Tchibo registration problem
 

Two weeks ago I visited Germany for several days. I bought the Tchibo prepaid package for Euro 19,95 and tried to get registered with the help of my friend and that of Google translate. Apparently I made some mistake, since after getting connected my account was 0 instead of the expected 5 GB. I suspect I simply confused the prepaid and the comfort options. Anyway, now I am outside Germany and the only thing I'd like to know whether I am registered or not and how can I top up my account next time I am in Germany ? Trying to login in to My Tchibo mobil, I am getting a message that my password is wrong. I tried to recover my password, but instead of e-mail, it has been sent by SMS to my Mobilfunknummer. I have no idea of how to receive this SMS.
Next month I will come to Germany, but I'd like to be entirely prepared while at home. I don't know German and I am not sure I will have an access to the Internet. I would like to buy the Tchibo voucher immediately after landing and being able to get connected just afterwards. Please :o

You've already got an answer to this at Bought internet stick at Tchibo, and can't activate/register? - Prepaid Wireless Internet Access

In order to receive SMS, you just need to put the Tchibo stick into your computer and start Mobile Partner, the dashboard software. If you have registered as postpaid customer ("Komfort") you can't recharge anything, as Tchibo will try to deduct the montly cost for your data option from your bank account.

Anyway, now first try to recover your password for online customer care and then log in to https://www.tchibo-mobil.de/?source=PORTAL_ABE in order to see if you SIM is active and if so if it is prepaid or postpaid.

For unknown reason, I hardly can post anything there (everything is inactive). I succeed once in three-four attempts. Therefore I was so glad to find this site.
Anyway, I will follow your advise tomorrow, though I do not completely understand how Tchibo stick can pick up anything, even just SMS, that far away (I mean SIM, not stick). Stick is fine. I have unlocked it and can use it with the local SIM. By the way, I removed the Tchibo dashboard software because it does not have language selection and installed the original Mobile Partner. Is it ok for receiving that SMS or should I reinstall the original Tchibo Mobile Partner ?

I also realized wetpaint.com are having some issue making links unclickable no matter which browser you use, so let's continue here.

If your Tchibo SIM has been activated then it will roam on a Israeli network, through which you can receive SMS free of charge (anything else than receiving SMS would be prohibitively expensive while roaming in Israel).
In order to receive SMS just open Mobile Partner and make sure the SIM is registered to some network (will show network name and signal strength in the lower left corner of Mobile Partner). You don't need the Tchibo-branded Mobile Partner for this. The only advantage of Tchibo's version is, that it supports checking and recharging credit based on USSD-codes through the GUI.
Now that you use the generic version of Mobile Partner, which doesn't support USSD-commands, you need to use a third-party tool called MDMA through which you can easily send the required USSD-commands:
*101# for checking credit
*103*top up code# for topping up credit
*104# for (un)subscribing to tariff options including the data options

Just make sure Mobile Partner is closed before running MDMA, as only one application can access the stick at once.

Quite amazing ! You should change your Username to PrepaidGuru or so :-)
Anyway, I have entered in my account and tried (with the help of Google translate) to find out my status. I think I understand what happend. I have activated data option XL and since it is not supported by the free prepaid plan, I got zero (well 0.01 Euro) credit.
By using MDMA, I've sent USSD for checking credit and got this message:
"Ihr Tchibo mobil Guthaben betr{gt: 0.01 Euro. Jetzt auch Ihr Guthabenkonto aufladen: einfach *103*Aufladenummer# und die H|rertaste eingeben."
I still have a couple of questions:
1. How can I make sure my above assumption is correct and I have not done another mistake (e.g. opening the comfort account, etc.) ?
2. Can I somehow top up my credit while in Israel (e.g. by using credit card) or the only way is to buy a voucher (Tchibo or O2) while landing in Germany ? Transferring money to Tchibo's bank account looks somewhat too complicated compared to the above.
3. Should I activate the data option again or am I sticked with the same option (I believe XL) for the rest of my life ?
Thnaks again for your generous assistance.

Actually you never had more than € 0.01, since this is the initial amount with which the SIM is sold. If you have tried to activate the "Internet Flatrate XL" with this insufficient amount of credit it simply failed.
Since you posted at the PWIA-wiki, that you did not provide any bank account details, you are definitely not on a postpaid plan.
So everything seems to be okay except for the free "Internet Flatrate L" not being activated for you. But this can only be solved by complaining with customer care that you never received that free month.

From my findings you haven't mistaked anything. The SIM is obviously active and it's on a prepaid plan. The mistake seems to be on Tchibo's part.

Yes, you can by topping up with vouchers from O2 Germany (those are sometimes called "O2 Loop Up"), which are sold online by several companies. Unfortunately most of them like So macht man das! - Aufladen.de don't accept foreign credit cards.
I know of Prepaid-Karte & Handy aufladen – Prepaid online aufladen bei Cabox.de to accept international customers paying with PayPal, after activating a code, that was previously sent by snail mail.
Also there are O2 top up vouchers available at eBay.de, but you won't be able to buy one if you're registered outside Germany and the seller doesn't offer shipping outside Germany. In that case contact the seller and ask him to enable international shipping, as this will allow you purchase the voucher and the seller can then send you the top up code by eMail.
If you finally get the top up voucher just enter it in MDMA as described above.

Generally these data options are recurring, so once activated if there's enough credit left at the end of those 30 days, Tchibo will automatically deduct the amount for the next 30 days. But if you run out of credit the tariff option will be stopped. Then you have to top up your credit and activate the data option again.
The problem is we don't know if Tchibo have enabled the Internet Flatrate L for you in the meantime. If that's the case, you run the risk to get the Internet Flatrate L for another month if you top up credit now and you can't change data options before the end of that 30 day period.
To find out if a data option is activated start MDMA and send *104#, which will show you the
Now just send "1" (without * or #) to check the status of your tariff options:
If you actually get an option listed (as in the example above) you can send "1" again and you should get the details for this option:
If the Internet Flatrate L is active, you should disable it or wait with your recharge until the option has expired. I don't know if you can cancel tariff options through the USSD-menu, but you can definitely do it by sending an SMS message containing "STOP DATENFLAT2" to 7777 or just wait the option to expire.

If your subscription of the Internet Flatrate L has finished you can top up at least € 20 of credit and order the Internet Flatrate XL by by sending *104# with MDMA.

Now send 2 to subscribe to an option.

Send 5 to see the following page of options.

Again send 5 to see the next page.

Now send 2 for the Internet-Flatrate XL.

Finally you need to confirm your subscription by sending 1.

:thumbup:I have no words to thank you ! Now everything is so clear that I don't care to buy the voucher while in Germany. I was simply afraid to encounter a problem while not being connected to the Internet (I will be travelling with a motorhome). With your generous assistance I am afraid of nothing.
I am looking forward to post my thanks using the Tchibo stick from the motorhome. :thumbup:

You're welcome!

Just out of curiosity, does the USSD menu currently show an activated option or not?

Yes it does:
*104#
1
1
1
I think, Tchibo is the only one you may figure out, how much you have used...

Thanks, but I was rather curious if the "Internet-Flatrate L" was active for Mgol's SIM. Anyway you can surely tell if the free Internet-Flat L was activated automatically after registration of the SIM and if so how long it took from SIM registration until activation?

No, it did not work. After waiting 72 hours (as stated in their adds) I called CC. They activated it on the spot.
And something else: Tchibo is not recommanded for data, because you have to us their APN "webmobil1". At all other o2-de-(re)-sellers it does not matter, what you are using. And: My expirience has been, that after the daily disconnection it does not reconnect automatically.

So you don't recommend Tchibo because you have to set a correct APN while with other O2 resellers you save those 45 seconds for setting a correct APN???

Isn't it your device that should reconnect? What soft- and hardware are you using? I don't think Tchibo is to blame for that.

So! After sending *104#, I get

Entering 1 leads to the same message.
Entering 2 leads to exactly what you specified in your post.
After entering all the numbers you recommended, I got the following:

Now I have a few more amateurish questions:
1. Where should I receive this SMS ? Should I ran my generic Mobile Partner or there is some option in MGMA ?
2. What is next ? Does it mean I'm done for XL and upon toping up my credit on October 11 (my arrival date) I can immediately surf ?
Thanks.

Okay, since the "Optionsmanager" does neither show "1 Optionsstatus" nor "3 Option abbestellen", there's definitely no data tariff active on your SIM.
You could of course complain with Tchibo that you didn't get your free Internet Flatrate L when you return to Germany, but be aware that the Internet Flatrate L is being throttled after exceeding 500MB and you won't be able to switch to the Internet Flatrate XL before the 30-days-billing period of the Internet Flatrate L has passed. So you might get tied to slow internet for a month if you generate more than 500MB. Therefore you may prefer to abandon the free Internet Flatrate L and instead subscribe to the Internet Flatrate XL.

In order to receive SMS, just start Mobile Partner (no matter if it's the generic or branded version) and make sure MDMA is closed, because if MDMA runs simultaneously it will occupy the stick and Mobile Partner won't be able to detect it.

Yes. Just top up € 20 (I think you need to top up € 30 due to the lack of € 20-vouchers) and order the Internet Flatrate XL through the USSD-menu (*104#) as described earlier and you should get your data tariff within a couple of minutes. You don't need to buy vouchers from Tchibo, but you can also pick up regular O2 vouchers, which are sold in way more places, such as kiosks, gasstations, supermarkets etc.

That's it ! The reason for my questions was not to recover the flatrate L, but rather to understand what happened and to get the XL next time. With your generous help, I think I'm done. Thanks a lot.
If you allow, just one more question (though not directly related to the subject).
My another (local) stick is much better than Huawei E1550 (Sierra Compass 888). Unfortunately, it is locked with the local provider, who refuses to unlock it even for a payment (well, I am in the Middle East). I can unlock it buying some third party software (e.g. dc-unlocker). The question is whether I will see a significant difference between the sticks while travelling in Germany (particularly in country sides). I mean drop-offs, speed, etc ?
P.S. I have no idea, why the smile appears above instead of 8 ???

The Sierra Compass 888 is indeed faster than the E1550 as it supports HSDPA (download) with 7.2 MBit/s (instead of 3.6 MBit/s) and HSUPA with up to 5.76 MBit/s. But on the German O2 network you will rarely get more than 2-3 MBit/s download, so the advantage in download of a device supporting higher HSDPA-categories is marginal. In contrast to the moderate increase of download bandwidth you will usually get > 1 MBit/s upload with an HSUPA-capable device (versus 0.384 MBit/s without HSUPA). In the end you would only benefit from the higher upload bandwidth, which becomes important when uploading files or sending eMails with large attachments and e.g. when video-calling through Skype (the higher your upload bandwidth, the better the video quality on the other end).
Before spending money for DC-unlocker consider buying a new HSPA-stick here in Germany. The Vodafone K3765 (unlocked, produced by Huawei and easily debrandable) is currently available for ~ € 25 (incl. shipping) on eBay.de and O2 sell the Huawei E1750 (easily unlockable and debrandable) for € 30 online and in their shops.

My main concern was regarding the connectivity (most of the time I will be out of cities). Sierra has an external antenna. But you're right, if a new (similar) stick is only slightly more expensive than unlocking, it's better to buy a new one.

The Vodafone K3765 also has a connector for an external antenna, however it is covered by the housing and requires drilling to make it accessible (see pictures at the bottom of Huawei K3765-HV (Vodafone) - 3G modem wiki).
Alternatively you could pick up one of those unlocked 3G-sticks Vodafone are currently selling in their shops for just € 10 including a Vodafone Websessions SIM and vouchers for 3*1h internet access (http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/mobi...-new-post.html). Vodafone have the best 3G-coverage in Germany and their prepaid internet rates are more expensive, but still affordable for shortterm use (Germany - Vodafone Web Sessions - Prepaid Wireless Internet Access). What I like about Vodafone's Websessions is, that you don't need to care about topping up credit as you can pay each session by credit card. Unfortunately they block VoIP.

There are two things:
If you mistype the APN you get a "connection" with all outgoing traffic working.
O2 is disconnecting once a day your high-speed connection, see the footnotes on the original o2 pages "O2 behält sich vor, nach 24 Stunden jeweils eine automatische Trennung der Verbindung durchzuführen." I tried several Huawei sticks (E167, E1550) and they failed to automatically reconnect with Tchibo...

So the problem is that there's outgoing but no incoming traffic which may confuse users who have mistyped the APN? Or is traffic over a wrong APN billed separately from your data flatrate?

But you can disconnect and reconnect manually once a day, can't you? Most people use Tchibo on laptops that switch to stand-by mode at least once a day interrupting the data connection anyway. I think few people will take this as a problem.

Khm ! I love the Vodafone option (both the stick and the Websessions), but... using Skype is one of the most important (if not the only) issues for me at least in the coming trip. Do you know how strict are they in avoiding VoIP ? I read in some forums, that sometimes it is declared, but actually is not realized.

What is the AT-command ?
 

I'm trying to disable the flashmemory of the Sierra Wireless Compass 888.
I can't find the appropriate AT-command. Could it be !BOOTHOLD that resets the modem ? I doubt and I'm afraid to try it.

when i had to stay some days in hospital a few days ago i used a lot of skype with Vodafone Websessions. That worked well, however in the terms of service it is prohibited.

Chris

Thanks ! I promise to use O2 wherever it will be possible.:)

No, !BOOTHOLD resets the modem and holds the boot procedure for firmware download. Unfortunately I couldn't find any command to disable the flashmemory in Sierra's AT-command reference either. But as workaround you could disable autorun for the flashmemory, which will prevent the dashboard setup to be executed automatically after plugging in your device.

Good idea ! Could you pls to give me a hint of how to do this ? Thanks.

This is how it's done under Windows XP:

1. Open Windows Explorer (by pressing the Windows + "e" key).
2. Right-click the desired CD-ROM and select Properties from the menu.
3. Select the AutoPlay tab.
4. Select each item from the pulldown list and for the Action to perform, select "Take no action" to disable autorun, or pick the apporpriate action to take if enabling autorun.
5. Select OK.

And for Windows 7 see AutoPlay - Enable or Disable AutoRun - Windows 7 Forums

I did not realize that you meant the Windows AutoPlay option. This does not bother me (just one click to close the window). My main concern is that the branded software prevents executing the generic one. After running the generic 3G Watcher, I get a message "device in software installation mode" and nothing happens forever. Accidentally, I found a workaround. After clicking "Safely Remove Hardware" everything starts working. I am not happy with such workaround because I don't understand what is wrong ? I reinstalled, restarted, etc. Nothing helps. The connection is being established only after clicking "Safely Remove Hardware". Do you have any idea what's wrong ? Or just to accept it as it is ?

Do you still have the branded dashboard installed on your computer? I assume there's some background process from the branded dashboard, that prevents the unbranded dashboard from accessing your device properly.
Btw Vodafone Germany now sell the Huawei K3765-HV HSUPA-capable 3G stick (which I mentioned here before) for € 10 in their promotional offer, after their stock of the K3565-Z has been cleared. The new K3765-HV is unlocked and you can easily replace the Vodafone dashboard by a generic one from Huawei.

The solution to the 3G Watcher problem
 

The problem was caused by the TRU-Install program in my modem.
The solution is described here:

Why does Watcher display "Device in software installation mode"?

and here:

How to disable TRU-Install?

Works as a charm :)

What USSD commands in MDMA ?
 

What are the USSD commands to activate "Internet Flatrate XL" by using MDMA ?

Are they the same as in the branded Tchibo Mobile Partner ?

dial *104#
press 2 for "Option buchen"
press 5 for "weitere"
again, press 5 for "weitere"
press 2 for "Internet Flatrate XL"
press 1 to confirm

Afaik Mobile Partner (no matter if it's the generic or branded version) doesn't support USSD at all. However you can also order the "Internet Flatrate XL" by sending a text message with "START DATENFLAT" to 7777 instead of using the USSD-menu.

I thought it was your thread here Germany - Tchibo - Prepaid Wireless Internet Access, from which I copied the above USSD commands.
Anyway, returning to my question is it possible to activate "Internet Flatrate XL" by using USSD commands in MDMA (if yes, what are the commands) ?
Regarding your suggested text message, I must to confess that I have no idea of how to send it. Sorry, you only tought me to send USSD commands in MDMA and to receive SMS by using Mobile Partner. Is sending text message just the other way around ? Unfortunately, I can't experiment by myself as my account is still empty and I can't therefore activate it.

Yes, I'm the author of that wiki page.
I described the USSD-based order process in detail on the first page of this thread.
Just start Mobile Partner, click the "Text" button and below you'll see a new row of symbols, where the frist one (a blue enevlope) stands for creating a new text message. Hit that, enter phone number (7777) and text (START DATENFLAT) and finally click "Send" to submit it.

Thanks ! Two options are always better.

Hi from Germany. I have succesfully engaged Flatrate XL and surfed (though quite slow to my taste) for the last two days. Right now I received this message:
Tchibo mobil: Ihr Guthaben ist unter 3 EUR gefallen. Laden Sie jetzt einfach und bequem online oder per SMS auf. Alle Infos auf www.tchibo-mobil.de
Time: 12/10/2010 13:00:15
Does it mean I am approaching the 5GB limit ? Strange, isn't it ?
Pls, help and advice what to do ?

No, this text message just notifies you of your balance having dropped below € 3. You won't get any notification when reaching 5GB, but you can check the total data volume generated so far through the USSD menu.

The total amount was around 40 MB. So, this is not the problem. The problem is obviously with the wrong flatrate I got. Probably, instead of XL I somehow got to a per hour rate (if there is some). I don't know, what happenned. But it is clear I should not get a message about 3 Euro left (now it is complitely disconnected with 0.02 Euro left), if it would be the XL flatrate. Am I right ? Even after 5 GB (and I have used a small fraction of it) I should have continued with the ISDN speed. Isn't it ?
Anyway, how can I find out what was wrong? I did EVERYTHING exactly according to your instructions and received exactly those messages as you wrote. Is there any way to find out (besides calling Tchibo), what flatrate I have used.
Thanks.

P.S. I can only occasionally get connected to the Internet during the next 5 days.

Have you actually gotten the message confirming the Internet Flatrate XL has been activated? Sometimes it takes a couple of minutes or even hours until it is active.

You would get the notification of your credit dropping below € 3 even with the Internet Flatrate XL if subscription has reduced your credit to below € 3. But of course you shouldn't be billed for any data transferred as soon as the Internet Flatrate XL is active.

Correct. After exceeding 5GB bandwidth is being throttled, but there won't be any additional charges.

Yes, after submitting *104# for the options menu, send 1 for Optionsstatus, which should list you all options currently subscribed.