Buying a German SIM card from Canada

[Kritiker]

So I have a good idea now about availability etc. and calling rates within Germany. Thanks.

Looking at Solomo Pro (E-plus) and Fonic (O2), I find that Solomo Pro has considerably cheaper roaming rates than Fonic.

For example, a call from the Netherlands to Canada costs 0.26€ (via call back) with Solomo Pro but 1.29€, per minute, with Fonic. Other calls from Europe but outside Germany to Europe or Canada seem to cost the same.

Calls from the Netherlands to Germany are 0.46€ on Fonic and 0.26€ - 0.46€ on Solomo Pro .

Is the O2 network that much better than the E-Plus? Any other reasons to choose Fonic over Solomo Pro or the other way around? Can both be topped up using the Internet and non-German credit cards? Do Fonic SIM cards really not expire? The Fonic Kostenschutz is of little use to me. Have I missed something? Any further advice? Thanks.

[kuba.g]

Originally Posted by Kritiker

Calls from the Netherlands to Germany are 0.46€ on Fonic

Will decrease to €0,40/min by 1 July 2011.

Originally Posted by Kritiker

Is the O2 network that much better than the E-Plus?

For mobile data there is a huge difference which I have experienced myself. For calls I have only heard there are a lot of dropped calls etc. The network is clearly the worst in Germany.

Originally Posted by Kritiker

Can both be topped up using the Internet and non-German credit cards?

Yes.

Originally Posted by Kritiker

Do Fonic SIM cards really not expire?

Yes.

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by kuba.g

For mobile data there is a huge difference which I have experienced myself. For calls I have only heard there are a lot of dropped calls etc. The network is clearly the worst in Germany.
.

I have eplus based SIM cards for private use for several years and i have never experienced any dropped calls. The voice quality is very good.
For data o2 might be the better solution, but as my phone only supports GPRS there is no difference for me either..

In our company we have more than 500 simyo cards for data traffic (m2m applications) and the connection is always reliable (but our case scenario does not depend on speed, only on reliable connection and small data amounts).

Chris

[Kritiker]

Originally Posted by dg7feq

I have eplus based SIM cards for private use for several years and i have never experienced any dropped calls. The voice quality is very good.
For data o2 might be the better solution, but as my phone only supports GPRS there is no difference for me either..

dg7feq, which E-Plus cards do you use, have you used, and can you speak to the roaming call-back problems and unreliability that inquisitor mentions?

Originally Posted by inquisitor

@dg7feq
I don't know where you or your company have been using the eplus network, but three of my friends recently switched operators because they had continuing enormous problems with ... voice calls with eplus. Two of them live in Stuttgart and one in Hamburg - they reported not being able ... to receive or place calls while their phones were registered on the 3G-network almost every day during the rush hours.
When I was an eplus customer from 2006-2008 the 3G network in my home town was so congested, that with a probability of 80% incoming phone calls would not reach me, although I had very good signal strength.
Problems may lessen if you switch your phone in 2G-only mode, but all in all their network still is a pain.

Originally Posted by inquisitor

Solomo surely have cheap roaming rates especially for outgoing calls through their callback service. However their callback service is unreliable and some phones (e.g. some Samsung phones) even don't support it at all, since it is a tweaked STK/USSD-solution which seems not to be complying fully with standards.
Further there are dozens of reports on the solomo customer forum of solomo SIMs not even registering on foreign networks.
You should know that solomo is based on a MVNO called vistream and vistream is a real MVNO running some essential core network infrastructure by their own while they basicly only use the cell towers of eplus. However vistream have a lot of problems with their infrastructure - e.g. a lot of users experience no calls and SMS coming in while there's an active data session.
This combination of the messy, overloaded eplus network plus the buggy vistream infrastructure results in an inferior product, which I just cannot recommend. You may end up spending way more money if solomo once again does not work.

Perhaps some E-Plus provider (although it doesn't seem likely, does it?) other than solomo is the answer? Or, inquisitor, are they all afflicted?

I'll reread everything again to see what else I missed. Every time I reread this, and inquisitor's sticky, thread I seem to find something else that I missed. Thanks to all.

[kuba.g]

I don't think that E-Plus grants some kind of priority in traffic to one of their operators.
If they would, they would probably do it for their own customers (E-Plus prepaid card), but E-Plus doesn't provide a prepaid service of their own any more so it's all highly unlikely.

[Kritiker]

Originally Posted by kuba.g

I don't think that E-Plus grants some kind of priority in traffic to one of their operators.
If they would, they would probably do it for their own customers (E-Plus prepaid card), but E-Plus doesn't provide a prepaid service of their own any more so it's all highly unlikely.

I was actually wondering about

Originally Posted by inquisitor

... You should know that solomo is based on a MVNO called vistream and vistream is a real MVNO running some essential core network infrastructure by their own while they basicly only use the cell towers of eplus. However vistream have a lot of problems with their infrastructure - e.g. a lot of users experience no calls and SMS coming in while there's an active data session.
This combination of the messy, overloaded eplus network plus the buggy vistream infrastructure results in an inferior product, which I just cannot recommend. You may end up spending way more money if solomo once again does not work.

and whether other discount carriers using the E-Plus network do it differently. For example, Ortel and Blau, other E-plus discount operators, are not listed as a vistream partners at vistream's web site. In the prepaidgsm.net DB also they are listed as non-vistream MVNOs.

Aside: Is the Rufaufbautaste [literally build-the-call key] just the button we push to start a call, to answer a call and to go off-hook? Sorry to ask such a basic question.

[inquisitor]

@kuba.g
Fonic SIMs can not be recharged by credit card, but only by topup vouchers or a German bank account.

@Kritiker
A disadvantage of solomo pro is, that the SIM is only available online and can be shipped only to Germany and few neighbouring European countries.

@dg7feq
I don't know where you or your company have been using the eplus network, but three of my friends recently switched operators because they had continuing enormous problems with data connections as well as with voice calls with epus. Two of them live in Stuttgart and one in Hamburg - they reported not being able to establish data connections and not being able to receive or place calls while their phones were registered on the 3G-network almost every day during the rush hours.
When I was an eplus customer from 2006-2008 the 3G network in my home town was so congested, that with a probability of 80% incoming phone calls would not reach me, allthough I had very good signal strength.
Problems may lessen if you switch your phone in 2G-only mode, but all in all their network still is a pain.

[Kritiker]

Thank you all for your advice so far. It has helped me tremendously.

Since I too have had problems with E-Plus (in 2007) I am inclined to try Fonic. What's holding me back is Fonic's much higher roaming rate for calls from some country via Germany to some other country. Of course, if you can't make or receive the call, then it is cheaper still, isn't it? The roaming does represent only about 20% of my intended use.

I'll be out-of-touch for a few days and will respond to the most recent, and any future posts, when I return. Thanks again.

[kuba.g]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

@kuba.g
Fonic SIMs can not be recharged by credit card, but only by topup vouchers or a German bank account.

Yes they can. I recharged mine online by credit card although not via Fonic.de, obviously