Internet Cafes in Bali

Bali has a plentiful supply of internet cafes, mainly in tourist areas. There is no standard rate or quality of service, you have to check the places out and see what suits you.

Overview:
What you typically find in Kuta, Legian, Sanur, Ubud etc, are small independently owned internet cafes, with maybe 8 terminals, AC, toilet, printer. When you sit down you can usually log into the system and have a timer on your screen. Many cafes use the same software, which makes it easy to keep track of your expenses and time. A couple don’t, notably Internet Outpost, where the desk staff have to log you in and out, and Global Xtreme in Seminyak, where you buy vouchers or 30 minutes, 1 hour or 2 hours.

The best internet service you will get in Bali is in Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Kerobokan. Sanur is expensive for what you get, Ubud ranges from slow mom & pop places to the expensive Highway (30,000rp per hour), which offers good speed. If you are like me and want to do a range of things from checking ESPN, to email, to updating a blog, to using software programs, you are going to need a modern places with decent hardware. The mom & pop places, which are the plain office looking cafes with those nasty pullout tables,and ancient hardware, may not even have Windows XP. They might be running some older version of Windows, with no chance of having Microsoft Office, Photoshop, Mozilla, or any other useful software.

In many cases there are no USB ports and some of the ‘A drives’ may not work. Seriously, if you plan of spending a couple of hours to get things done, its better to look for modern cafe, with AC, large monitors and decent speed. Since I came to Bali in 2003 there have been several new internet cafes in the Kuta area, on Gang Ronta off of Poppies II, Jl. Benesari and Jl. Dhyana Pura in Seminyak. The trend is toward a higher end internet cafe with everything mentioned before.

Kinds of connection speed:
In my experience you will want to avoid the internet cafes that have dial-up internet access, as this is painfully slow. Yahoo’s homepage might take 30 seconds to a minute to load on dial up. The local mom and pop internet cafes sometimes also have small 14 inch monitors, okay for checking email, but good for nothing else.

Internet Outpost in Kuta has 256kbps. When tourist traffic is low, many internet cafes downgrade their bandwidth, raising it to 512kbps when tourism peaks. I recommend checking out 2 or 3 internet cafes to see which offers the best speed.

Opening hours:
Most internet cafes in tourist areas will open around 9-10am and close between 10pm-12am. Internet Outpost in Kuta is open from 10am-2am. Global Xtreme is open from 8am-12am.

Facilities:
What you typically find in Kuta, Legian, Sanur, Ubud etc, are small independently owned internet cafes, with maybe 8 terminals, AC, toilet, printer. Ones that invested in new machines, that all come with large monitors. Many internet cafes will have a printer. Be sure you check the number of the pages before hitting ‘print’. You don’t want to pay for 20 pages of garbages.

Global Xtreme in Kerobokan, has a cafe section serving food, drinks, alcohol. Internet Outpost has a travel agent section.

Software:
The operating system used in Bali is always Windows. I have NEVER seen an internet terminal set up for Mac. (I’m sure someone will write in that there are some).

Many cafes have a selection of software, which includes Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, Mozilla and some kind of CD burning software. Many are also set up with Skype, the VOIP system, that allows you to chat over the internet.

Cost:
The cheapest decent internet access is found a Global Xtreme in Kerobokan at 7,000rp per hour. Internet Outpost is 21,000rp during normal hours. Many others in Seminyak are 18,000rp. Mom & pop cafes with the tiny monitors and dial-up might be cheap, but you will not get much for your money. I find Sanur to be a bad place for internet cafes. They are overpriced and under perform.

Internet cafes by location:
A while ago I did a rundown of the internet cafes in the southern part of Bali. Here are links to the pages for each area.

Internet cafes on Jl. Semniyak
Internet cafes in Denpasar
Internet cafes in Nusa Dua
Internet cafes on Jl. Pantai Kuta
Internet cafes in Ubud
Internet cafes on Jl. Dhyana Pura in Seminyak
Internet cafes on Jl. Double Six in Legian
Internet cafes in Tuban
Internet cafes in Sanur
Internet cafes in Kerobokan
Internet cafes on Rum Jungle Rd in Legian
Internet cafes on Jl. Kartika Plaza in Tuban
Internet cafes on Jl. Legian
Internet cafes on Poppies Lane I in Kuta
Internet cafes on Jl. Benesari in Kuta
Internet cafes on Poppies Lane II in Kuta

Tips on using an internet cafe:

By using an internet cafe you are opening up the possibility that someone connected to the cafe (owner, staff, other customers) can gain information about your browsing habits and personal data. Unscrupulous internet cafe owners could install software to track user name and passwords, then look through the History for the day. If you do personal banking online, you’ll probably be okay, but remember to log out. Same thing for your email, when you are finished, sign out completely.

In my experience the internet cafes in Bali have been pretty straight, as far as billing. In the case where there is no clock, tracking your time, make sure you keep a mental note of when your session started.

Occasionally a whole neighborhood will lose power. I’ve been in internet cafes where he staff has accidentally pulled the power chord and everybody got shut down. If you plan to write long emails or long posts to your blog, use Notepad, or Word, saving your article every few minutes. Then copy & paste it into the email. A better plan still, if you have a laptop with you is to write the email/article off line,and simply paste it into your email. You can also plug your laptop in at selected internet cafes, such as Internet Outpost in Kuta and Global Xtreme in Kerobokan.

I have used a USB stick (jump drive) and can transfer photos, spreadsheets, articles etc. and open them at the cafe. This method works well. A tip I have is if you go to the bathroom take your valuables with you, especially your wallet and cell phone. Do however, leave something on you seat, like a hat or a sarong. It has happened to me more than once that when I return from the bathroom, someone else is using the machine, and has canceled out my Windows. Very frustrating if you are in the middle of something.

Lastly, after you have signed out of all your password protected areas, go to Tools, Internet Options, Privacy and delete all History and Cookies. That will make it harder for an unscrupulous person to take advantage.