AldiTalk waives roaming cost in EU starting with march 3rd
 

Starting with march 3rd you can use the AldiTalk payg card without extra roaming charges within the whole EU.
So free inbound calls, outbound calls to AldiTalk 3ct/min and to other german numbers 11ct/min.
Mobile data will cost you 23ct/MB.

Also there are two options for roaming customers:

1) 120 MB mobile data for 4.99€, valid 7 days
2) 120 minutes for 4.99€, valid 7 days.


Chris

AldiTalk currently has a wider-than-expected definition for the EU.

For incoming and outgoing calls while roaming:
Belgien, Bulgarien, Dänemark, Estland, Finnland, Frankreich (inkl. Monaco), frz. Guyana, Gibraltar*, Griechenland,
Großbritannien (inkl. Kanalinseln), Guadeloupe (Karibik), Irland, Island, Italien (inkl. Vatikanstadt und San Marino), Kroatien,
Lettland, Liechtenstein, Litauen, Luxemburg, Malta, Martinique (Karibik), Niederlande, Norwegen, Österreich, Polen,
Portugal (inkl. Azoren und Madeira), Rumänien, Schweden, Schweiz, Slowakische Republik, Slowenien, Spanien
(inkl. Kanarische Inseln), Tschechien, Ungarn, Zypern

For data roaming:
Belgien, Bulgarien, Dänemark, Estland, Finnland, Frankreich (inkl. Monaco), frz. Guyana, Griechenland, Großbritannien (inkl.
Kanalinseln), Guadeloupe (Karibik), Irland, Italien (inkl. Vatikanstadt und San Marino), Kroatien, Lettland, Liechtenstein,
Litauen, Luxemburg, Malta, Martinique (Karibik), Niederlande, Norwegen, Österreich, Polen, Portugal (inkl. Azoren und
Madeira), Rumänien, Schweden, Schweiz, Slowakische Republik, Slowenien, Spanien (inkl. Kanarische Inseln),
Tschechien, Ungarn, Zypern

http://www.alditalk.de/nord/hilfe_un...Preisliste.pdf

The days of the roaming SIM may be quickly ending.

Great if others follow, but is it long lasting. They tried a plan in Australia but it did not last http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/10/al...nlimited-plan/

Thats a completely different story i would say. Aldi Talk in germany is rock solid for years.

Nice to know, thank you kindly for info, can you post link where i can read they are scrapping incoming in extended EU countries, it sounds like a really good deal, worth signing up for:)

here for example: http://www.teltarif.de/aldi-talk-rei...ews/54469.html

Thank you kindly very informative:)

Especially for the folks in the EU. Their need for international roaming sims is quickly diminishing if they are traveling within the EU. If AT&T can just do something similar to what tmobile is doing.

if you have a contract at Eplus (the carrier that is underlying Aldi Talk as well) you can now book the so called "travel flat" option - 3 Euro/month in addition to your normal fees extend the validity of unlimited calls & data also while roaming within EU, norway, switzerland and liechtenstein...
Valid in all BASE All-IN tariffs for the moment.

press release from Eplus: http://eplus-gruppe.de/e-plus-gruppe...utzung-europa/

Isn't Alditalk requesting registration with a German address before activating the card? In that case it might not be too easy to get this SIM for the persons residing outside of Germany.

Actually I do not understand under which premise the EU mobile operators can afford to reject sales to persons resident in a different country:
The EU claims: "You have the right to buy from a service provider located in another EU country without price discrimination and without having the seller refuse to sell to you simply because you live in a different EU country. However, if there are objective reasons for the seller to refuse to sell to you, that seller may be within their rights."

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens...s/index_en.htm

In the case of prepaid service where it is not possible to make debths and there is no real contract between the operator and the user I do not see any objective reason for this limitation.

Hi you maybe correct and the deal may only be for German Citizens or you may need an address in Germany to register, i came across this when i tried to get a local number, if anyone knows the situation your input would be most welcome.

Hi it would seem after reading T&Cs that you are correct. These offers are valid only for the German market.:>(

So this means that I can leave 1 card at home (Belgium), and take another one to France, and call the homefront for just 3ct/m ? :D

Nice!

offtopic problem: I have two cards of AldiTalk, but 1 has expired, is it possible to revive it in anyway? I had 15 euro of credit left (on a voucher). I used that to topup the working card (didn't want to risk to have that one expired too).

you can simply buy these cards in any ALDI supermarket. Registration can be done online, just use any known german adress together with your name. Aldi is not sending letters out to this adress.

you can try to send 10ct via bank transfer to the following account:

receiver:
E-Plus Mobilfunk GmbH & Co.KG
IBAN DE07 3004 0000 0121 7900 01
BIC COBADEFFXXX
bank:
Commerzbank Düsseldorf
reason of transfer - your mobile number, e.g. 01771234567


If the card is not yet fully dead it will be reactivated after 2-3 days and will have 3 days validity :-) In that case you can safely transfer more or buy a recharage voucher in store.

transfer of 1 Euro gives you 1 month validity, and so on.

Chris

While picking up an Aldi SIM card for a family member yesterday I thought I should get two additional ones for fellow forum members who might be interested in the new roaming tariffs. So if any loyal forum member needs an Aldi SIM just drop me a PM.

Although ALDI stores are a kind of self-service ones, Alditalk starter packs including SIM cards as well as top-ups are not part of self-service. At least in those shops I visited. So no need to search in the aisles. Just go directly to the checkout counter and tell the cashier what you want. Either they will open the locked compartment for you to take a pack from there or will hand it over to you. In the case of difficulties with German language, just pick up an Alditalk leaflet at the entrance of the store and show it to the cashier.

i have sent you a PM about this. please reply

I hope other German prepaids soon copy this. In fact, I'd be surprised if they didn't.

if an Alditalk customer while roaming in Italy calls a French mobile number how much will be the per minute rate? 0.11EUR.?

the 7day period package of 120minutes for eur.4.99 applies for calls only to German numbers or to other EU countries numbers too?

Strong telecoms regulation, together with strong commercial competition, has worked remarkably well in Europe during the last 10 years.

The Figures on pages 4 and 5 of this document show just how well the EU Commission, Ofcom, and the other European telecom regulators have brought down "Mobile Termination Rates" (MTR):

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...MCT_slides.pdf

Perhaps the EU Commission should only allow O2 Germany (Telefonica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG) to takeover Eplus, on condition that O2 also completely eliminates all roaming costs within Europe, by 1st July 2014.

Otherwise, without such a guarantee, it would seem wise to block the takeover and leave Eplus free so that it can introduce additional competitive tariffs and services across Europe.

I can't say for sure since there is no official statement from Aldi beyond the following SMS which they have been sending out since February 12th:
in English:
This message is unclear since on the one hand it says calls in EU countries will be billed as in Germany, from where calls to EU countries cost € 0.12/min to landlines and € 0.29/min to mobiles (see http://www.alditalk.de/nord/Telefoni...Z_highsubsub=0). So you could assume that you will also be billed € 0.12/min or € 0.29/min for calls to other EU countries. However this would violate EU roaming regulation which caps outgoing calls to EU countries at € 0.24/min which will be further lowered from July 1st to € 0.19/min. Against that background the wording "otherwise 11ct/min" could indeed include all EU destinations.
By the way, according to teltarif.de these new EU tariffs will also apply in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland.

the other unclear is if 7day period package of 120minutes for eur.4.99 applies for calls only to German numbers or to other EU countries numbers too?

No, that is not unclear as it says: "120 abg. Min in die EU"

abg. = abgehend = outgoing
in die EU = into the EU

So those 120min should be valid for calls to any EU destination and perhaps also Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland.

I think you're wrong, Blau (another Eplus brand) offers free minutes within EU only for calls to German numbers : https://www.blauworld.de/tariff/eu_voice_50 "Im EU-Ausland bis zu 50 Minuten sowohl ankommende als auch abgehende Gespräche nach Deutschland führen"

the package minutes most probably will be billed according to EU regulations, 30''+1''?

That's blau who have totally different tariffs. The wording in Aldi's SMS is clear: "in die EU" (accusative case) means "into the EU" and describes the call destination. If they would refer to call origination (i.e. the geographical location of subscribers) it would say "in der EU" (dative case) meaning "in EU countries", which would leave it unclear which call desinations (only Germany or the whole EU) are covered and if this applies to outgoing and incoming calls.
So we may assume that the 120-minutes package includes outgoing calls from any EU country other than Germany (and perhaps EEA member states + Switzerland) to any EU country (and perhaps EEA member states + Switzerland).

I further assume that calls covered by the 120-minutes package will be rounded up to full minutes. Although operators are obliged to meet EU regulations for the preset standard roaming tariff, they are still allowed to offer alternative roaming tariffs on an opt-in basis that exceed the known price caps and billing increments. So Alditalk would not violate EU regulations if they charge calls under this package by full minutes.

Alditalk clearly states that wherever they mention "EU" this means countries from their "EU-Länder" list: http://www.alditalk.de/sued/hilfe_un...03.06.2013.pdf. Although no modification of the list is expected, there is however at this moment no official confirmation that Switzerland will stay in the list. While all EU operators are obliged to respect the EU price caps for Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland, there is no such obligation for Switzerland.

To the EU caps of € 0.24/min and € 0.19/min one has to add the VAT of the country in which the operator is resident. In the case of Alditalk 19%. That is why currently they charge € 0.28/min. From July on they will have to lower it to 0.22/min or less.

At the moment Alditalk 7 day 60 minute EU package is only valid for outgoing calls to Germany (Enthalten sind: abgehende Gespräche aus dem EU-Ausland nach Deutschland und ankommende Gespräche im EU-Ausland): http://www.aldi-nord.de/print/aldita...er_2013_10.pdf . The charging interval within the package is 60/60 instead of 30/1 without the package.

In the 7 day 60 MB data package the charging interval currently is 100kB instead of 1 kB without the package.

The wording in the SMS regarding the 120 minute package is quite different. We will have to wait for the official statement.

Switzerland is included in the Eplus "Base EU Reise Flat" tariff. http://www.base.de/Tarife/Ausland/BA...e-Flat?mode=nk

The "Base EU-Länder" are:

Aeland Island, Belgien, Bulgarien, Dänemark, Estland, Finnland, Frankreich (inkl. Monaco, frz.Guayana, La Réunion), Gibraltar, Griechenland, Großbritannien (inkl. Kanalinseln), Guadeloupe (Karibik), Irland, Island, Italien (inkl. Vatikanstadt und San Marino), Kroatien, Lettland, Liechtenstein, Litauen, Luxemburg, Malta, Martinique (Karibik), Niederlande, Norwegen, Österreich, Polen, Portugal (inkl. Azoren und Madeira), Rumänien, Schweden, Schweiz, Slowakische Republik, Slowenien, Spanien (inkl. Kanarische Inseln), Tschechien, Ungarn, Zypern

Do you know whether it is necessary to insert the SIM in a phone in Germany so that it has access to E-Plus network in order for the first activation to work? Or can the package be sent unopened to another country and activated without the access to E-Plus network?

No, actually I don't know. But to be on the safe side I've registered the one SIM card that I've already sold to a fellow forum member on the home network (eplus). On that occassion I've also disabled the voice mailbox as I've described it here.

By the way you folks might find it interesting that, although not officially documented, AldiTalk can be recharged by bank transfer to the following bank account:
receipient: E-Plus Mobilfunk GmbH & Co.KG
IBAN: DE07 3004 0000 0121 7900 01
BIC: COBADEFFXXX
bank: Commerzbank Düsseldorf
reference: 015751234567 (your Aldi telephone number)
(source: http://www.prepaid-wiki.de/index.php5/ALDI_TALK)

when will the official statement be released?

most propably when the new tariff .pdf will be uploaded on march 3rd. AldiTalk is not know for good information distribution ;-)

new ALDITALK roaming pricelist valid as of today: http://www.alditalk.de//nord/hilfe_u...Preisliste.pdf



Also the EU voice pakage: http://www.alditalk.de/nord/Telefoni...Z_highsubsub=0
But does anyone know if the 7day period package of 120minutes for eur.4,99 applies for calls only to German numbers or also to other EU countries numbers too?

terms&conditions here: http://www.alditalk.de//nord/hilfe_u...uebersicht.pdf
A German speaking friend can read page 19 & page 20 and let us know

At the very bottom of page 19, there is a reference to notes 3 and 4 on page 31.

4. Enthalten sind: abgehende Gespräche aus dem EU-/EWR-Ausland zzgl Schweiz in die EU-/EWR-Staaten zzgl. Schweiz Ankommende
Gespräche im EU-Ausland sind kostenlos.

4. Included [in the EU 120 "Voice Packet" option]: out-going calls from EU/EEA countries plus Switzerland to EU/EEA countries plus Switzerland. Incoming calls are free in EU countries.

the EU 120min. package has 1minute rounding billing?

yes, rounding by minute

EU 120 "Voice Packet" option, page 19: Jede angefangene Gesprächsminute wird unabhängig von ihrer tatsächlichen Dauer stets voll berechnet (Minutentakt).

Calls are measured in units of full minutes.

many thanks.

so the EU 120min. package can be used for calls to other EU countries also, not only for calls back to Germany.

yes in all EU countries + switzerland...