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RobF · **Good Tchibo deal -** 20-10-2011, 14:40

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.

	(#29)
RobF (Offline) Junior Member Amateur Member Posts: 16 Join Date: 20 Oct 2011 Country:	Good Tchibo deal - 20-10-2011, 14:40 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.