Can One Call Betamax Gateways In Germany on German Flat Rate Plans?
 

I see that a number of the German carriers have prepaid flat rate plans of EUR 15 - EUR 20 per month, allowing unlimited calls to German landlines and on-network mobile calls.

Betamax has local rate numbers in Berlin and Muenchen that allow you to call over the Betamax network at their regular rates (including free minutes.) If I signed up for the flat mobile rate plan, would calls to the Betamax number be covered in the flat rate plan?

The number for Berlin is given on the Poivy website as 03031190303.

eplus and O2 including all providers on their networks have blocked or strictly limited calls to Betamax' access numbers for a year now. I don't know if T-Mobile and Vodafone proceed in a similar way, but Fonic offers cheap rates for direct calling from your mobile: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/euro...-visitors.html

From Vodafone and T-Mobile it still works to call these numbers. But from the terms of service all providers could theoretically block the access numbers any day as o2 and eplus already did.

Chris

You can try to do it yourself

at sipgate.de you can get a free did voip number.
Then using pbxes.com or simualr system you could setup a callforward system.

You call your own number, give a pincode and you will get a dialtone to dial the number you want.

Onlt problem with pbxes is that freecalls still don't seem to work because of some ip problems. That said you can still use your mobile to make cheap calls outside germany this way.

If you have a regular number i doubt that it will ever get blocked but a carries. I did this when I was in the USa last year. Used my did number there to call the number and than call europe for low voicetrading/betamax rates.

sipgate.de only assigns local DID numbers if your identity and address has been proved. Otherwise you get only 01803 numbers, which are not covered by flatrates, but cost at least € 0,50/min from mobiles.
However if you have a friend in Germany, who can prove his address and so could get a local DID, you could also easily setup a callthrough system with a very advanced but anyway simple to set up VoIP-router called "Fritz Box Fon", which is sold from € 20-30 at eBay (at least used ones).

Actually, I have my own Asterisk system, and know of the local resident restrictions for geographical DIDs in Germany which is why I didn't consider sipgate.de. Good to know that the non-geographical VOIP numbers are expensive to call, so I don't use that.

When I as in Berlin in February I used Ortel (Ortel Mobile - Connecting the world), which uses the eplus network and accepts eplus top-up cards. The SIM card is hard to find, but is sold in all eplus company stores. Calling the US is a 15 cent startup charge per call, then 9 cents per minute.

I can see blocking betamax access numbers on the flat rate plan. However, blocking them for customers who are paying by the minute is pure greed. That practice would be illegal in the US, despite our light regulation.

What is it in their terms of service that gives them the theoretical right? Do they just reserve the right to block any number they choose for any reason they choose?

At present I use a congstar flatrate contract (9,99€/month (T-Mobile)) without any problems to call dialnow (Betamax) access numbers.

blau.de (E-Plus) is also working.

The official announcement from the providers say that there is a "high network load" to certain number ranges and they block these numbers "to ensure a good quality of service" for all customers....

Chris

Sounds like utter nonsense.

of course it is. The only real reason is that they wanna earn the $ $ $ on their own network...

Interesting to know congstar still allows calls to the betamax access numbers though! I wonder for how much longer!

As for the 'blocked' betamax access numbers from other networks, a while ago I heard on the rumour-mill that were a range of 'unpublished' betamax access numbers for this very reason! Not sure if that is the case for Germany!

For Eplus this is NOT correct. I call the Berlin access numbers of Betamax almost daily without any problems from my Eplus line.

Yep, i can confirm that the access numbers e.g. from smsdiscount work fine from a BASE flatrate card on eplus network.

Chris

It appears that the Betamax numbers are now reachable from Eplus.

I am going to Berlin next week and was thinking of buying one of the Tchibo SIMs with USB internet: Tchibo - Internet Stick inkl. Prepaid SIM-Karte

I understand that Tchibo uses O2, and Tchibo has a flatrate to landlines of 12.95 EUR per month. However, it has been poste here the O2 cannot dial the Betamax number. However, it appears that things can change, given that Eplus can not dial Betamax.

Can anyone in Germany who has O2 (or Tchibo) try dialing the Betamax access number at 03031190303 and see if it now works? Thanks.

Eplus access to Betamax numbers (in Berlin at least) was never blocked in the first place. Inquisitor did make assumptions.

To state facts: I just tried Tchibo and that number IS blocked.

the number is even blocked on our o2 company contract SIM cards (where we pay per minute to landlines...).

Chris

There's a list of access numbers and there accessibility through German MNOs at o2_nummernsperre - Google Docs. It wasn't updated since December, but aparently I was wrong when I stated eplus would block Betamax access numbers.

Perhaps it's the American lawyer in me, but....
from everything I have read, Germany has some very pro-consumer rules re mobiles (e.g., right to refund of prepaid balance.) Given that the chart that Inquisitor has linked shows that O2 blocks many discount dialing numbers, perhaps someone in Germany should file a complaint with the governmental entity that regulates cell phones regarding the O2 practices?

Those consumer protection organizations are sueing providers permanently, but the blocking to those access numbers seems to be legal, as there are corresponding clauses in the terms & conditions of O2 limiting usage to direct calling, which justifies those blockages.

Does anyone have any updates on the currrent situation?

From what I can see now:
EPlus, Congstar, Vodafone and TMobil are all ok to call Betamax.
The only problems are with o2, Tchibo and Fonic. ???

Is this still the case?

Nah you read wrong :)

When it comes to mobiles, Germany is one of the less consumer-friendly countries, at least in Europe, and especially with postpaid contracts.

There aren't many countries where:

- You get a 2-year contract (in most other countries, it's one year)

- If you don't cancel your contract at least 3 months before it expires, it is automatically renewed for 1 additional year (in most other countries, after the 1st year, you can cancel it anytime)

- You get a SIM-locked phone for the duration of your contract (in many other countries, the phones are sold unlocked by law)... this will hopefully change soon.

- It's prohibited to use your data plan for VoIP and P2P applications (and those ports are closed)... also this will hopefully change soon

- The price for SMS, stubbornly remains at 0.19€ (national) and 0.29€ (international), with most pre- or postpaid plans of the four major mobile telcos (while everywhere is Europe is falling down to 2c per SMS)

and so on and so on...

I learned the above the hard way... so when in Germany, use prepaid cards but not from the 4 big mobile telcos ;)

Except for few devices sold by T-Mobile for a limited period, I never saw SIM- or netlocked phones sold with postpaid contracts.

And regarding the VoIP-ban, you may have missed O2's announcment this week, according to which they will officially allow VoIP without any surcharge.

However I agree with you, when it comes to the preference of prepaid over postpaid. Postpaid was interesting in the past due to the highly subsidized handset prices, but those subsidies have decreased significantly, so it doesn't pay off to bond yourself two years to the mostly unattractive postpaid tariffs.

@evan
 

Travel to France, try to find a cheap mobile solution and you'll feel happy to be a german......

O2 does not allow calls to Betamax since long time now.
Recently on 12-10-2009, E-plus - BASE blocked calls to Betamax completely. I was able to call in morning of 12th oct and from the afternoon all calls are blocked. Now I am stuck with BASE as I have 2 years contract. :-x:-x
Is it legal that any company can block a landline number on a landline flat tariff ?? See the news.

German operators split over mobile VoIP strategy - FierceWireless:Europe

EU looks set to force operators to carry mobile VoIP traffic - FierceWireless:Europe