Lidl
 

It appears lidl has a offer similar or Better to tchibo on the same network, has anyone had any experience with them?

I'm mainly interested in their data options for a holiday...

LIDL MOBILE - 9 ct/Min. in alle deutschen Netze und ins Festnetz von ganz Europa, USA und Kanada

Lidl is not only based on the same network and billing platform like Fonic, but Lidl SIMs are actually realized through Fonic as you may see from the small print on the backside of the SIM's retail package. In my opinion Lidl is the best option for travellers in Germany and also highly attractive to residents.
The difference between Lidl and Fonic are the lower data rates of Lidl and the fact that you can recharge Lidl SIMs only at Lidl supermarkets, while Fonic recharge vouchers are available at several other retailers. Further Lidl's smallest recharge voucher amounts to € 15 while the smallest Fonic voucher has a value for € 20.
I've written an article about Lidl on the PWIA-wiki: LIDL mobile - Prepaid Wireless Internet Access

Due to their anniversary Lidl currently sell their SIM cards for only € 5 (instead of € 10) including € 10 of initial credit and I've picked up a spare one, which I hereby offer to the PrePaidGSM community. It's still sealed and not activated. Besides the original price of € 5 I would just charge the shipping fees of € 3.50 for insured international shipping + € 0.75 PayPal fees and I would appreciate if you provided my Lidl number upon activation, so the buyer and I do each get € 5 from their referral program.

Another big benefit of Lidl vs. Fonic is that Lidl currently offers 25 euro credit if you port your number to it, offsetting the 25-30 fees most prepaid providers charge to release your number. This is obviously not a big deal for visitors, though.

According to the German wiki you can actually even recharge Lidl cards with Fonic top-up codes, so that's no disadvantage at all :)

I used Fonic phone sim from Lidl this summer. The third year in a row.

It is excellent and the cheapest around.

The number never expires. The minutes never expire.

As I recall it cost only about 5 Euros to buy (3 years ago), including that value in minutes (at 9 Euro cents a minute for calls in Germany, to Europe and even to the US). I still haven't used all the minutes so each year I just pop the sim in the phone and it's ready to go.

By the way, I learned about Fonic on this site. So thank you.

Lidl stopped selling Fonic SIM cards. Since last year they have been selling "Lidl mobile" SIM cards, which in fact are rebranded Fonic SIMs but with lower data tariffs. So with a Lidl SIM you get the same service from the same company (Fonic GmbH) but cheaper.
Btw Fonic SIMs now cost € 10 with the same amount of initial credit. Lidl SIMs will cost absolutely the same after their promotional offer of € 5 (with € 10 of credit) ends on September 10th.

Yes, Lidl mobile runs on the O2 network and SIMs are sold only at Lidl supermarkets. Officially you can only recharge with Lidl recharge vouchers sold at their supermarkets, but actually you can also use Fonic vouchers, which are sold at many retailers and gasstations, as well.

Additional information can be found at:
http://prepaid-wireless-internet-acc...id=6-aQmLmrozk (English, mostly written by me)
LIDL MOBILE ? Prepaid-wiki (German)

Allthough I've sold my spare Lidl SIM to VladS I could still pick up another one tomorrow since I will buy two more for Vlad anyway, and send it including insured shipping to Canada and PayPal fees to you for € 9.25. The only benefit I would have is € 5 of bonus credit if you provided my number upon activation.
Note that the promotional price of € 5 including € 10 of initial credit (+ €5 bonus credit if you fill in another Lidl customer's number upon activation) ends on September 10th. Afterwards SIM cards will cost € 10 again.
So if you take my offer you'll save only € 0.75, but you would have an active SIM card upon arrival (no need to search a Lidl supermarket and to wait up to 24h for activation) + an active data option if desired (may also take up to 24h for activation) and you would know your number before departure, so you could tell it to whoever may want to reach you and also record it to your voice mailbox.

inquisitor, thanks for the excellent information you've been providing in the forum and the pages you've written. Definitely helps visitors to DE :)!

This sounds like exactly what I need. I'll be in Berlin starting Oct 9 for 1.5 weeks and then Praha for another half week. Would LIDL support data into CZ at this rate or would there be an additional data usage roaming fee in Praha?

Another question. In comparing Fonic with Lidl, you mention that Fonic throttles after 500MB. The page you created for Lidl in English also mentions the same throttling. In fact it looks like the only different between the data betwen Fonic and Lidl is the monthly tariff of € 25 for Fonic versus € 14.99 for Lidl. Can you help clarify?

I would be interested if you could this for me. Hopefully we can make arrangements before the 10th :). I want to have the € 14.99 data option, but I think I would need to activate this myself because my trip will last until October 21 in Praha. Is this correct?

Thanks for the offer inquisitor, but I am on the road too soon for this to reach me, as I will be in Europe in ~2 weeks, and in the US Pacific Northwest before this. :cool:

I will definitely want to add you as a credit referral for the extra €5 though. Feel free to PM your number then, I will be in FRA Sept 25. I assume Lidl is a national chain, or is it only regional? Will I need to buy all my cards, topups somewhere before hopping on the ICE around the country?

If you have the "Handy-Internet-Flatrate" activated for data roaming within the EU the "EU Internet-Tages-Pack" will apply, which gives you 10MB for € 3 per calendar day. After consuming those 10MB internet access will be interrupted for the rest of the day. Alternatively (without the "Handy-Internet-Flatrate") you would pay some prohibitive € 5/MB.
Be aware that data roaming is quite expensive in Europe - there are other providers on the inferior eplus-network (simyo and blau) who offer EU-roaming data packs of 50MB for € 5, but that's still not a bargain.

There are a couple of differences:

• Fonic charge € 2.50/day on the dayflat-tariff, while Lidl charge just € 1.99/day so Lidl is cheaper, but Fonic have a price-cap of € 25/month for the day-flat tariff.
• But then Lidl offer a monthly flatrate with throttling after 5GB for € 14.99/month which again is cheaper than the € 25-price cap of Fonic's dayflat. Further Fonic throttles speed on the dayflat-tariff if you exceed 500MB/day or 5GB/month (whichever applies first), while Lidl don't have a volume cap on a daily basis but only on monthly basis (5GB).
• If you compare those monthly flatrates throttled already after exceeding 500MB ("Handy-Internet-Flatrate"), Lidl is ~€ 1 cheaper than Fonic (€ 8.99 vs. 9.95)

So Fonic is a kind of more flexible because their dayflat turns into a monthly flatrate after the tenth day of usage within a month, but on the other hand Lidl's 5GB-monthly flatrate costs the same like six days of dayflat-usage with Fonic.
In my eyes Lidl is the better choice unless you need more than 500MB/month (so the "Handy-Internet-Flatrate" won't suffice) and you can't even roughly foresee how many days you will need internet access.
However there's one unique selling point in favour of Fonic and that's the fact they have microSIMs by default (can be broken out from their regular SIMs) while Lidl don't.

I have picked up the last four SIMs from my local Lidl market today (of which two are already enroute to VladS) and I could send you one on Monday, but the bonus credit from the referral programm may take up to three weeks to be accredited. So when you receive the SIM it probably won't have enough credit (initial credit is €10) for the 5GB-flatrate, which costs € 14.99. So you could either subscribe to the 500MB-flatrate or recharge € 15 (which is the smallest top-up amount) to order the 5GB-flatrate. Another option would be that I activate the SIM before shipping (with your personal details), so you would receive those € 5 in September and would have enough credit (€15) to order the 5GB-flatrate.

@Amrando
Lidl is a nationwide chain, but note that their supermarkets tend to be rather outside city centers (search for stores here). In order to benefit from the referral program just use the number given in the previously linked activation instructions - it's actually mine.

When travelling by ICE or IC-trains make sure you take your seat in a car equipped with repeaters so you get a better signal (but don't expect too much 3G coverage, especially on ICE trains which pass many tunnels). These cars are marked with the following sign:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...andyaussen.jpg

There's one more difference between Fonic and Lidl, which I've just realized: While Fonic bills their dayflat by calendar day (always ends at midnight regardless of when you started using data), Lidl's dayflat lasts 24h, so you always get full 24h for € 1.99.
So if you start accessing the web at 11:50 p.m. Fonic would give you only ten minutes for € 2.50, while with Lidl you could surf until the next day 11:50 p.m.
Another decisive argument for Lidl.

Thanks for the details! I like the activation of the SIM before shipping. That would give me the best flexibility when I arrive of which data tariff to choose. I'll send you a PM to discuss further.

Guys regarding lidl, I used them for my holiday and for the most part it was good but I had to call them to activate the €15 data plan, not easy as I don't speak German but some family assisted me there. One fact I do remember and it may have changed since is they do have a 500meg a day like fonic do. It was spelled out in their t&cs. Plenty for a traveller thou.

It may have changed since then, I for example noticed the portal changed and also it appears u can now activate the 15€ plan online which would have saved me some headache.

Oddly with the u2 network where I was staying (Karlsruhe in Frankfurt) it was terrible, slow as anything. Out of interest I got a aldi sim that runs on eplus and it was quite fast in comparison.

Of course once I left Karlsruhe and returned to frankfurt flughaben the tables turned and the lidl sim was much better in comparison...

Also one tip, once u leave Germany be sure to login to the portal an change your plan to the casual charge as it will try to rebill automatically and if it fails will default to the 2€ a day instead. I found this out the hard way but stopped it in time only being billed one day.

Also if u use the sim for voice and roam outside Germany it seems to like sending a SMS to 88969 or someting and charging u 0.60€ for the privilege. Be careful as it can eat your credit away.

I've since put mine away in a safe place and will reuse if I ever return to Germany in the near future.

Well I followed inquisitor's advice and went to pick up a Lidl Mobile SIM-Karte here in Cologne.. and the store was sold out of both the SIM, and Surf-stick kit.. :confused:

Well no matter, there will be plenty of stores in t.. no, sold out at the next store as well. Well, I better get going down to Munich. There'll be more stores there in town right? SOLD OUT HERE TOO. :chair:

I've been to 4 Lidl stores in 2 cities so far and every one has been sold out. So on my third day in Germany I said f*** this s**t, and walked into a Müller drugstore across the street from my hotel, and bought the Fonic kit. Activation went smoothly, I've added inquisitor for my 5€ friend credit.. and then they took 21 hours to activate my flat data rate, forcing me to eat nearly my entire initial voucher credit. Very slimy tactics there- sending me an acknowledgment SMS of my request to change plan within a few minutes, but then waiting 20+ hours to send a confirmation that the change had actually been implemented. :nono:

You submit the change request, they send back a notice asking you to reply JA/NEIN to the change, then they reply with the acknowledgment of your change.. which caught me out.. but then it seems somebody actually goes and makes the change by hand, and they send you a confirmation when it's actually been done.

That's really bad luck. I haven't bought Lidl SIMs that often but whenever I did they had enough in stock. Perhaps their recent promotional price of € 5 per SIM has driven down inventories.
From my observation data options are activated faster if subscribed to online instead of SMS.
Btw I don't know if the referral program actually works between Lidl and Fonic customers or if is limited to the communities of each of these tariffs. Could you report back if you get those € 5? You'll find out by going to "Gesprächsübersicht" (after login the second of four big buttons on top) and then selecting a time range and clicking on "Entgeltnachweis als PDF ansehen" - now you should get a PDF statement which should show an item called "Freunde werben Freunde".

I can verify that it works (I gave a Fonic number to activate my Lidl account). I can also verify that it works even if the owner is the same person (I gave my first Lidl number when I activated my second). However, there is a limit of five referrals per month, so you should always make sure that the referrer hasn't already used up the number of referrals.

What happens if the referer has already recruited five customers in a month? Will only he not get those € 5 or will also the refered new customer not get them?

I don't know. There's only one way to find out.

Interestingly allthough my Lidl SIM has been activated only on September 4th, I have already received six bonuses from the referal program during the past two weeks. I wonder if that limitation of five bonuses per month is actually being enforced.

I wonder too? Can you confirm that my referal is among those credited to your account? The last four digits of my new Lidl-mobile number is ...5494. I ask because the 5 Euro bonus has not been credited to my account. Perhaps they did cut you off!

That extra 5 Euro Guthaben would have been useful on the first day of my planned trip. I will be arriving with bike cases and luggage and do not look forward to finding a Lidl on my first day.

On the other hand, if someone would be so kind as to purchase a 20 Euro Aufladebon at their local Lidl and email me the Aufladebonnummer, I could reimburse them via PayPal and would be happy to add a little for their trouble - HINT, HINT!

Stan

Somewhat relatedly, I've been trying to port a number from a rarely-used Mobilcom Vodafone card to one of my new Lidl ones. In contrast to "real" Vodafone, which released the number almost immediately, Mobilcom-Debitel (as it now is) has ignored the Verzichtserklärung (notification form), which I faxed to them four times (each 3-4 days apart), and has also ignored contact via their online customer service contact form. Calling them didn't help either - all they did was to send me a new Verzichtserklärung in the post. It's like they don't want to let me go, even though I'm giving them 30 euro for essentially nothing.

Looking for a 1-week stay in Munich.

Is this the best option for prepaid data? Looks like the 8.99 Euro Handy Internet Flatrate which throttles after 500 MB?

Or maybe the 24h-Flatrate if you anticipate heavy use (not just on mobile phones but in place of hotel Wifi, for instance)?

Are Lidl stores common in Munich? Do they just sell the SIMs or will they activate it for you at the stores? Can they activate the special data tariff plans too

Blau.de and simyo.de sell 1GB valid for a month for € 9.90, but they are both on the eplus network, which is generally throttled to 1 MBit/s and suffers from regular congestions resulting in modem-like througput. A network review by German computer magazine chip.de from September 2011 confirmed once more, that eplus has the worst network when it comes to data:
http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/atta...1&d=1319049652
© CHIP Xonio Online GmbH 2011

If you want a more reliable network with better 3G coverange and much higher average throughput (usually 2-3 MBit/s download), Lidl (based on the O2 network) is the cheapest alternative. Since O2 is based in Munich local coverage is exceptionally well with most downtown basestations already supporting HSPA+ (with up to 28.8 MBit/s).

500MB are not much for a week if you tether your laptop. For my purposes I usually reckon with 200MB/day when I use my laptop. Notice that once you have subscribed to one of Lidl's monthly flatrates you cannot switch to any other data tariff during the 30-day billing period. So if you consume those 500MB you will be trapped with throttled bandwidth (64 KBit/s) for the rest of your stay.

There are about 40: Lidl near Munich, Germany - Google Maps

They just sell the SIM on the checkout counter and acutally don't have the slightest idea what it's for. You can only activate your SIM online, by phone or by sending the included registration form by fax or snail mail.

No, you can only do that online, by phone or by SMS.

As I've done to half a dozen other PPGSM users before, I would also offer you to send you a Lidl SIM at cost (€ 9.95 for the SIM + € 2.80 for insured shipping + € 1 PayPal fees = € 13.75).
Your advantage would be that I could tell you your Lidl phone number and the activation code already tomorrow. Then you could not only give people your German number before leaving, but you could activate your SIM immediately and you will perhaps receive your bonus credit from the customer referal program (€ 5) before arrival in Germany (it may take up to three weeks for the bonus to be accredited) and you could also activate your desired data option before leaving the US (activation or change of data options may take up to 24 hours).
However despite Deutsche Post's promise to deliver letters to North America in less than five days, it recently took almost three weeks for two letters sent to Canada to arrive. So we should have enough slack time for delivery. Alternatively I could send the SIM to the German address you'll be staying at in advance, which would be € 0.20 cheaper for shipping.

Thanks for the rundown.

This would be for early February but I don't know for sure that I'll be going. Or I might go elsewhere.

February is rather traveling time for the Southern hemisphere. I'm sure they have a country with cheap prepaid internet rates there, too.

That's true, but airfares to Latin America or Australia are rather dear compared to airfares to Europe.

I've visited Spain around this time of the year and that may be where I end up going. But I've also been to Austria and Switzerland this time of the year too.

I can deal with the cold weather as long as it's not raining. Moderate snow is easier to deal with than rain too. Went to Berlin in July a few years ago. It got cold and windy during my stay.

Good Tchibo deal
 

The prepaid SIMs from Lidl do look good, including for mobile surfing with a laptop (e.g. their Internet flatrate offering 5 GB/month for €15) but there may be an even better deal available for that from Tchibo who use the O2 net as well.

Last week I bought a Tchibo mobil Internet-Stick at a Tchibo shop for €19,90. Included in the package was a Huawei E173u-1 USB 3G-modem with locked SIM card plus one month of free Internet surfing. I activated the SIM online, and on the form there, under "Zusatz-Optionen", I had the option of either checking their L or their XL plan, with the first month of use being free for either option. The XL option offers unlimited surfing with a cap of 5 GB/month for high-speed access, for €20/mo (L provides 500 MB for . I checked the XL option and indeed wound up with an available data volume of 5120 MB for the first month. Since that's a €20 value, I essentially got the surf stick for free.

Since there doesn't seem to be any problem with unlocking the Tchibo SIM card, I may want to do that, and from the second month on use a Lidl card for their 5GB surfing plan for €15, or else stay with Tchibo, if that's more convenient and they offer better terms for the €5/mo extra.

The Tchibo stick supports VoIP and video telephony with Skype. Does the Lidl plan support that as well?

I have to say though, there was some kind of glitch with this stick/SIM, when I tried to use it in Windows XP as well as in Linux - I lost Internet access, and I got out of this hole only by exchanging the stick in the store. l'll post that story here in the Germany forum, under the title "Huawei E175 modem from Tchibo/O2 - install in Win & Linux; lost Internet." Perhaps one of you can shed some light on what might have happened there.

Tchibo is interesting if you need a UMTS-stick. Otherwise Lidl is cheaper (5GB cost € 15 instead of € 20 while giving absolutely the same service including VoIP- and Skype-allowance) and more flexible due to the more data options. Further Lidl has way better calling rates and so is also attractive for voice calling, especially for foreign visitors who might want to call home.

I've purchased 2 Lidl cards, and activated them, using your (inquisitor's) number as referral for one of them. Now I wonder if you and I will get the 5 Euro each, or not, since there was a mention about a cutoff per month.
I guess, time will tell. I hope it works.

And I've got a question: are there any kind of settings (APN, WAP) I will have to enter to make the data part work on my smartphone, once I'm in Germany?
It's a Droid Incredible 2 (equivalent to the Incredible S, I think), with global capabilities.

So far everybody has received the bonus despite there were more than five activations refering to my Lidl number last month. Be aware that it takes up to three weeks the bonus to be accredited.

Since O2 Germany (the network Lidl is based on) accept just any random APN, you don't need to make any special settings. You just need to make sure there's a profile set under Settings | Wireless & Networks | Mobile Networks | Access Point Names and it is actually activated (tip the a so-called radio button next to the corresponding profile). If there's no profile yet, hit the menu key and add a new APN, where you only need to enter something (e.g. "MickeyMouse") under "APN" (all other fields can be left blank) and afterwards press again the menu key and save the new profile.
And make sure your Droid Incredible is actually unlocked! At least from the Droid 2 Global I know that it is sold locked and you have to request an unlock code with Verizon's customer care. If locked your phone will ask you for the unlock code as soon as you insert a third-party SIM card.

Is it just me or did Lidl just give everyone 5 euro extra last month?

Thanks for the help!
The phone is unlocked, so should work fine over there.
But when I look in the settings, there are no options to set up an APN anywhere that I can find. No Access Point names or anything *about* access points under mobile networks.

It's currently set for "Global mode".

Edited to add: Found it! I have to switch to GSM/UMTS mode, and then I see the APNs.

€ 5 for what? I didn't receive anything apart from the bonuses from the referal program.

That was my question. Both my cards suddenly gained € 5 credit that I couldn't explain (I didn't refer anyone). I'm certainly not complaining.

What does your statement say? Do those € 5 show up in it at all?

I just checked the amount on my two Lidl cards, and each one has only received one bonus, so either yours didn't work, or using my number for my daughter's didn't.
Darn, I was hoping not to have to load one up with more money.
I hope this is okay, but if anyone who is setting up a new Lidl/Fonic Sim would like to help me out with a Friendship bonus:
my number is 0176 39526057.

If you have omitted the leading zero of the prefix during activation as you've done above, then this is the reason why the referral bonus did not work.

It's possible, though one did work. IIRC, I copied and pasted the number from your page, so maybe it was my own that didn't work.
I guess there is no way to correct this in retrospect? And I can't edit my earlier post to add the missing zero, either. :(