OK I get you.

I will take my laptop so I could use Skype to call back to the US.

Also, I have a Nokia E61i and although I haven't really investigated it much, there are suppose to be VOIP options and I can use Wifi.

The main use would be for calling in country and also a curiosity about 3G over there -- the phone is suppose to support WCDMA 2100.

Simyo and Blau until last week didn't support UMTS. The new SIMs they'll send should work. Alditalk is your only choice for a German USIM, if you'e not a resident.

Are Simyo and Blau more widely available than the Aldi Talk SIMs?

Any chance of finding Simyo or Blau at TXL? Main advantage would be if I needed to dial the place where I'm staying.


OK, so a lot of European numbers have full country codes and the city area code.

So if I buy a SIM in that country, I should just be able to dial the number after the country and area or city code right?

Is there a harm in dialing the full number with the +49 (which is for Germany)? Will it make the prepaid SIM think it's doing international roaming?

Also, when can you omit the leading zero in the country or city code and when must you include it? Or is it better to include it all the time?

>Are Simyo and Blau more widely available than the Aldi Talk SIMs?
They'll be sent to your residential address via mail, so no they aren't.
>Any chance of finding Simyo or Blau at TXL?
Unfortunately chances are close to zero percent. If you have any chance, look for a Aldi store. The SIM can be activated later on over the internet. If you don't need GPRS or UMTS, there are many other choices. You can't be sure to get an UMTS capable SIM at Simyo or Blau, while Aldi only sells UMTS SIMs.
>So if I buy a SIM in that country, I should just be able to dial the number after the country and area or city code right?
Correct.
>Is there a harm in dialing the full number with the +49 (which is for Germany)? Will it make the prepaid SIM think it's doing international roaming?
No, you can either dial +4930xxxxxx or 030xxxxxxx all the same at the same costs with a german SIM
>Also, when can you omit the leading zero in the country or city code and when must you include it? Or is it better to include it all the time?
You always skip the leading zero in the (german) city code or it won't work. Don't skip anything in the country code. you either dial +4930xxxxxx or 004930xxxx

Anyway, have fun

Just checked on the blau.de homepage. They'll only send UMTS USIMs to all customers that order on that page.

I have READ that SIMYO is available in CERTAIN retail outlets.

Try this link:

http://aktion.simyo.de/cashlocation/

Hmm, Simyo does list outlets near where I'll be staying.

Anyone know the postal code for TXL?

Just try the name of the town. What is TXL?

There's supposedly a Lebensmittelfachgeschaeft at Tegel. I entered 13405.

>I have READ that SIMYO is available in CERTAIN retail outlets.
Be careful, they don't sell SIMs there, but only vouchers. (Starter-Set- Gutscheine) You pay for the voucher and will recieve your SIM card a few days later by mail. I've no idea, why this has to be so complicated.???

Some info in German here: http://www.inside-handy.de/news/8583.html

Unfortunately, the MVNOs seem to deliver only inside Germany. Maybe they don't really market to international visitors.

More retail distribution would be good. From the way people were talking, it seems prepaid SIMs in some countries at least are sold at all stores? But perhaps it's only the big carriers like Vodaphone and T-Mobile.