Lidl

[inquisitor]

You can use a Lidl SIM on an iPad but you will have to cut the SIM yourself. They do not offer microSIMs yet.

[Prepaidtraveller]

i did chop my lidl sim into a microsim, worked fine in the ipad2, just be sure to change the APN... actually come to think of it you can put whaever you want in APN and it still seems to work for some reason....

be careful when you head home thou, the SIM has roaming active and seems to gobble 80cents or so sending some sort of SMS back home to germany gobbling up some of your credit

even if you do have to buy 20euro voucher, use 15 on data, stick the SIM in a phone and make phone calls with the remaining 5euro

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by Prepaidtraveller

...just be sure to change the APN... actually come to think of it you can put whaever you want in APN and it still seems to work for some reason....

O2 Germany (including Lidl) have tweaked their network so you can always establish an internet connection, no matter what APN you've entered. However you have to set and/or activate an (random) APN on your phone.

be careful when you head home thou, the SIM has roaming active and seems to gobble 80cents or so sending some sort of SMS back home to germany gobbling up some of your credit

According to Lidl's latest tariff list (p. 2) outgoing SMS while roaming cost € 0.13 within Europe and € 0.39 outside of Europe. Incoming SMS are free of charge worldwide.

[sykeung]

Hi, I am a newbie here to this forum.

I will have a trip to Munich and Berlin at Jun for around 9 days. Is it the best option to buy the Lidl SIMs if i need to call home and surf the internet sometimes from my phone ?
I've read the posts that I can get a €5 bonus from the referral program, is it true ?
I found that there is a Lidl supermarket near my hotel, is it easy to get one there ?

This is the 1st time I travel to Germany, thanks.

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by sykeung

Is it the best option to buy the Lidl SIMs if i need to call home and surf the internet sometimes from my phone ?

Since Lidl charges calls to Hong Kong with € 0.99/min you should consider buying a blauworld SIM card which offers calls to Hong Kong for € 0.01/min (landlines) and € 0.05/min (mobiles) plus a call setup fee of € 0.15 per successful call (Cheap international mobile calls and SMS with blauworld). The underlying eplus network isn't the best for data but you should still get 1 MBit/s where HSDPA is available and if you want cheap rates to Hong Kong you don't have an alternative anyway.

Blauworld SIM cards are available at the following retailers:
ReiseBank, PTT-SHOP, SATURN, E-Plus, expert, EURONICS, NORMA, Conrad, klein, mobilcom-debitel-Shop, real,- und KAUFLAND

Blauworld also offers a data flatrate with throttling after 250MB for € 7.90 (Handy-Surf-Flat: Unbegrenztes mobiles Internet mit UMTS & GPRS).

Please be aware that the information above concerns blauworld while there is also another prepaid SIM from the same company called just blau which is more expensive for calls to Hong Kong.

I've read the posts that I can get a €5 bonus from the referral program, is it true ?

Yes, it is.

I found that there is a Lidl supermarket near my hotel, is it easy to get one there ?

Usually it's not a problem. You just need to walk straight through to the checkout counter and ask the cashier for a Lidl SIM. However it happens that Lidl supermarkets run out of stock sometimes, so you might need to find the next one.

[sykeung]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

Since Lidl charges calls to Hong Kong with € 0.99/min you should consider buying a blauworld SIM card which offers calls to Hong Kong for € 0.01/min (landlines) and € 0.05/min (mobiles) plus a call setup fee of € 0.15 per successful call (Cheap international mobile calls and SMS with blauworld). The underlying eplus network isn't the best for data but you should still get 1 MBit/s where HSDPA is available and if you want cheap rates to Hong Kong you don't have an alternative anyway.
......................

Thanks for your information.
Good news to me that my wife will get an calling card from her company and we dont need to worry about the Internation call to HK now.

Usually it's not a problem. You just need to walk straight through to the checkout counter and ask the cashier for a Lidl SIM. However it happens that Lidl supermarkets run out of stock sometimes, so you might need to find the next one.

I think we'd better go for a Lidl SIM.
Hope we can get the SIM in supermarket that time.

[thermos]

Hi,

Just found this forum, I also come from Hong Kong and will have trip to Germany shortly for 18 days. After browsing the info about LIDL mobile infomation in this forum, I found the 30 days unlimited data plan is good for me. In addition, It's great to know that voip can be used in LIDLnetwork as I have voip account to make calls back to Hong Kong free of charge.

Just want to clarify the steps to go
- buy a SIM card at 9.95 Euro
- buy a 15 Euro top up voucher
- activate the SIM card either via on-line or SMS
- submit the top up code
- book the 30 days unlimited plan (14.99 Euro) by on-line page. or I can make it by SMS or other ways?

One other thing, can I use the remaining money (10 + 15 - 14.99) for local call?

Best regards

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by thermos

- activate the SIM card either via on-line or SMS

You can't activate the SIM by SMS as it won't register on the network before it has been activated. You can only activate the SIM online or through the printed form which you would need to submit by snail mail or fax and would take at least 24h to be processed

- book the 30 days unlimited plan (14.99 Euro) by on-line page. or I can make it by SMS or other ways?

As described in detail here you can also subscribe to the monthly data flat by sending a text with "START MONATSFLAT" to 54356 (L-I-D-L-M). Shortly after that you should receive a text asking for confirmation which you need to answer by sending just "JA". Before starting to browse the internet make sure you've received the final confirmation from Lidl saying that your "Monatsflatrate" has been successfully activated.

One other thing, can I use the remaining money (10 + 15 - 14.99) for local call?

Sure. you can call all German networks (no matter if landlines or mobiles) at € 0.09/min. Calls to the US, Canada and European landlines are charged at the same price while calls to European mobiles cost € 0.29/min.
You should know that as mentioned here under "activation", step 7 you can get a bonus credit of € 5 if you provide some other Lidl customer's phone number as referer during activation. The instructions contain such number (actually mine ) and the refering customer does also receive a bonus of € 5. The problem is just that it may take up to 3 weeks until this bonus from the referral program has been accredited so you would need to make sure your SIM is being activated 3 weeks before arrival so you would have a total credit of € 15 which would suffice for the monthly data flatrate.

[thermos]

Dear inquisitor,
You're so wonderful and always be informative! Thanks.
I will ask my friend in Germany to help me to purchase and activate the sim card before my landing and then pass to me as we will meet the next day.

I would like to have your LIDL number for letting both of us to have the bonous. And then I will ask my firend to activate the sim card with your number as referral.

Cheers

[thermos]

One more question,

We will have a day trip to Salzburg (Austra), how about the data roaming charge?

Thanks