wco81, like I posted above. You can buy a SIM working on UMTS, same prices as Simyo at any ALDI store in Germany. It's very easy, and they sell to anybody. ALDI is one of the big huge retailers of the western world, far bigger than Simyo anyway and the Aldi SIM works on E-Plus. So where's the problem?

You want a German UMTS SIM to take away instantly, you go to Aldi :-)

Btw. To recharge, you use E-Plus "Free&Easy" recharge vouchers. They are available everywhere.

I will be staying near the Brandenburg Gates. Nearest Aldi store I see is on Postdamerplatz, just south of the Sony center?

I'm arriving on a Sunday afternoon. Aldi is closed on Sundays.

That's the only reason I was wondering if there were other brands which might be available at stores which might be open on Sundays.

>available at stores which might be open on Sundays.
On Sundays? Not a chance.

You can literary put a sign "OUT OF ORDER" and hang it on germany on sundays. No stores are open at all - besides some 24hour service fuel stations with some basic stuff...

Chris

FYI, when I Googled Salama for Tele2 (whose web site no longer loads), I found a web page which said this particular prepaid SIM is sold at tabac, epicerie and teleboutique (call shops).

Tobacco houses, grocer or deli, or dedicated call shops.

Hmm, I wouldn't begin to know where to search for the last one. Maybe French Yellow Pages.

OK I finally got an Aldi Talk Starter Kit.

Put in the SIM in my Nokia E61i and it prompts me several times for a PIN. Finally find the codes hidden behind a tape in the kit but by that time, I have to enter one of two PUK codes and then it accepts one of the PINs.

But now, the Nokia is saying SIM card registration failed.

I try registering online at medionmobile.de, not knowing Germain, I do the best I can. It gives me a customer number (Kundennummer) and an order number.

But apparently registering at their website does nothing for activating the SIM?

Can it be this convoluted?

I see a hotline but I can't dial it because the SIM card is not registered and/or I can see a network. Probably because SIM is not registered.

What more do they need besides a SIM? The Aldi store clerk didn't speak English so I would think it's pointless to go back there.

Hi, you need to find a different phone to dial this hotline. Either a payphone or hotel etc.

Or online on this form: https://www.medionmobile.de/merit/registernew.do

Takes about 6 hours to get the sim active.

Christian

Hope you didn't enter the wrong pin number more than 10 times because then the sim card is fried and even the PUK code won't help (or is it entering the wrong PUK code 10 times, I never remember which)....oh yeah 3 wrong attempts at entering the PIN means you need the PUK code and 10 wrong entries of the PUK code and the sim card is history. It is for that reason that one of the first things I do when acquiring a new sim card is turn off the pin code protection and change the pin code to one I always use. Interestingly enough, my Vodafone DE sim card does not allow me to do so (although it did allow me to change the pin code).

As far as German shops being closed on Sunday, we found that to be true during our recent trip to Germany. Since in so many ways, Germany is like the United States (sorry to my German friends, but other than the language Germany is probably more like the united States than most other places I've been too. After all, the US Army ran much of the country for a good period of time). But in any event, this is one thing the Germans can learn from the United Staes where almost everywhere, department stores and many retail shops and restaurants are open on Sundays and have been so for the last 30 years.

Off topic I know... but this is a disputed issue in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. Religious views aside, I think it is good that a country can 'wind down' at least one day a week. Of course essentials should always be available, and this holds true in Germany on Sundays. Even though a SIM card is not considered an essential, you can still buy several things on Sundays in petrol station shops and more importantly the shops in and around train stations. AFIK You might even be able to buy SIM cards from all of the main operators in such shops/kiosks on Sundays... just not Medion Mobile. This is only because Aldi chose to keep their costs down and do not sell them through ANY other reseller (as far as I know).

In countries like Germany, you won't even find any trucks (apart from a few critical food transporters) on any of the roads on Sundays. What a relief!!

I for one am delighted that the whole world doesn't blindly follow everything that the Americans have been doing for 30 years... even though increasingly this is exactly what is happening (and this applies to more than just store opening hours!!)