Why iPhone and iPad Owners in Indonesia Can’t Use LTE Immediately
Following the launch of Bolt’s LTE-only network in November 2013, more Indonesians will now be able to use LTE as the country’s largest mobile network, Telkomsel, has finally started its LTE service. XL Axiata and Indosat will also launch theirs before end of 2014.
For iPhone owners like me, this doesn’t mean much as there are barriers that need to be removed before we can enjoy LTE directly on our phones.
TL;DR version:
iPhone and iPad owners must wait for Apple to certify LTE networks before they can use it.
Owners of iPhone 5 or older iPad models must wait for LTE to be deployed on 1800 MHz because their phones don’t support the current deployment of LTE, or they can buy newer devices.
LTE on 1800 MHz in Indonesia should be available sometime in 2015.
Current LTE deployment in Indonesia is very limited in coverage and speed, so there’s no need to brag about it, it’s embarassing if you do.
As a start, it is Apple’s policy to certify LTE networks before they can be used by iPhone users. Why they do this is probably for quality control, or at least assurance that the networks will be able to deliver services of sufficient quality.
Though Apple doesn’t acknowledge this, telcos around the world have had to explain this to their customers when asked why they have to wait before they can hop on to LTE services. Until Apple certifies their networks, iPhone users will have to remain on 3G.
To make matters a bit more complicated, all the initial LTE networks from Indonesia’s top three telcos operate or will operate on the 900 MHz frequency band which is not supported by iPhone 5. iPhone 5, being Apple’s first LTE device, only supports LTE on the 850, 1800, and 2100 MHz frequencies. This means even if Apple has certified the 900 MHz networks for LTE, iPhone 5 owners won’t be able to use it in Indonesia. Apple has a list of LTE support across all iPhone models on its website.
Not all hope is lost though because the Indonesian government and the telcos plan to reallocate some bandwidth from the 1800 MHz frequency to be used for LTE in 2015. Currently that frequency is exclusively used by 2G services. Once LTE is enabled on 1800 and Apple certifies the networks, iPhone 5 owners can join the rest of the modern era and use up all their monthly data quota in just 24 hours (kidding).
Alternatively, iPhone 5 owners can upgrade to newer iPhones such as the 5c, 5s, 6, or 6 Plus to be able to use LTE on whichever frequency it’s available in due to much wider support from those phones. Some newer Android phones and all LTE-enabled Lumia phones shouldn’t have any problems.
Other devices that face the same limitation issue include all Samsung LTE devices, which require a software update from the company, and iPads older than iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 2. iPads 3, 4, Air, and mini all have LTE support on limited frequencies, the list of which is available from Apple.
For a final note, LTE on 900 MHz right now sucks anyway, because the telcos don’t have enough bandwidth allocation, only 5 MHz spread each. This means that the top download speed will be limited to 37.5 Mbps, instead of over 100 Mbps that proper LTE networks are capable of, if they have 20 MHz bandwidth allocation. In reality, consumers are more likely to see speeds of 10–15 Mbps through their LTE connections with the current conditions, which is really no different than proper 3G/HSPA, which can reach up to 25 Mbps.
