You can't purchase it online from Fonic.de without a German bank account.

I am still trying to decide between O2 and E-Plus discount vendors (Fonic and Solomo Pro, respectively (I also still can't quite let go of Ortel, despite their poor customer service)).

In test Der größte Mobilfunk-Netztest Deutschlands - CHIP Handy Welt the authors write:

Dass die Technik, die das Unternehmen für Sprachtelefonie einsetzt, tatsächlich ausgereift ist, belegen unsere Messergebnisse: E-Plus schneidet im Voice-Bereich bis auf wenige Zehntelpunkte genau so gut ab, wie die beiden großen Netzbetreiber Telekom und Vodafone. [E-Plus, for voice, is only a few tenths of a point behind the two large networks, Telekom and Vodafone]

The subsequent charts, for voice (Sprache) only, show little overall difference in point scores among the nets (T: 80.5, V: 80.0, E: 79.7, O: 77.8), with O2 having the better rating for establishing calls (Rufaufbau) but E-Plus losing fewer calls (Abgebrochene Anrufe).

Test http://www.p3-group.com/communicatio...glish_2010.pdf doesn't show E-Plus in quite as good a light, but not significantly worse than O2 either.

I am thinking that this and the better roaming rates and purchase & top-up options for the E-Plus net might, after all, make it a better choice for my needs (voice & SMS, no data). What do you think? Have I missed something?

Edit: Hmm, I just reread Inquisitor's sticky thread about Solomo and am left wondering. I have also reread Inquisitor's comments in this thread about the unreliability issues and the tests I mentioned above don't deal with things like that. Spending a little more for peace of mind is certainly worth it, so perhaps I should go Fonic after all. Back and forth, back and forth.

My phone, incidentally, is an unlocked quad-band Motorola V551 which I have, in the past (2007), successfully (but with a few lost calls and an occasional inability to establish calls) used on E-Plus, at least in Germany.

Is shipping within Germany, the EU (where offered), typically included in the on-line SIM cost or is it additional? I don't recall seeing this mentioned. Of course, I might just have missed it.

dg7feq, which E-Plus cards do you use, have you used, and can you speak to the roaming call-back problems and unreliability that inquisitor mentions?

Perhaps some E-Plus provider (although it doesn't seem likely, does it?) other than solomo is the answer? Or, inquisitor, are they all afflicted?

I'll reread everything again to see what else I missed. Every time I reread this, and inquisitor's sticky, thread I seem to find something else that I missed. Thanks to all.

I don't think that E-Plus grants some kind of priority in traffic to one of their operators.
If they would, they would probably do it for their own customers (E-Plus prepaid card), but E-Plus doesn't provide a prepaid service of their own any more so it's all highly unlikely.

I was actually wondering about
and whether other discount carriers using the E-Plus network do it differently. For example, Ortel and Blau, other E-plus discount operators, are not listed as a vistream partners at vistream's web site. In the prepaidgsm.net DB also they are listed as non-vistream MVNOs.

Aside: Is the Rufaufbautaste [literally build-the-call key] just the button we push to start a call, to answer a call and to go off-hook? Sorry to ask such a basic question.

Sorry. You are right of course. Online orders with Fonic require a German bank account.

Regarding your decission between O2 and eplus you might also consider that from July, 1st roaming fees will decline once again due to EU-regulation. Then no German operator may charge outgoing calls with the EU with more than € 0.42/min and incoming ones not with more than € 0.13/min. However this does not apply for calls from other European countries to Canada.

Yes, it is.

Other eplus providers at least don't suffer from the problems resulting from the vistream infrastructure, but afaik there's no other prepaid tariff on the eplus network with international or roaming tariffs that would be lower than Fonic's.
Note that Blauworld and Ortel charge a call-setup fee of € 0.15 per call, which doesn't exist with Fonic.

Yes, the "Rufaufbautaste" is the usually green key, that initiates a call. In the English-speaking world it's sometimes called the "send" key (and once this key was even labeled "SEND").

I have been looking at the roaming rates for more of the discount carriers and can find nothing that beats the Fonic direct rates or the solomo pro call back rates.

Since, in the end, it is the ability to make and receive calls and SMSes effectively, and without a lot of bother, that matters, that leaves only Fonic, as you have suggested. I may supplement with a cheap Dutch SIM for the time we'll spend in the Netherlands and just roam in Austria, Switzerland and France, since our time there will be relatively short.

Thank you all for your help. It is greatly appreciated.

Does this new regulation affect data roaming? I had read that the EU capped data roaming at €0.49/MB, but FONIC's web site reports €0.50/100kB! This is my biggest concern about a provider for my upcoming trip, ~14 days in DE and 8 in NE, BE, and FR.

No, data is not affected yet. Currently there are only two EU rules applying for data: One affects only operators, who may not charge more than € 0.50/MB each other (however consumer tariffs may still be higher) and the other says that consumers must be cut off from data usage after reaching € 50 (+VAT)/month (see Roaming: The roaming regulation | Europa - Information Society), but it does not rule the actual price.
There are plans to introduce a price cap of € 0.90/MB from 2012, which shall be reduced to € 0.50/MB until 2014, but these are still in an early stage of legislation.

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