Lidl

[webdweeb]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

@webdweeb
There's a snapshot of the Wetpaint article at LIDL mobile - Prepaid Wireless Internet Access

Except for the lacking new "Smart" tariffs the information is still up-to-date. In any case I will look for a new space where to host this guide.

Inquisitor, thanks for the new link-this looks like a good SIM for my needs (ie, tourist). Since Lidl is a piggyback on the O2 network similar to Fonic, can I assume that the roaming costs are the same as for Fonic/O2? We will be concluding our trip in Austria, so I now need to decide if I should get yet another SIM in Austria or just pay the roaming costs (voice and SMS-data roaming is a killer). I plan to use the Wifi at our accommodations for most of my data needs, but it would be nice to be able to use certain apps (mainly Google Maps) on my iPhone when we are out and about.

One item that may be a challenge: the friend that will be purchasing the SIMs for me has an APO address (she lives on a US Army base in Germany), so I don't know if that qualifies as a German address or not. If not, it appears I may have a problem registering the Lidl SIM, since they require receipt of a letter

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by webdweeb

Inquisitor, thanks for the new link-this looks like a good SIM for my needs (ie, tourist). Since Lidl is a piggyback on the O2 network similar to Fonic, can I assume that the roaming costs are the same as for Fonic/O2?

Yes, they are:

calls from Austria to Germany: € 0.28/min
calls from Austria to the US: € 1.29/min
inbound calls while in Austria: € 0.08/min
SMS from Austria to Germany: € 0.09
SMS from Austria to the US: € 0.39
data: € 0.53/MB (billed in 1KB increments)

source: http://www.lidl.de/de/asset/other/LI...ugust_2013.pdf

If you activate the "Smartphone-Internet-Flatrate" (500MB for use within Germany for € 6.99/month) or one of the "Smart" tariffs data roaming in EU countries will be billed differently. Then the "EU Internet-Tages-Pack" ("EU Internet day pack") will apply which gives you 10MB for € 3 per calendar day, charged upon the first transfered byte. After consuming those 10MB the session will be interrupted and you won't have any data roaming service until midnight.
Unfortunately the "EU Internet-Tages-Pack" is not available to subscribers of the 5GB data pack for € 14.99/month and there's no option to resubscribe it after reaching your daily allowance of 10MB.

We will be concluding our trip in Austria, so I now need to decide if I should get yet another SIM in Austria or just pay the roaming costs (voice and SMS-data roaming is a killer). I plan to use the Wifi at our accommodations for most of my data needs, but it would be nice to be able to use certain apps (mainly Google Maps) on my iPhone when we are out and about.

If you plan to subscribe to the 500MB pack for Germany and so the EU day pack applies you could use the Lidl SIM in Austria. 10MB should be enough for sporadic Google Maps use (but disable the satellite image layer as it is very data-hungry!). But if you go for the 5GB pack and so data roaming would be billed with some expensive € 0.53/MB you should better get an Austrian SIM.

One item that may be a challenge: the friend that will be purchasing the SIMs for me has an APO address (she lives on a US Army base in Germany), so I don't know if that qualifies as a German address or not. If not, it appears I may have a problem registering the Lidl SIM, since they require receipt of a letter

Lidl will require a street address, a German ZIP and your city which you should be able to provide. However I don't know if Lidl's database used for address verification contains the names of the streets on restricted military area. If not you could try to provide the address of the barracks' guardhouse which should have a public address. Unfortunately there is no way to include a unit, building number or any other additional information that may be required to get the mail delivered to your friends but as long as the letter is not being returned there's no problem.