Mobile data in Germany? (but D1/D2 only)
 

I am going to be in Germany at the end of the week, and I have been told that there is very poor coverage on o2 and EPlus where I will be. (Though I'll do a proper check when I get there).

However, most decent data offerings I have seen (e.g. Tchibo, Simyo) are on o2 or EPlus. What are the lowest cost options for data with my 3G modem given that I should be looking for SIMs with an MVNO (or other) on T-Mobil or Vodafone only?

I am intending on leaving whatever I setup for someone else to use afterwards. Useage will be between 20 to 30MB/day.

On the T-Mobile network there are only Penny Mobil (sold at Penny supermarkets) and Rewe Mobil (sold at Rewe supermarkets), who both offer a dayflat for € 2.50, but bandwidth is throttled to 384 KBit/s, allthough T-Mobile's 3G-network is completley HSPA-enabled. These dayflats are billed by calendar day (from 00:00 - 23:59 h).

Choice is wider on Vodafone:
Vodafone themselves offer the so-called "Websessions", that can be used with any prepaid SIM from Vodafone Germany and can be paid by credit card at the beginning of each session. Pricing is:
7 days (limited to 1GB) for € 9.95
24 h (limited to 1GB) for € 4.95
2h (limited to 1 GB) for € 1.95
15min (limited to 1 GB) for € 0.49

There are two MVNOs, that offer Vodafone's Websessions with modified tariffs under their own brand:
BILDmobil (named after the German tabloid "Bild")
7 days (limited to 1GB) for € 6.99
90 min (limited to 1GB) for € 0.99
30 min (limited to 1GB) for € 0.59

N24 mobil (named after the TV channel "N24")
7 days (limited to 1GB) for € 9.99
12h (limited to 1GB) for € 2.99
1h (limited to 1GB) for € 0.99

You'll find detailed information on Vodafone's Websessions at Germany - Vodafone Web Sessions - Prepaid Wireless Internet Access
BILDmobil's and N24's offers are absolutely identical to Websessions (including APNs) but tariffs differ and they are only distributed online.

Thanks for that very detailed reply inquisitor. I really am impressed at the number of MVNO's in Germany! It already seems that every supermarket, bakery, butcher and coffee shop already has one but now it seems the newspapers and TV channel (and their dogs) want to start their own as well! I really wonder if there really is that much money left in this! I suppose if there's some new way to make more money out of your existing customer base you should try!

I am indeed leaning towards BILDmobil now. Let's see how this goes down... I'm supposed to be leaving this behind for my Dad to use, and he really hates that newspaper! ;)

I for one would rather go for the original Vodafone product since the price difference is minimal.

The Vodafone card is also less expensive to use internationally (EUR14.95 vs EUR19.95 with BILD and N24) and the validity can be extended every 12 months with a simple call to their service number (no top-up required).

Not too worried about the Validity, but interesting point on internatioal use. What are the prices you quote for?

Oops got it now I think. Just answered my own question by following some links. Even 14,95 for a mere 50MB whilst roaming seems completely OTT! Still cheaper than most data roaming option though but I think I probably wouldn't use that anyhow! However you are right, there's not a huge difference in price within Germany anyhow!

Vlad is referring to the international WebSession, which will grant a volume of 50MB valid for 24h in most European countries, however only on one Vodafone partner network per country. Actually N24 and BILDmobil are both more expensive when it comes to the international WebSession, as they charge € 20 instead of € 15, but I don't consider any of these tariffs reasonable.
That prolongation-trick, which I described in the pwia-wiki, should also work with N24 and BILDmobil.

@Petkow
For the case you haven't noticed it yet, you have a personal message from me.

If you're looking for a long-term solution, there are also some interesting postpaid-tariffs without minimum term on T-Mobile and Vodafone:
UMTS Tarifvergleich | UMTS Flatrate Vergleich - Online Vergleichen und Sparen!
But those will pay off only if you stay with them for a longer period, because there's a setup fee ("Anschlußgebühr") of € 50-60.

Got it... thanks! Also sent you a reply!

Thanks for that link! It looks like a good going rate is 20 Euros a month. I'll do a site survey once I am there to see if there really is no decent o2 coverage before I commit to anything with that high a setupfee. Otherwise I think I will try Tchibo. By the way talking of setup fees, I love the way German companies like to list a "Grund Gebühr" and an "Anschluß Gebühr" seperately! Don't the two basically mean exactly the same thing! ;)

@inquisitor

Thanks for the clarifications on the N24 and BILDmobile offers. But... Are these two packages even available in stores? I could only find them in their own webshops...

As for the EUR15/50MB International WebSession, I still see a good use for it, but then again, I come from the other side of the pond where we pay $25-50/MB in roaming fees.

As far as I know all is only available online. (Perhaps the reason is that unlike the supermarket MVNO's, Bild and N24 do not have shops as such).

By the way, the international rate is not too bad for some cases. Even here at a rate of around 5 Euros per MB it can make good sense to have a websession if you are in that imporatant meeting overseas and embarrisingly discovered you do not have the latest version of that powerpoint presentation on your laptop.

"Grund Gebühr" and an "Anschluß Gebühr"
 

...is not the same. Grundgebühr (basic fee) is for instance the monthly fee of a contract without additional costs. If you do not use your mobile, you'll have to pay that only, if you use it the additional costs will be added.

Anschlussgebühr is the charge which they want at the beginning (to do anything at all for you), but only once.
This covers for instance the very high expenses of your new SIM......
So there are often adverts like "Heute keine (=today no) Anschlussgebühr" which means that you can save this fee today in that shop.

Thanks for clearing that up! I might have misread something then as I saw something advertised once which seemed to have a "Grund Gebühr" and an "Anschluß Gebühr" as well as a "Monatliche Grund Gebühr". I presumed the first two were setup costs and the last was a monthly cost. It looks like I completely misunderstood.

@VladS
Yes, BILDmobil's and N24's SIMs are only available online, where the firstmentioned is only sold bundled with the 3G modem for currently € 50 + € 5 shipping. The separate voice SIM which BILDmobil offers has different data tariffs (€ 0,35/MB) and those timebased WebSessions can't be activated for it.

Beyond Vodafone, BILDmobil and N24 I have forgotten a fourth product:
Prosieben mobil (named after the TV-channel "Prosieben"), who have the following tariffs
7 days (limited to 1GB) for € 8.99
3 days (limited to 1GB) for € 3.99
12 hours (limited to 1GB) for € 1.99
1 hour (limited to 1GB) for € 0,77

I think I'll just get a Vodafone Websessions modem kit on my next trip to Germany. Does anyone know which modem is included in the EUR29.99 bundle these days?

A question on the Websessions SIM card. Does it allow voice calls? If it does, what are the costs?

Those Vodafone-bundles for € 30 (currently only € 20 at some Saturn and MediaMarkt shops) are ZTE K3565-Z, which are a bit more complicated to debrand compared to Huawei modems. There's no real SIM- or netlock on those devices, but the included software won't connect to other networks than Vodafone's, but you can change that by debranding it. Detailed information and instructions are available at ZTE K3565-Z (Vodafone) - 3G modem wiki
The SIM card in the bundle is not voice-capable.

But the ZTE K3565-Z does only support European 3G bands (900 & 2100 MHz), which makes it useless for American 3G networks (however it still has quadband GSM-support).

You may prefer the "Tchibo Internet Stick", which is a Huawei E160 with support for 3G at 850, 1900 and 2100 MHz, so you could use it e.g. on Rogers and Fido. It currently costs € 30 and is available online and at local Tchibo shops. The Tchibo netlock can easily be removed by entering an unlock code, which you can purchse on eBay.co.uk for ~€ 2 or sometimes even less.

The K3565-Z and the Huawei E160 share the same Qualcomm chipset (MSM6246) limiting their download bandwidth to 3.6 MBit/s and the upload to 384 KBit/s (no support for HSUPA), so they are not the fastet ones.

If you want a faster device with support for American 3G bands, check out the "T-Mobile web'n'walk stick IV", which is a Huawei E176 sold for € 50 (incl. shipping) at German eBay:
T-Mobile web´n walk Stick IV NEU ohne Simlock PORTOFREI bei eBay.de: UMTS-Router (endet 30.12.09 15:31:02 MEZ)
It's unlocked and the T-Mobile dashboard software can easily be removed by running a firmware update, as described at: debranding Huawei USB modems - 3G modem wiki

Debranding ZTE modems is quite straight forward these days... DC-Unlocker.com offers a free tool to read/write the device's virtual CD. An unbranded client is also available on the site.

I'm already loaded with USB data sticks... Huawei E220, Novatel MC950D and a ZTE MF668 (21.6Mbps). A EUR10 (EUR30 for the kit vs EUR20 for the SIM alone) one would make a perfect fit in my collection. ;)

Would the EUR20 sale still be on towards the end of the month?

If it's not voice capable, how do you use the 12007 trick to extend the card's validity?!

I don't have the K3565-Z anymore and so I can't try whatever DC-unlocker has published, but using the generic dashboards from other ZTE-devices doesn't work, as the K3565-Z requires special drivers. Actually those differing drivers were the biggest hurdle in the debranding process. On the linked wiki you will also find instructions for the soft debranding, where the flashmemory will just be disabled and the unbranded dashboard will be stored on a microSD-card.

Regarding the promotional price of € 20, I can't give you any information, as it was part of local promotions of some Saturn stores and usually their promotions last for 1-2 weeks.

Anyway I just discovered that O2 also has an interesting offer: They sell a Huawei E161 for € 30. The E161 was released only some weeks ago and it is very tiny - the tinest 3G modem I've seen so far. It's netlocked, but that's not really an issue, if you know how to use eBay. But make sure it's really the Huawei E161 if you buy it in a O2 shop or some other retailer, as some may still have older models in stock. Here's a photo of the E161: o2online - Prepaid-Surfstick

Regarding the inexistant voice-capability of those data-SIMs and prolongation, I actually don't have an answer. It's definitley impossible to place voice calls with those SIMs - so I hope Vodafone will realize that problem and prolong validiy based on usage and not on recharges.

nope, the "Anschlußgebühr" is ususally referring to the "Setup fee - so thats a one time payment when you sign the contract.
The "Grundgebühr" is the monthly fee which you pay every month.

Christian

FWIW, I'm having a lot of trouble with my ZTE modem at the moment, since I upgraded to Windows 7 64-bit (I had Vista 32 before). The 32-bit drivers don't seem to work, and ZTE does not seem to make 64-bit ones readily available. This is really the only driver problem I've encountered with the 64-bit version, so I might get another Huawei if it persists and use the ZTE only on my (32-bit) netbook.

And I just got the Huawei E161 from O2 that Inquisitor mentioned. It was €19 at Saturn. How could I refuse?

Thanks for this informative thread. I am going to Germany for 3 days during the next week and I am bringing my Android Hero with me. During those 3 days, I want to use data ONLY (i.e. no voice calls at all) so I am thinking about buying Vodafone CallYa and using their websessions. However, I don't know German very well so I am not quite clear about some details, even after browsing through vodafone.de site:

a) Can I buy callYa 5/15 SIM card in any Vodafone shop, without being a German citizen, and use it immediately?

b) Does the default callYa price include some amount of credit or not? Can I top up directly in the store, while buying the card?

c) Are all INCOMING calls to this SIM free while I use it in Germany?

Yes, but it would be cheaper to buy a Fonic SIM, since with Vodafone you would need to buy a 7-day-session for € 9.95, while Fonic will charge only € 2.50/day, so for your stay it would only cost € 7.50.
Further with Fonic you can call home to the Czech Republic and to the rest of the EU for just € 0.09/min (landlines) or € 0.29/min (mobiles). Details on Fonic are available at Germany - Fonic - Prepaid Wireless Internet Access
Please be aware, that with Fonic you will need to call customer care and ask them to switch your data tariff to "Tagesflat".

At least those prepaid SIMs offered online come with € 10 of credit. Of course you can add credit in any Vodafone shop or buy vouchers nearly everywhere. For details see Germany - Vodafone Web Sessions - Prepaid Wireless Internet Access

Incoming calls are always free with European operators, as long as you stay in the country your SIM is from.

a)yes

b)yes; yes

c)yes

I bought a German Vodafone SIM in their shop a few years ago, and they registered it at my UK address. To my surprise even the postcode search worked

Thank you, I didn't know about Fonic!

Again, the call-rates are non-issue because I'll really only be using Internet. The more important question is: What is the signal quality of Vodafone vs. Fonic? I'll spend most of those 3 days on the highway or in smaller cities. I don't need FAST internet, I need RELIABLE internet.

Also, I need to use the card as soon as I cross the border from the Czech Republic and buy it in the first larger German city (Dresden, probably). How fast is "switching to Tagesflat"? Don't I have to wait several hours for it to take effect?

I understood that, but I mentioned those call rates as an extra advantage beyond the cheaper data tariff.
O2 also cover nearly 100% of the country and they have EDGE (up to 200 KBit/s) on their whole network, so you should always get a signal and reliable data connections, but Vodafone of course provide better 3G coverage as you can see from this map :

http://www.abload.de/img/o2-vs-vodafonewzqi.png

No problem. All Fonic retailers are listed in my earlier posting. E.g. Fonic is sold at Lidl supermarkets and it can be activated immediately by phone, too.
The switch to the "Tagesflat" is carried out while you are still on the phone with customer care. It's about seconds and you will be notified of the switch by SMS.

Thank you again for excellent info, inquisitor. One last question (hopefully): I'll be entering Germany arounf 21:00 in the evening on Sunday (e.g. most of the shops will be closed). What are the options to buy Fonic? Only Jet gas stations? These are NOT listed on FONIC -- Partnersuche

I'll be entering Germany from Liberec.

I found two Jet gasstations listed for Leipzig:
Jet Tankstelle Dieskaustr 111, 04249 Leipzig
Jet Tankstelle Sommerfelder Str 58, 04299 Leipzig

Notice that the retailer search lists only 6 results per page, you need to click "weiter" below for further results.

But there are also Jet gasstations closer to the border in Bautzen:
Jet Tankstelle Stieberstrasse 49, 02625 Bautzen

I found one in Bautzen, that's closest. Great.

No Fonic SIM cards at Jet!
 

Unfrotunately, the unexpected happened and I had to leave for Germany yesterday evening. I entered Germany after 9 PM and I tried FOUR different Jet gas stations from Bautzen to Dresden. When I asked about Fonic SIM cards, all four cashiers offered me the codes to charge my existing card but neither of them actually sold the SIM cards!

My friend who speaks German very well spoke with them at the counter and they categorically denied they ever sold any SIM cards!

I don't blame Inquisitor because ALL FOUR of these gas stations are listed at fonic.de as sellers of Fonic SIM cards. However, they DO NOT sell them and, according to the cashiers, NEVER SOLD THEM... :(

I'm sorry. I just relied to the information on the Fonic website. But in Leipzig there's a shopping mall in the central station ("Promenaden Leipzig Hauptbahnhof" at Willy-Brandt-Platz) which is opened on Sundays and on public holidays from 13:00 through 18:00 and where there is REWE (supermarket), Rossmann (drugstore) and Saturn (electronics). According to Rossmann Filialsuche the Rossmann store is opened Sundays from 9:30 through 20:00 and REWE should be opened from 12:00 through 18:00. I expect them to be opened on Easter Monday at the same time, too.

Thanks, but I am now back in Prague and I'll be going to Germany again on Wednesday noon (to Hamburg, Star Wars concert :) so I presume I can buy the Fonic anywhere at that time.

So, when I buy the SIM card, I first have to find a WiFi somewhere and activate the card over internet at fonic.de and then I have to call the customer support at 80000 (in German) and tell them to activate the flat data tarif, is this correct?

You can also activate your SIM by phone at 0800/4636642 (toll free, working hours: Mon-Sat 8-20 h) if you don't have internet access.
If you activate by phone you could ask the operator to switch to "Internet-Tagesflatrate" already upon activation. Otherwise call customer care after activation at 80000 and request the tariff switch afterwards.

I ended up getting Vodafone CallYa which worked great, except one interesting glitch/feature:

I got a week-long data access and everything in my HTC Hero worked great - Browsing, E-mails, chat, maps, even YouTube. However, several times during the day, when I didn't actively use the phone, all data connections stopped working and I had to visit an internet page (any page!) in my browser - this displayed the Vodafone landing page and from this instant, eveything worked again.