internet free

i have gotten used to having internet just about everywhere i go. having a constant connection to the world is something technology people really come to rely on. i can send email, im or have ip based phone calls anytime and anywhere. well, that’s almost anytime. the exclusion appears to be indonesia during a rain storm.

i went to a café the other day and had to ask the it guy for help getting connected. there seemed to be an issue with the WiFi connection they were providing. the first and most quickly corrected issue was that they were charging for internet, something i had not expected. i asked why, given the location i would have assumed they would provide it free.

he explained to me that he was paying rupiah 14,000,000 per month for 364 bits per second. this is about the same price we pay for 6 mega bits (18 times more) of connection for the office, with the amount of bandwidth i have with the GPRS/3G connection of my hand phone. meaning the café is sharing a connection for all its patrons, at the price of a high speed leased line in malaysia, and getting the underpowered service of typical hand phone connection. he explained this as the reason for needing to charge; i had to agree i would have charged as well.

my hand phone has been mostly useless this trip. i have sms, and have made phone calls with one of the worst connections i have heard in asia. this is much worse than the service i got in india and vietnam. this is my new grading system for asian countries, how well they provide cheap, stable and affordable internet/phone connections. indonesia is way behind on the curve. malaysia is well ahead, malaysia has spoiled me by having such stable and wide connectivity. of course i am on a island, during a sever rain storm, not in a capital city. i guess i need a trip to jakarta for a fair comparison.

the storm has taken down the connection at the resort also. i am almost completely packed. i planned on spending a bit of time easing back into work by catching up on email, but there is no way. i have returned my moto and don’t want to walk to a café to do the email. i have decided to sit in the open air reception area, typing and enjoying the feel of wind on the side of my face. the blinking christmas tree a nice contrast to the hindu statues which dominate the entrances to the classic polynesian space.

it’s almost a relief that the vacation will end without work. the relaxed nature of the past six days has been assisted by the ability to completely disconnect and get away from all things stressful. the moments of tension i have felt this week have been those times when i did reach out to the world, or allowed the world to come into my balinese vacation.

it has been good to take a few days and to trade my free internet world for one that is free of internet. the disconnection has been what i needed. i am hours away from an airplane ride that will take me back to my standard level of connection. i am looking forward to landing and cleaning up my inbox while i am waiting for my bag to come off the carousel. until then i have time to sit and enjoy the last few hours of separation from the world.

I am going to go down to the beach; I want to see the waves breaking onto the shore. Water pushed by wind and tide, collapsing under its own weight as it is confronted with the sand. Being internet free is like being that water, fluidly passing through the day with nothing to stop or alter its motion.

As I land in a few hours, the welcome connection to the world will also bring the mounting pressure of water behind me. The trick will be to find a way to act as the gently breaking waves which slide onto the beach, lapping at the sand softly.

Free internet is good, internet free is also.