t-mobile german SIM, when expire?
 

So, I have had this german t-mobile SIM for several years now, always activating it once a year. A couple years ago, it no longer required a constant recharge, a 30Euro charge kept is alive for 365 days.

Now, I am having a hard time figuring out when, if it will expire? My balance when I check it here in the USA with *100#, says 71 EURO, which is about where I left it a six months or more ago, but it no longer shows the EXPIRATION?

Have they done away with balance expiration? And or card expiration?
thx

Yes and yes. There was a court ruling that prevented German providers from allowing credit to expire, so most providers have done away with formal expiration dates. Just keep it in regular use; I'm not sure about T-Mobile, but Vodafone requires the phone to be used or recharged once every 14 months.

wow
 

wow, that is pretty darn sweet? anyone have any formal links for that? I've been searching the website, even in german, and don't seem to find a direct relationship to lack of expiry.

The balance does not expire anymore. The SIM itself can still be taken out of service.

Most providers cancel the service for the card if you dont recharge within 12...14 months - but if you recharge the card later on the old balance comes back together with a new 12..14 months service time for the card.

Chris

Very cool. I just got one of these when I was in Konstanz, Germany last week. :)

Forgive the slight hijacking... but can you change the voicemail prompts into English by any chance?

Don't think so
 

When I had 2 of these cards - a bit over 1 year ago and I had them for several years, I could not find a way to change the language of the voice prompts. I speak German so it was no problem for me.

Maybe things have changed.

Stan

Vodafone will let you change to English. I'm surprised TMO does not.

I'm not sure about prepaid because I don't own a TMO prepaid SIM, but on TMO postpaid you can change the voice mail prompts to English.

From the main menu, type 3 (Einstellungen / settings)
then 2 (weitere Einstellungen / additional settings)
then 2 (Menüansagen / voice mail prompts)
then 3 for English.

Hope it works also for prepaid.

The prompts for prepaid seem to be quite different. (I can post them later if desired; they're in the printed guide I got with my SIM.) I don't see a prompt for Menuansagen in there at all.

There are far more options for postpaid customers, prepaid customers are limited to a few basic features and cannot switch the language of their voice box.