Buying a German SIM card from Canada

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by astro

The page you mention I've already looked at in detail, and it does NOT answer my question:
This addresses activation, not online SIM purchase. Hence, my question.

Sorry. You are right of course. Online orders with Fonic require a German bank account.

Regarding your decission between O2 and eplus you might also consider that from July, 1st roaming fees will decline once again due to EU-regulation. Then no German operator may charge outgoing calls with the EU with more than € 0.42/min and incoming ones not with more than € 0.13/min. However this does not apply for calls from other European countries to Canada.

Is shipping within Germany, the EU (where offered), typically included in the on-line SIM cost or is it additional? I don't recall seeing this mentioned. Of course, I might just have missed it.

Yes, it is.

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?

Other eplus providers at least don't suffer from the problems resulting from the vistream infrastructure, but afaik there's no other prepaid tariff on the eplus network with international or roaming tariffs that would be lower than Fonic's.
Note that Blauworld and Ortel charge a call-setup fee of € 0.15 per call, which doesn't exist with Fonic.

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?

Yes, the "Rufaufbautaste" is the usually green key, that initiates a call. In the English-speaking world it's sometimes called the "send" key (and once this key was even labeled "SEND").