Lidl

[arkada]

Hello,
Please help me to decide!
I’m trying to choose between Lidl and Ja!/PennyMobil.
Ja! and Penny both are based on Telekom and have a better 3G coverage especially near Austria.
So they may provide a faster internet in that area.
Ja! and Penny don’t require an address confirmation.
The only advantage of Lidl I see is the VoIP support.
But this issue on Ja! And Penny may be solved by using VPN.
Is it correct?
Thank you.

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by arkada

Hello,
The only advantage of Lidl I see is the VoIP support.
But this issue on Ja! And Penny may be solved by using VPN.

Yes. Another advantage of Lidl are the cheap international rates to European countries and North America.

Originally Posted by Motel75

Lidl and Fonic have had a series of problems lately that make them hard to recommend any more.

What problems do you mean? The only recent issue of Lidl/Fonic I am aware of is linked to the billing of the new "Smart Tarif" which isn't relevant to visitors as it requires a German bank account.

[Motel75]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

What problems do you mean? The only recent issue of Lidl/Fonic I am aware of is linked to the billing of the new "Smart Tarif" which isn't relevant to visitors as it requires a German bank account.

Granted, most of the problems wouldn't affect short-term visitors, but late last year Fonic introduced a new billing system that plunged the whole network into chaos. People reported ordering internet packages and having the order go through days later, while they continued to be billed at 24 c/Mb. Number ports took months, and porting out took weeks. Getting through to the customer hotline could take a long time.

While Lidl still has very good 3 GB/month and 24 h Internet tariffs, most of Fonic's other prices (9 c/min within Germany, to European landlines and N. America; 24 c/Mb data) have been matched by other providers (such as Edeka, which uses the superior Vodafone network, or Congstar on the likewise better Telekom network). Hence I don't know if it's worth the potential trouble, even for short- or long-term use.