German Fonic questions...

UKSTEVE · 15-08-2014, 18:51

Thanks for the heads up - I shall grab an Aldi SIM when I'm Germany in October

I wasn't aware of the 1GB option on Aldi - they must have reworked the tariffs since I last looked at the deals from them.

The main reason for getting the Fonic SIMs was a guy on eBay was (and still is) selling them pre-registered with 10 euros credit for around 15 euros including postage anywhere in Europe, which is nice. Had one for a few years now and bought the other earlier in the year for my better half, who downloads videos on her iPad mini in HD (300MB) which is a DISASTER ZONE for my SIM cards, I can tell you

As a result, I hit the 500MB limit one evening on one of the SIMs (both are in Alcatel Y800 MiFi units) around 11:30 in Hamburg and was texted, and advised my speeds would fall. They did, from 3Mbps to around 32,000 bps - ghastly for 30 minutes

The Saturn guy was interested in my Cubot X6 (dual SIM, 1.7GHz Android, 8-core - cost £125) so we got chatting about mobile Internet options in Germany, across Europe (EuropaSIM) and the UK (Three pre-paid data).

Sorry for offending you (fx: grin).

+Steve

wolfbln · 16-08-2014, 08:59

[QUOTE=UKSTEVE;45990]Thanks for the heads up - I shall grab an Aldi SIM when I'm Germany in October

I agree with the big Inquisitor that AldiTalk is in most cases the better choice over Fonic/Lidl mobile at least what their "day flats" are concerned.

- E-plus network (Aldi): Better 3G in most places compared to O2, LTE (on 1800 Mhz) open for prepaid, but very limited in cities yet. But anyway, both networks will come together in the coming year. (You had this with EE (T-Mobile/Orange) in Britain - so you know what you can expect....)

- Registration/Activation: It's much quicker and straight forward with e-plus. Even as a German I keep having problems getting Fonic and Lidl SIMs activiated/registrated and it takes hours....

- much more and flexible top-up ways: You can use e-plus vouchers for Aldi, but no O2 vouchers for Fonic/Lidl.

- day "flat": 500 MB (Fonic) vs. 1 GB (Aldi), Calender day 0-24 h (Fonic) vs. real 24 hrs (Aldi), Activation: text SMS code and wait for confirmation (Fonic) vs. hop on another APN to activate (Aldi)

- with Aldi, you can run monthly packs (for low use) and daily "flat" (for heavy use) simultanously by changing the APN. This gives much more flexibility when you have for instance a Wifi available and only need few data for a time.

---> It's a shame that Telefónica a.k.a. O2 a.k.a. Fonic bought E-plus and not the other way round. But that's how the world is, I guess.

	(#1)
UKSTEVE (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 197 Join Date: 26 Dec 2004 Location: Sheffield UK Country:	15-08-2014, 18:51 Thanks for the heads up - I shall grab an Aldi SIM when I'm Germany in October I wasn't aware of the 1GB option on Aldi - they must have reworked the tariffs since I last looked at the deals from them. The main reason for getting the Fonic SIMs was a guy on eBay was (and still is) selling them pre-registered with 10 euros credit for around 15 euros including postage anywhere in Europe, which is nice. Had one for a few years now and bought the other earlier in the year for my better half, who downloads videos on her iPad mini in HD (300MB) which is a DISASTER ZONE for my SIM cards, I can tell you As a result, I hit the 500MB limit one evening on one of the SIMs (both are in Alcatel Y800 MiFi units) around 11:30 in Hamburg and was texted, and advised my speeds would fall. They did, from 3Mbps to around 32,000 bps - ghastly for 30 minutes The Saturn guy was interested in my Cubot X6 (dual SIM, 1.7GHz Android, 8-core - cost £125) so we got chatting about mobile Internet options in Germany, across Europe (EuropaSIM) and the UK (Three pre-paid data). Sorry for offending you (fx: grin). +Steve [size=2]Steve Gold PO Box 1014, Sheffield S10 5YG, UK Home mobie: Telefonica O2 Other UK mobiles: 3, Vodafone, Virgin Foreign SIMs: Toggle (multi); Germany (Fonic); Poland (Orange PL); Skype: stevewgold Last edited by UKSTEVE; 15-08-2014 at 19:03..

	(#2)
wolfbln (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 206 Join Date: 14 Jul 2014 Country:	16-08-2014, 08:59 [QUOTE=UKSTEVE;45990]Thanks for the heads up - I shall grab an Aldi SIM when I'm Germany in October I agree with the big Inquisitor that AldiTalk is in most cases the better choice over Fonic/Lidl mobile at least what their "day flats" are concerned. - E-plus network (Aldi): Better 3G in most places compared to O2, LTE (on 1800 Mhz) open for prepaid, but very limited in cities yet. But anyway, both networks will come together in the coming year. (You had this with EE (T-Mobile/Orange) in Britain - so you know what you can expect....) - Registration/Activation: It's much quicker and straight forward with e-plus. Even as a German I keep having problems getting Fonic and Lidl SIMs activiated/registrated and it takes hours.... - much more and flexible top-up ways: You can use e-plus vouchers for Aldi, but no O2 vouchers for Fonic/Lidl. - day "flat": 500 MB (Fonic) vs. 1 GB (Aldi), Calender day 0-24 h (Fonic) vs. real 24 hrs (Aldi), Activation: text SMS code and wait for confirmation (Fonic) vs. hop on another APN to activate (Aldi) - with Aldi, you can run monthly packs (for low use) and daily "flat" (for heavy use) simultanously by changing the APN. This gives much more flexibility when you have for instance a Wifi available and only need few data for a time. ---> It's a shame that Telefónica a.k.a. O2 a.k.a. Fonic bought E-plus and not the other way round. But that's how the world is, I guess. Last edited by wolfbln; 16-08-2014 at 09:17..