Cheapest rates in germany for...
 

I am off to Germany later this year, what is the best value sim for texting/ calling uk and german numbers?

pick-n-mix german sim cards
 

If you can provide a german postal address, at the moment, otelo (Vodafone-DE) is probably the most suitable for you.

Alternatively, you could also pick-n-mix german sim cards from this list:

Tariftabelle Prepaid ? Prepaid-Wiki

gonna go with vodafone then....:-)

Texts back to UK cost 29c/message
 

I've just noticed that SMSes from Germany to UK cost 29c/message.

It should be possible to find something cheaper than this. Perhaps someone else has another suggestion.

Bugger...ok fair enough hope someone can assist one with sorting out a sim card!

I think solomo pro is the way to go:

UK landlines: € 0.09/min (humiliatingly they list the UK as "England" in their price list)
UK mobiles: € 0.29/min

DE landlines: € 0.06/min
DE mobiles: € 0.10/min

texting nationally and internationally: € 0.13/SMS

data: € 0.24/MB billed in 10KB-increments
solomo to solomo calls: € 0.03/min
vaildity: 13 months after last recharge

An advantage over all other German prepaid tariffs is, that solomo bills in seconds after the first minute ("60/1").

Solomo is only available online and can be recharged by credit card. The price for the SIM card ist € 14.95 incl. shipping and € 10 of initial credit and if you order through this link we would both get a bonus credit of €5 each.

Besides Germany they deliver to Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland and Spain but unfortunatley not to "England".

But of course I would help you to get a SIM, as I would for any other loyal fellow forum member - check your PM!

Depending on how much texts you intend to send you may consider registering for some VoIP-service from Betamax (e.g. poivy.com, justvoip.com, voipbuster.com), for which there is a Java Midlet (available at http://gsm.voipbuster.com) allowing texting to the UK for ~ € 0.04 (prices vary among the different Betamax brands) + ~ € 0.005 for the data traffic. Alternatively you can send SMS also from their website or through their PC software. You can set any phone number as sender ID, after verifying your number(s) by providing a code sent by SMS to the corresponding phone number.
Besides cheap texting those brands offer very cheap worldwide calling by VoIP (for which you need their free VoIP software or some other VoIP-capable piece of hardware).

I'd also suggest Solomo Pro - 6c landlines, 10c mobiles in Germany, 9c UK landlines, etc

€5 extra credit if a friend refers you

Don't, unless you want to pay 1.99 a minute to call the UK. O.tel.o is only one offer from Vodafone, the rest all have the same high international rate. (Sadly, none of the low prepaid data and international pricing of Vodafone UK has rubbed off on the German business.)

Solomo pro is probably the best choice, but if you just want to pick something up when you arrive, you could go with Fonic (like Solomo, 9 ct landline/29 ct mobile to the UK, but with 60/60 billing), which is available at lots of different shops.

Fonic charges € 0.19 per international text. But of course you could get Fonic and use Betamax for texting, which would be slightly more expensive as they charge data in 100KB-increments (while the data price of € 0.24/MB is the same), so sending a text will generate data worth € 0.024, which is tenfold more than solomo.

Don´t forget the EU euro-sms rate of 11p/text
 

If you want to keep everything simple, you could use a UK sim to send texts back to the UK. For example, 3UK would charge 11p (12c) per sms. Just don´t forget to disable call forwarding before you leave the UK!

This way, otelo and fonic look good. Fonic often offers starter packs which include 75/111/etc free-minutes to all german networks. This benefit might be an advantage for you, if it is available when you arrive in Germany.

Disable call forwarding TO YOUR MAILBOX
 

Sorry! Just in case I confused anyone, I should have written:

Don´t forget to disable call forwarding TO YOUR VOICE MAILBOX before you leave the UK!

Alternatively you could record a mailbox announcement, in which you tell callers your temporary German number, and set an unconditional forwarding to your mailbox. I often do that when travelling, as it not only avoids roaming charges but it keeps away less urgent calls.

Regarding Fonic, they also have a referral program, through which you and another existing Fonic customer could get € 5 bonus credit, if you provide the existing Fonic customer's number during activation. E.g. VladS has a Fonic number, for which you could ask him.

You will find detailied information on availability, activation and recharging of Fonic at http://prepaid-wireless-internet-acc...ermany+-+Fonic

International (and national) SMS prices in Germany are extremely high and now, after the EU regulation, they look even more ridiculously high. There's no reason to pay 29c/SMS when you can use your UK mobile while in Germany and pay almost three times less (11p/SMS). And of course, it is much more convenient to use your UK number.

Considering calls, and since you are a Vodafone customer, you can also opt in to Vodafone Passport. For making calls there is a 75p connection charge plus your UK rate (you can your inclusive minutes as well). For receiving calls, again there is a 75p connection charge but you don't pay anything up to 60 minutes per call. If the average duration of your calls is more than 2-3 minutes and if you call more mobile than landlines, Vodafone Passport could be much cheaper than any other option.

Re German prepaid cards, Solomo Pro is the cheapest (specially for texting abroad) but it has some disadvantages for people that just visiting Germany (e.g. online-only availability, recharging etc). For a short stay in Germany, I would suggest the Fonic card, which has almost the same prices and additional advantages such as:

- You can buy it many shops across Germany.
- Easy recharge with a scratch card again available in many locations.
- The SIM card costs 9.95 Euro and includes a credit of 111 mins for calls within Germany and to international landline numbers.
- The network is provided by O2 which is much better than the congested E-plus network.

Top up vouchers for Fonic are not as easy to get as for other German providers (see Germany - Fonic - Prepaid Wireless Internet Access for an overview of retailers). Against that background I would regard recharging by credit card as much more comfortable.
If you compare Fonic's 60/60-billing to solomo's 60/1 billing, Fonic is significantly more expensive. An average mobile call in Western Europe takes 1.5-1.9 minutes. So based on this fact Fonic is 5-33% more expensive than solomo. I think this discrepancy should justify solomo's price premium of € 5 for the SIM card.
Regarding network congestion, the eplus network, which solomo uses, is really problematic, but usually that's only reflected in low data rates, while SMS and phone calls are not an issue.

Recharging by credit card is certainly more comfortable, as long as you've got easy and/or cheap internet access. And most people who visit another country for a short stay, don't have that.

Regarding Fonic, their top up vouchers aren't that ubiquitous as before (when you could also top up with O2 vouchers) but I wouldn't say that "they are not as easy to get". For most locations across Germany, it's rather rare not to find a gas station or a kiosk or a convenience store that doesn't offer Fonic top-up vouchers (judging from their online location finder anyway).

Also, the average duration of outgoing mobile calls could be 1.5-1.9 minutes, however the majority of the mobile calls is less than one minute. And the duration of the majority of the phone calls is the most important issue, for the telcos at least. That's why, Solomo and many other operators (not in Germany of course) that charge in seconds, always have a 60 or 30, 45-second minimum call charge.

solomo has an automatic recharge option (minimum amount is €10) and alternatively you can access solomo's website from your handset, if it's internet capable. Another idea would be showing a friend at home how to recharge online and ask him to do it if credit runs out.

You are right, that a lot of calls are shorter than 60s. So practically solomo is only cheaper if calls last longer than 60 secs and it might take some calls to amortize those € 5 from the more expensive solomo SIM.

Valid Period
 

Okay, I got the FONIC card as it appeared to meet my needs in Germany. Can you or anyone help me to understand when the time on the card expires?

The FONIC activation is changed slightly from your web posting (Germany - Fonic - Prepaid Wireless Internet Access). Didn't have to give my passport or any other identification. Also I'm still trying to figure out how to top up online! At any rate, thanks for the info!

Fonic SIM cards never expire. Officially, however, your credit will be blocked 6 months after the last recharge. If that happened, you can still receive calls for another 6 months, but you can't call out due to the lack of credit. But then you can still release the blocked credit or re-activate the SIM (if 12 months have passed) by adding additional credit.

I think validity is shown somewhere on their website, but you can also try entering *102# [pick up] on your phone, which at least will display validity for other O2-based SIM cards.

Online top ups require a German bank account. You will need to buy top up vouchers from local retailers (see Germany - Fonic - Prepaid Wireless Internet Access for a list).

Super, thanks much!

Solomo SIMs can now be recharged with "viload" vouchers sold at more than 20'000 points of sale throughout Germany including most gasstations. Vouchers are available with an amount of € 15 and € 25.
Point of sale can be found at 20.000 e-va Terminals gibt es in Deutschland, und eins davon in Ihrer Nhe.
You need to ask explicitly for "viload" vouchers. To redeem vouchers enter *101*voucher code# [SEND].

comparison FONIC vs solomo pro
 

http://www.abload.de/img/fonic-vs-solomo-vs-minjq21.gif


further information:
details on purchasing and recharging Fonic
details on purchasing and recharging solomo pro

Very useful comparison of the two cheapest (?) MVNOs inquisitor.

I just noticed a new MVNO (started services on 20 April according to teltarif.de), called Minutel, that offers similar or even cheaper prices to Fonic and Solomo.

I didn't have the time to check it thoroughly but from the first look, it has two main additional advantages (especially for international visitors):

- The billing increments are per second, from the first second, also to international destinations. To my knowledge it's the first German MVNO to offer that.

- The recharge options are numerous and quite convenient for international visitors, like the Paysafecard and most importantly, through Paypal.

Minutel is interesting, but their website says calls are billed by full minutes ("Taktung minutengenau"). Also international calls are quite expensive, costing € 0,49/min even to neighbouring countries. Their comparably cheap domestic rates are offset by the billing in full minutes.
Their only innovative features beyond the versatile recharge options are the free call diversions to landlines in the following countries:
France, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, UK, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithunia, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands.

Actually, in this thread I'm focussing on visitors to Germany, who seek to call home at reaseonable international rates. So from that point of view Minutel isn't really an option.

Minutel is certainly an option for international visitors. My mistake, that I didn't write on my previous post that the prices I mentioned are for the "plus" calling plan.

Minutel offers two plans just like Solomo. The "simple" Minutel plan and the Minutel Plus (similar to Solomo Pro).

You are probably referring to Minutel and not the Minutel Plus plan. The "simple" Minutel plan has the rates and conditions you've mentioned but the Minutel Plus offers similar prices with Solomo Pro and Fonic, as I already mentioned. E.g.

- Billing increments are per second (Taktung: sekundengenau)
- National landlines: 0,079 €
- National mobiles: 0,099 €
- International landlines (EU): 0,089 €
- International Mobiles (EU): 0,289 €
- SMS: 0,129 €

http://www.minutel.de/plus/static/tariffs

All the above rates are cheaper than Solomo Pro (except for National landlines), albeit only very slightly cheaper. But they become significantly cheaper than Solomo, given that Minutel Plus charges per second from the first second, especially for German visitors who call international mobiles (given that the majority of mobile calls last less than 1 minute). For example, a 10-second call to an EU mobile number, will be charged with Solomo Pro or Fonic 29 cents while with Minutel Plus will be charged 4.8 cents.

Sorry, didn't see the Plus tariff, which actually is very interesting. Also they give bonus minutes for incoming calls when call diversions are set (so-called "Teleprofit").
The only advantage of solomo left are the cheap roaming rates and the VoIP-service.
I will add Minutel to the comparison table soon.

You are right. One more additional advantage of Solomo Pro regarding the data, is that that Minutel charges per 100kb increments.

Of course, I hope that their charges per second from the first second, don't have some "hidden" costs or prerequisites regarding the international calls. I failed to find any special "hidden" note, except the one posted on their detailed pricelist pdf files (Für die Berechnung der nachstehend aufgeführten Preise sind Verbindungsdauer, Verbindungsart und Nutzungszeiten maßgeblich. Während einer Verbindung wird eine Takteinheit immer zu den Tarifbedingungen berechnet, welche zu Beginn der Takteinheit gelten.), which I don't understand what exactly means.

Sounds like a leftover clause from back when telephone calls cost different amounts at different times - talk for an hour from 16:59 and you'll pay a lot more than if you start two minutes later, because the entire call is billed at the before-5 rate.

Shame that Minutel doesn't allow call forwarding to the USA - that would be a big advantage. One of the reasons my main number is still with Vodafone, not Solomo, is that answering it in the USA costs 81 cents with Vf and 2 euro with Solomo (and you can't place calls there, either, not that I would do this in anything other than an emergency). Being able to forward German calls to my T-Mobile USA number would be neat indeed.

First thanks to Przemolog, who edited my first post on this page with the updated comparsion table now containing minutel's "plus" tariff.

@Motel75
I think minutel internationally don't offer free forwarding to North American numbers, since on the one hand overseas roaming still delivers high margins compared to European countries and on the other hand free diversions to North America could have an especially strong impact, as this would include forwarding to American mobile phones (there are no dedicated area codes for mobile phones in North America) and so evading roaming tariffs would be very comfortable and cheap. As North American phone networks use the bill-and-keep system, which means there's no termination fee for calls going to another operator's network, there is at least no financial reason for the lack of free forwarding to North America. Forwarding to Eastern European countries is way more expensive due to the high termination fees there.

@Evan
This article from teltarif.de mentions minutel being "quasi-prepaid". That means the tariff is based on a postpaid billing-platform, which may not run always in realtime resulting in the theoretical possibility of generating a negative balance. That's probably why minutel's terms and conditions contain the right to check customers' creditworthiness with Schufa (a German credit investigation company). So I doubt non-residents without Schufa-record can order minutel.

What's the catch with that? I mean do they really offer free call diversions to landlines of 27 EU countries and free and cash-back call diversions to German landlines? Again, what's the catch?

Yes I noticed that the day before yesterday on the article of teltarif.de and I sent an e-mail to the author to confirm if this is a "quasi-prepaid" plan before I post more details here. Unfortunately, I haven't received any reply from him yet.

If it is indeed a "quasi-prepaid" plan (as opposed to a "real prepaid" plan), then is of no use for non-residents but also for residents of Germany (personally I'm hesitant to subscribe to a "quasi-prepaid" plan).

However, I highly doubt that Minutel's plan is "quasi-prepaid". It looks more like a "real prepaid" plan and there are strong indications for that, like:

1. The same author wrote another article on teltarif.de about the differences between prepaid and quasi-prepaid plans and how to recognize which is which. Based on that article, Minutel has all the characteristics of a "real prepaid" plan and almost none of the characteristics of a "quasi-prepaid" plan.

For example, they don't require a German bank account to purchase their starter pack, their starter pack comes with small amount of credit, you can top up your credit with a voucher/code purchased with numerous ways, and it is possible to check your credit balance via the *101# USSD code. To my knowledge, none of the above characteristics are available on "quasi-prepaid" plans.

2. According to their site info section, they are a daughter company of Callax and according to their ToS they are a MVNO of the ring Mobilfunk which is a MVNE of E-Plus. So far, "ring Mobilfunk" operated the MVNO "Ring" that has the same ToS like Minutel and also has only "real prepaid" plans.

3. Also according to another source, the German prepaid wiki, Minutel offers "real prepaid" plans.

4. Regarding the Schufa clause, I read that it cannot be used as an indication of which prepaid plan is applied. There are some "real prepaid" plans that has a Schufa clause on their ToS. For example, Fonic has a Schufa clause but actually it was never used so far. Same goes with Solomo, when someone wants to pay by direct debit. In the case of Minutel, and since they use the same ToS as Ring, I assume that the will use Schufa only for identity confirmation and not for a credit data query, just like Ring.

Nevertheless, the only way to know for sure is to contact Minutel and/or purchase a card for testing. I plan to do that soon.

There's no catch. E-Plus receives € 0.0714/min in termination fee for incoming calls from other networks. Passing a call to a fixed network in one of those 27 countries costs them ~ € 0.01-0.02/min and so they earn more than € 0.05/min without wasting any of the rare capacity on their radio network.

Thank you for the explanation. I hope that they won't change the terms of that offer like their "sister" company, Ring, did recently. They've announced a cap of 900 bonus points per call and no bonus points for incoming calls from abroad or within the Ring network.

ring - Prepaid telefonieren, einfach und unbeschwert.