German Fonic questions...

[Spata]

Hello,

Does anyone know if/where can I charge my FONIC sim card with less than 20 euros? I am using the option Smart S (which is 10 e) and I don't need the extra credit.
Or else, if I charge it with 20, what's the validity of this credit?

Thanks!

[wolfbln]

Originally Posted by Spata

Hello,

Does anyone know if/where can I charge my FONIC sim card with less than 20 euros? I am using the option Smart S (which is 10 e) and I don't need the extra credit.
Or else, if I charge it with 20, what's the validity of this credit?

Thanks!

If you want to recharge Fonic by Fonic own vouchers / refill cards, you can only top up 20 or 30 EUR. The discounter store chain Lidl sells reload cards for Lidl mobile and 15 EUR which work on Fonic too. If you have linked it to a (German) bank account, top ups from 10 EUR are possible. Here is a survey of German MNVOs which can be loaded with 10 EUR: http://www.prepaid-wiki.de/index.php..._bar_aufladbar

However, with Fonic (and Lidl mobile), you can "inoficially" top up by a (SEPA-) bank transfer from abroad too. This can be as low as 0.01 EUR. Here is a how-to-do-it in German and iT's a bit tricky as you have to calculate a checksum (if you are unsure, use Google Translate for the link): http://www.prepaid-wiki.de/index.php...rweisung_Fonic Have in mind, that it may take some days until the amount is credited on your account.

Validity: The credit on Fonic remains valid "forever". To keep the SIM alive, you are expected to use it once within 12 months for an outgoing call or text.

[UKSTEVE]

Just got back from Germany where we used two Fonic SIM cards on the 1.95 euro a day flat rate deal, mainly for data.

A great deal.

I was chatting to the the tech guys in Hamburg Saturn (an electrical store) and they said Fonic was hands down the best for the occasional visitor to Germany, mainly because of the great daily rate, the fact that it throttles back to around 64Kbps when you have used your 500MB allowance and the fact that the card stays alive for longer than a year.

+Steve

[inquisitor]

AldiTalk gives you even 1GB for € 1.99 per 24 hours and has great roaming tariffs, which we have been discussing here. They offer serveral other advantages over Fonic like top up vouchers being available from € 5 (vs. a minimum of € 20 for Fonic).
Since O2 (the underlying network of Fonic) has diverted all investments into their LTE network, which however is inaccessible for prepaid subscribers, while eplus (the underlying network of AldiTalk) has kept improving their UMTS network, performance on eplus has become superior over O2. Further to that eplus has opened their LTE network to all subscribers including those of AldiTalk, though their LTE footprint is still modest: http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/netw...g_id=57&cid=15

By the way I feel deeply offended by the fact that you prefer a Saturn employee's advice over that of your fellow forum members.

[UKSTEVE]

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]

[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.

[inquisitor]

@UKSTEVE
For longterm forum members like you I am always ready to pick up and send a SIM at cost. So next time you need a German SIM, feel free to order one from me.

@wolfbln
Agree with all your points. As many of my posts here prove, I was advocating for O2 for a long time, however that has changed drastically over the past year and I now prefer eplus over O2, despite my private SIM card is still on O2.
Btw according to an teltarif.de article from last September the merger of O2 and eplus may become subject to the condition that they sell one of their bigger discount brands. Unfortunately I fear that it will be Fonic because in contrast to AldiTalk Fonic is a separate entitiy (Fonic GmbH) while AldiTalk subscribers are contracting directly with E-Plus Service GmbH & Co. KG and the problem is that Fonic can be sold immediately to a new shareholder without affecting the contractual relationship between the company and its customers. However if someone wanted to buy AldiTalk's business all the conracts would need to be transferred from E-Plus Service GmbH & Co. KG to the new company which would require consent from each single customer. This legal hurdle which in practice may lead to some customer churn and increased costs is why I believe Fonic is the most likely sacrifice O2 will make. The fact that AldiTalk has made several tariff improvements during the last year without Fonic following and so attracting many new customers (can't find the link that said it were hundreds of thousands), may be a silent preparation for this as O2 may try to draw as many customers from Fonic before selling the later as possible.