best prepaid for family

[travel]

hello

me and my wife will go to Germany from Romania for some months and we need:

me:
-internet around 3GB/month
-free or very cheap calls with my wife
-cheap rate to Romania mobile

wife:
-free or very cheap calls with me
-cheap rate to Romania mobile

which prepaid option will be better for us ?? please help me to find best offer.

thank you in advance

[inquisitor]

These are my spontaneous suggestions:

AldiTalk
SIM card price: € 14.99 including € 10 credit, effectively € 4.99

me:
-internet around 3GB/month: Internet-Flatrate L (5GB valid for 30 days) for € 14.99
-free or very cheap calls with my wife: € 0.03/min or for free with Community-Flatrate available for € 2.99/30 days
-cheap rate to Romania mobile: € 0.29/min or € 0.017/min through voipyo and VoIP app on your smartphone

wife:
-free or very cheap calls with me: € 0.03/min or for free with Community-Flatrate available for € 2.99/30 days
-cheap rate to Romania mobile: € 0.29/min or € 0.017/min through voipyo and VoIP app on her smartphone

Lycamobile
SIM card price: € 0 if ordered online

me:
-internet around 3GB/month: Data-Flat 3GB (3GB valid for 30 days) for € 14.90
-free or very cheap calls with my wife: free*
-cheap rate to Romania mobile: choose between:

• Global S: 100 minutes to 45 countries incl. Germany and Romania valid for 30 days for € 4.99
  or
• Global M: 300 minutes to 45 countries incl. Germany and Romania valid for 30 days for € 9.99
  or
• Global L: 500 minutes to 45 countries incl. Germany and Romania valid for 30 days for € 14.99
  or
• Global 1200: Global 1200: 1200 minutes to 12 countries incl. Romania (calls to Germany NOT included) valid for 30 days for € 19.90
  or
• Rumänien Paket: unlimited calls to Romania and unlimited calls and SMS to other Lycamobile subscribers valid for 30 days for € 39.99

wife:
-free or very cheap calls with me: free*
-cheap rate to Romania mobile: choose between:

• Global S: 100 minutes to 45 countries incl. Germany and Romania valid for 30 days for € 4.99
  or
• Global M: 300 minutes to 45 countries incl. Germany and Romania valid for 30 days for € 9.99
  or
• Global L: 500 minutes to 45 countries incl. Germany and Romania valid for 30 days for € 14.99
  or
• Global 1200: Global 1200: 1200 minutes to 12 countries incl. Romania (calls to Germany NOT included) valid for 30 days for € 19.90
  or
• Rumänien Paket: unlimited calls to Romania and unlimited calls and SMS to other Lycamobile subscribers valid for 30 days for € 39.99

There are a couple of other bundles for international calls: http://www.lycamobile.de/en/bundle?id=3
But be aware that you most likely cannot combine a data-only pack with a combined data/voice-pack. As the latter come with not more than 1GB of data allowance, you will probably prefer to subscribe to a combination of voice-only and a data-only pack.

* for each recharge you will receive free airtime for calls to other Lycamobile customers valid for 30 days if you send an SMS saying "SPAR AN" to 2525 :
€5 = 200min
€10 = 500min
€20 = 1200min

[inquisitor]

Instead of ordering one of the voice bundles from Lycamobile as suggested above you could of course also call Romania at standard rates for € 0.01/min + € 0.15 connection fee, though the latter would be showstopper for me.

[wolfbln]

I agree with inquisitor, with some corrections and remarks:

ALDI talk: starter set is still 12.99 EUR (not 14.99 EUR) with 10 EUR credit.
Surely, the better solution if you are willing to use VoIP for your Romanian calls.

Lycamobile is very popular on the ethno market. But it has a lot of loopholes, catches and changes prices frequently.

I give you an example:
The promotional rate with 1 ct/min (plus connection fee) to Romanian mobile lines is advertised and added in fine print: "Customers should opt-in by texting SPAR AN to 2525 to be eligible to get the below special rates. Opt-in save promotional tariff is valid 31.08.2014. Check our standard rates.

See here for promotional tariif and fine printhttp://www.lycamobile.de/en/internationalrates
and here for standard rate: http://www.lycamobile.de/sysimages/e...d_Rates_DE.pdf.
In the German version of the website it becomes clear the promotion ran out end of August: Das Angebot Spartarif ist gültig bis zum 31.08.2014. So probably they charge you their standard rate of 5 ct/min + 15 ct for connection by now, even if they still advertise the 1 ct/min on their website. The way they hide the expiry date of the promotion in small print and feature the (probably run out) promotion in big letters is against all marketing rules and pretty disgusting. Or they just extended the offer and forgot to update their website. Who knows?

I mean this is a (British) company who mainly appeals to foreigners. And it takes me a lot of puzzeling what the rates really are. How can somebody not familiar with German or English not be fooled by them. You see, i'm really not too convinced by Lycamobile, as they are frequently doing things like this, but a lot of people from the Balcans are using it. Anyway, still you have to do a lot of mathematics to find out the right package.

[travel]

thank you for answer

i saw 1ct to Romania but i forgot about connection rate 0.15...

a lot of hidden cost in germany prepaid ....


i also saw blau.de offer

-internet around 3GB/month: 3GB 14.90 euro
-free or very cheap calls with my wife: blau to blau unlimited 3.90 euro for 30 days
-cheap rate to Romania mobile: 0.09 euro / min


please correct me for the last offer ...

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by travel

-internet around 3GB/month: 3GB 14.90 euro
-free or very cheap calls with my wife: blau to blau unlimited 3.90 euro for 30 days
-cheap rate to Romania mobile: 0.09 euro / min


please correct me for the last offer ...

0.09€/min is for landlines, 0.29€/min it for mobiles.

Funnywise - if you would use the blau.de SIM while roaming in romania you pay 0.09€/min for calls to all european landlines and mobiles....

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by dg7feq

Funnywise - if you would use the blau.de SIM while roaming in romania you pay 0.09€/min for calls to all european landlines and mobiles....

The same oddity applies for AldiTalk, where you pay € 0.29/min for calls from Germany to mobile networks in other European countries but once you leave Germany within the EU you pay € 0.11/min for calls to any European network and you can subscribe to the "EU Sprachpaket 150" which gives you 150 minutes to any European network for € 4.99 valid for 7 days. This - if used up completely - converts into € 0.033/min and is cheaper than domestic prepaid SIM cards in most countries, even for domestic calls.

[lover08]

Lebara will be cheap and easy

1) get 2 x SIM cards
2) activate 5€ package 100 minutes to 45 countries
Included Romania mobiles landlines or 300 minutes
10€ or 500 minutes 15€
Plus Internet bundle 3GB costs 15€ It is unlimited
After 3GB speed will be GPRS
That's all.

How to do that?
A. Purchase activated SIM cards (on ebay or in places mentioned on lebara website)
B. ask seller on ebay or at retail shop how to Topup they will do it for you
Alex

[wolfbln]

You see, with Lebara I have the same problems as with Lycamobile.

Take your proposal. It sounds clear and easy. Is it really? Let's take a closer look:
Here are the voice packages you described: http://www.lebara.de/flexi?isoCode=en_GB

And then there are about 100 lines of fine print on the bottom. Try to switch to English language. What a surprise: the small print stays in German

An excerpt of the first 4 lines: "Die Tarifoption ist nur mit Lebara Prepaid-Karte optional buchbar. Diese Option kann nur einmal pro 30 Tage gebucht werden. Die Tarifoption ist nicht mit anderen Tarifoptionen kombinierbar."

in English, this UK-company is not able to translate: "The packages can only be booked optionally on a Lebara SIM. This option can only be booked once within 30 days. This tariff option can not be combined with other tariff options".

So according to their fine print your "cheap and easy" option is not possible, because according to Lebara two tariff options: the "Flexi pack" and a "Data flatrate" need to be combined and this is not allowed/possible, at least they say.

The thing is, that both options may actually be combined or ]may not but you never know by their announcements. It's just try and error. Or for a telecommunications company it's just bad communication.

You see that's why I'm still very reluctant to recommend their offers.

[travel]

thank you wolfbln

i see that even for you is complicated and you are from Germany ....

still waiting for a good combination .... after reading all prepaid offers i will speak German at a beginner level