes boats or volcanoes, download the maps and tell someone your route.

How much data you need

Indonesia is a destination of Grab and Gojek, maps, WhatsApp and an enormous number of photos, with decent wifi in Canggu and Ubud cafés and coworkings and weak wifi on the small islands. If you work from there, usage multiplies.

Type of trip	Typical use	Plan that fits
Maps, Grab, messaging, some photos	300-500 MB a day	5 GB for one or two weeks
The above plus social posting daily	700 MB - 1 GB a day	10 GB for two weeks, or unlimited
Digital nomad: video calls and laptop	Over 2 GB a day	Unlimited by days

A month of backpacking with normal use usually lands at 15-20 GB. The breakdown app by app is in how much data do I need for a trip.

Installing the eSIM and landing connected

1. Compatibility: dial *#06# and look for the EID; the phone must be carrier-unlocked. List by brand on compatibility.
2. Buy for the days of the trip: validity starts with the first connection in Indonesia.
3. Install at home on wifi. Name it “Bali”.
4. Lines: your home line for calls and texts with its data off; the eSIM as mobile data with roaming on.
5. On landing in Denpasar: turn off airplane mode and wait to see “Telkomsel” or whichever carrier. You will need it straight away, because the taxi to your hotel is booked by app.

Every menu, step by step, in how to install an eSIM.

Apps people use in Indonesia

• Gojek and Grab: taxis, motorbike taxis, food and even errands. Have both: they alternate on price and availability. The motorbike is the cheap, fast way around south Bali.
• Google Maps with Bali, Lombok and Java downloaded. Balinese roads fork constantly and GPS is the only thing that saves you.
• Google Translate with Indonesian downloaded. English works in tourist areas and disappears as soon as you leave them.
• Traveloka: domestic flights, ferries and Java trains, with real timetables and payment by foreign card.
• WhatsApp: everything is booked here, from the homestay to the all-day driver.
• Payments: locals pay by QR (QRIS), which needs an Indonesian account. You will use a card in larger places and cash in warungs, markets and temples. ATMs charge a withdrawal fee and many have low limits: take out more at once.

Connectivity tips

• Before boarding the fast boat, download the island map, your accommodation voucher and the conversation with your host.
• Motorbiking in Bali: offline maps, shared route and the phone held firmly. And a helmet — they fine you there.
• Power cuts on the small islands are common: always carry a power bank.
• The coworkings in Canggu and Ubud have good fibre; for serious video calls, use that rather than your data.
• Calling home: over WhatsApp. The eSIM is data only and your home line charges for calls.
• If the trip continues to Singapore, Malaysia or Thailand, look at a regional Asia plan before buying a local one.

Rough price

The block at the top shows today’s real price for an Indonesia eSIM in the MovaSim catalogue, with the unlimited-by-days option and the cheapest by gigabytes; the Indonesia page has every plan and what each covers. The coverage, app and data-saving advice here works the same with any eSIM or with a SIM you buy there.