German Mobile Broadband

[inquisitor]

Yes, after the registration fax has been filed, you should be able to surf under the flatrate without any additional activation. You could send that SMS anyway - as there won't be € 20 of credit left in your account, it won't have any effect.

May 1st is a public holiday in Germany, which is especially celebrated in Berlin, Germany's heart of communism. In some districts like Kreuzberg on that day people traditionally burn cars, plunder shops and attack the police.
Anyway, on May 1st no Tchibo shop in Germany will be opened.

[ronwi]

Interesting about May Day - the German consulates in the US are open, I suppose they don't want to offend our anti-communist sensibilities:

German Missions in the United States - Address, Contact, Hours

Originally Posted by inquisitor

Yes, after the registration fax has been filed, you should be able to surf under the flatrate without any additional activation. You could send that SMS anyway - as there won't be € 20 of credit left in your account, it won't have any effect.

May 1st is a public holiday in Germany, which is especially celebrated in Berlin, Germany's heart of communism. In some districts like Kreuzberg on that day people traditionally burn cars, plunder shops and attack the police.
Anyway, on May 1st no Tchibo shop in Germany will be opened.

[ronwi]

Unfotunately, not exactly. I bought the SIM and USB stick on Saturday, and get directed to a page telling me my credit has expired.

When I went back to the Tchibo site, I read the small print:

Bei Kauf des Tchibo Internet Sticks erhalten Sie die Internet-Flatrate 10GB im ersten Monat inklusive. Diese wird Ihnen im Prepaid-Tarif innerhalb von 72 Stunden nach Registrierung aufgeladen.

Although my German is not good at all, I believe that says they have 72 hours to turn on the service. Certainly a problem for a tourist who will not be in Germany for very long.

Originally Posted by inquisitor

Yes, after the registration fax has been filed, you should be able to surf under the flatrate without any additional activation. You could send that SMS anyway - as there won't be € 20 of credit left in your account, it won't have any effect.

[TheMadBrewer]

Just a data point for anybody in the future:

I bought the Tchibo surf stick back in December (well, actually my brother bought it, but I have it now )

I arrived in Germany Friday night. Saturday morning I stopped at a Tclibo shop, bought a €20 topup (yes, I realize an O2 one should work). I fired up my laptop (Macbook Air) stuck in the stick and fired up the "Mobile Partner" software. Clicked on "Guthaben verwaltungen" (or something similar), entered the voucher number and I was off. The internet came right up and has worked flawlessly since. It went much more smoothly than I figured (because I am a pessimist )

Of course, the landlord of the apartment I use has replaced his crappy WiFi with a fast DSL connection and a good router, so I don't actually need the Tchibo service as much as I had figured.

[ronwi]

It sounds like you bought the topup and then opted for the flatrate data. In my case, since the data was included with the USB card, there is the notation about the 72 hours. My guess is that someone needs to manually turn the data on for the zero cash balance card.

Originally Posted by TheMadBrewer

Just a data point for anybody in the future:

I bought the Tchibo surf stick back in December (well, actually my brother bought it, but I have it now )

I arrived in Germany Friday night. Saturday morning I stopped at a Tclibo shop, bought a €20 topup (yes, I realize an O2 one should work). I fired up my laptop (Macbook Air) stuck in the stick and fired up the "Mobile Partner" software. Clicked on "Guthaben verwaltungen" (or something similar), entered the voucher number and I was off. The internet came right up and has worked flawlessly since. It went much more smoothly than I figured (because I am a pessimist )

Of course, the landlord of the apartment I use has replaced his crappy WiFi with a fast DSL connection and a good router, so I don't actually need the Tchibo service as much as I had figured.