Cheapest rates in germany for...

Malkav · **Cheapest rates in germany for... -** 08-03-2010, 22:13

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

babble · **pick-n-mix german sim cards -** 08-03-2010, 23:11

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

Malkav · 08-03-2010, 23:16

gonna go with vodafone then....

babble · **Texts back to UK cost 29c/message -** 08-03-2010, 23:21

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.

Malkav · 08-03-2010, 23:37

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

inquisitor · 09-03-2010, 00:09

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).

andy · 09-03-2010, 00:21

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

€5 extra credit if a friend refers you

Motel75 · 09-03-2010, 05:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malkav

gonna go with vodafone then....

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.

inquisitor · 09-03-2010, 09:45

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.

babble · **Don´t forget the EU euro-sms rate of 11p/text -** 09-03-2010, 10:12

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.

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	(#1)
Malkav (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 267 Join Date: 09 Jun 2006 Location: Malkavian University Country:	Cheapest rates in germany for... - 08-03-2010, 22:13 I am off to Germany later this year, what is the best value sim for texting/ calling uk and german numbers? Current networks: Orange 3g UK, 3 pay monthly, Virgin pay as you go UK, 3UK payg, Tesco payg, Asda mobile Active phones: Blackberry Torch (02), Google Nexus one (Vodafone) Inactive Sims: Oskar Czech R, BT Genie Pay as you go UK. Spare (unused phones) NEC 616, Ericsson t68/i, Nokia 3310, Sendo m550, Mototorola v66i, Motorola a1000.lg u880, Sony Ericsson t230. Orange spv m5000, Samsung z400, Motorola SLVR (Red)!, lobster tv700, spv m700, prada phone, motorola l7e, Skype phone, siemens sl65, blackberry 8810, Nokia 6500 slide X2.

	(#2)
babble (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 115 Join Date: 11 Oct 2007 Country:	pick-n-mix german sim cards - 08-03-2010, 23:11 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

	(#3)
Malkav (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 267 Join Date: 09 Jun 2006 Location: Malkavian University Country:	08-03-2010, 23:16 gonna go with vodafone then.... Current networks: Orange 3g UK, 3 pay monthly, Virgin pay as you go UK, 3UK payg, Tesco payg, Asda mobile Active phones: Blackberry Torch (02), Google Nexus one (Vodafone) Inactive Sims: Oskar Czech R, BT Genie Pay as you go UK. Spare (unused phones) NEC 616, Ericsson t68/i, Nokia 3310, Sendo m550, Mototorola v66i, Motorola a1000.lg u880, Sony Ericsson t230. Orange spv m5000, Samsung z400, Motorola SLVR (Red)!, lobster tv700, spv m700, prada phone, motorola l7e, Skype phone, siemens sl65, blackberry 8810, Nokia 6500 slide X2.

	(#4)
babble (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 115 Join Date: 11 Oct 2007 Country:	Texts back to UK cost 29c/message - 08-03-2010, 23:21 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.

	(#5)
Malkav (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 267 Join Date: 09 Jun 2006 Location: Malkavian University Country:	08-03-2010, 23:37 Bugger...ok fair enough hope someone can assist one with sorting out a sim card! Current networks: Orange 3g UK, 3 pay monthly, Virgin pay as you go UK, 3UK payg, Tesco payg, Asda mobile Active phones: Blackberry Torch (02), Google Nexus one (Vodafone) Inactive Sims: Oskar Czech R, BT Genie Pay as you go UK. Spare (unused phones) NEC 616, Ericsson t68/i, Nokia 3310, Sendo m550, Mototorola v66i, Motorola a1000.lg u880, Sony Ericsson t230. Orange spv m5000, Samsung z400, Motorola SLVR (Red)!, lobster tv700, spv m700, prada phone, motorola l7e, Skype phone, siemens sl65, blackberry 8810, Nokia 6500 slide X2.

	(#6)
inquisitor (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Professionist Posts: 1,399 Join Date: 15 Nov 2006 Country:	09-03-2010, 00:09 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). terminals: Samsung: Galaxy S5 DuoS (G900FD); BLU: Win HD LTE; Nokia: 1200; Asus: Fonepad 7 ME372CG; Huawei data: E3372, Vodafone R201, K3765, E1762; postpaid: O2 on Business XL; prepaid: DE: Aldi Talk, Lidl; UK: 3; BG: MTel, vivacom; RU: MTS; RS: MTS; UAE: du Tourist SIM; INT'L: toggle mobile VoIP: sipgate.de (German DID); sipgate.co.uk (British DID); ukddi.com (British DID); sipcall.ch (Swiss DID); megafon.bg (Bulgarian DID); InterVoip.com Last edited by inquisitor; 09-03-2010 at 00:30..

	(#7)
andy (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Prophet Posts: 2,128 Join Date: 10 Dec 2004 Country:	09-03-2010, 00:21 I'd also suggest Solomo Pro - 6c landlines, 10c mobiles in Germany, 9c UK landlines, etc €5 extra credit if a friend refers you

	(#9)
inquisitor (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Professionist Posts: 1,399 Join Date: 15 Nov 2006 Country:	09-03-2010, 09:45 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. terminals: Samsung: Galaxy S5 DuoS (G900FD); BLU: Win HD LTE; Nokia: 1200; Asus: Fonepad 7 ME372CG; Huawei data: E3372, Vodafone R201, K3765, E1762; postpaid: O2 on Business XL; prepaid: DE: Aldi Talk, Lidl; UK: 3; BG: MTel, vivacom; RU: MTS; RS: MTS; UAE: du Tourist SIM; INT'L: toggle mobile VoIP: sipgate.de (German DID); sipgate.co.uk (British DID); ukddi.com (British DID); sipcall.ch (Swiss DID); megafon.bg (Bulgarian DID); InterVoip.com

	(#10)
babble (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 115 Join Date: 11 Oct 2007 Country:	Don´t forget the EU euro-sms rate of 11p/text - 09-03-2010, 10:12 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.