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Phones, data and getting online

Buying a SIM, topping up, and the words that come up when the signal does not.

a2Lesson 22 of 345 min

By the end of this lesson

  • Buy and top up a local SIM card
  • Describe a connection problem

Two different things

Pulsa is phone credit, for calls and texts. Kuota is a data allowance.

They are bought separately and confusing them is the standard foreigner mistake. Topping up pulsa does not give you internet unless you then convert it into a data package.

Mau isi ulang. ‘I want to top up.’
Kuota berapa giga? ‘How many gigabytes?’
Paket data sebulan berapa? ‘How much for a month of data?’

Buying a SIM

Mau beli kartu perdana. ‘I’d like a new SIM card.’

Kartu perdana literally means a maiden card. You will need your passport, and the shop will register it for you, which is a legal requirement rather than a favour.

When it does not work

Sinyalnya jelek. ‘The signal is bad.’
Nggak ada sinyal. ‘No signal.’
Lemot. ‘Slow.’ Casual, from lelet plus lambat, and extremely common.
Wifi nya mati. ‘The wifi is down.’

Mati is worth its own note. It means dead, and it is used for anything switched off or not working: lampu mati ‘the light is off’, listrik mati ‘the power is out’, HP saya mati ‘my phone is dead’.

Passwords and connecting

Kata sandi is password, though almost everyone says password.

Password wifinya apa? ‘What’s the wifi password?’

That sentence will earn its place in your first week.

HP

HP, said ha-pe, is the word for a mobile phone. From “handphone”, which is not English but is universal here.

HP saya ketinggalan. ‘I left my phone behind.’ Note ketinggalan, the casual form of the ter- accidental you met in the affixes chapter.

Words from this lesson

pulsaphone credit
kuotadata allowanceSeparate from pulsa. The distinction matters.
isi ulangtop upLiterally 'fill again'.
sinyalsignal
matidead, off, outUsed for power, phones, engines and people.