BLAUWORLD v SOLOMO

[andy]

I noticed the Flat options on Congstar. Can these be booked for one month and then removed again, or is this actually a separate product?

[snaimon]

I think I have decided what to do. For now NOTHING. Either when we arrive or before (Ebay) buy a T-MO with NONSTOP and activate it for one month.

I think my biggest expense has been and will be my wife's long calls to friends & relatives, usually on landlines @ home. Last summer it seemed best solution was 8 cents per minute with SUNSIM. T-MO Nonstop may have been available then, but as I recall, they kept starting and stopping the offer. It was not clear at the time if they would suddenly withdraw the availability as they have don with so many of their prepaid plans. Seems that is now a permanent fixture of their prepaid plan. We'll be in Germany 2 of the 4 weeks and I bet that will be the bulk of the calls. So, instead of 100 minutes at 8 cents, 8 Euro, that call will cost 29 cents. Of course for calls to non D1 mobiles, the card is a bust. That's why we have the other.

I'll probably still need a recharge on UM+, Simyo and the SUNSIM. At least the SIMYO can be 10 Euros; the others are more.

I'm trying to find out how much a T-MO starter pack (straight T-MO, no "provider") costs retail at a T-MO store. I'm guessing 20 Euros, maybe more. They are going for less, brand new, on Ebay.de, even with shipping. I previously had 2 cards from Viktor Vox and they have their own customer service. I think I would prefer to deal DIRECTLY with T-MO.

Again, I would appreciate any thoughts.

I think I saw the CONGSTAR FLAT was going to be 69.95 Euros per month. That is more than I hope to be spending for the NEW prepaid; I have the other cards.

Stan

[andy]

Originally Posted by snaimon

I think I saw the CONGSTAR FLAT was going to be 69.95 Euros per month.

That's for all destinations. I was thinking of landlines only for €9.99, with callthrough for from half a cent a minute

[babble]

Originally Posted by andy

I noticed the Flat options on Congstar. Can these be booked for one month and then removed again, or is this actually a separate product?

Correction:

At the moment, flatrates can only be added to, or removed from the congstar "postpaid" sims. Without any additional flatrates, postpaid sims charge 19 cents per minute for calls to all networks. Prepaid sims charge 9 cents per minute for calls to all networks.

Flatrates can be cancelled provided notice of the intended cancellation is given at least two weeks before the end of the current monthly flatrate period. Otherwise, the flatrate automatically continues for another month, provided the sim has sufficient funds.

I think that the flatrates can be switched off via the internet, provided the necessary notice period is given. Perhaps someone with a congstar sim can confirm this.

From the 18th March, the T-Mobile, vodafone, O2 and eplus flatrates will each cost 14.99 EUR per month. (At the moment the T-Mobile and vodafone flatrates cost 19.99 EUR per month.)

Flatrate congstar-congstar is 4.99 EUR per month. The flatrate landline tariff (to all german landlines, not just Deutsche Telekom Festnet) costs 9.99 EUR per month.

I have not read anything about "callthrough for from half a cent a minute".

[petkow]

Originally Posted by babble

Correction:
I have not read anything about "callthrough for from half a cent a minute".

One of the Betamax operators (Dialnow) charges half a cent per minute to landlines in several countries! There are access numbers for many countries including a 0211 number in Germany. See: http://www.dialnow.com/en/accessnumbers.html. The funny thing is that calling other Netzwerke in Germany is excluded from the German flatrate tariffs and is normally charged at something like 15c/min. If you did it via such an option this might cost only 9c/min.

In some countries and on some postpaid tariffs you can nominate a favourite number with free calls! In these cases nominating such an access number can make a lot of sense!!