Can One Call Betamax Gateways In Germany on German Flat Rate Plans?
 

I see that a number of the German carriers have prepaid flat rate plans of EUR 15 - EUR 20 per month, allowing unlimited calls to German landlines and on-network mobile calls.

Betamax has local rate numbers in Berlin and Muenchen that allow you to call over the Betamax network at their regular rates (including free minutes.) If I signed up for the flat mobile rate plan, would calls to the Betamax number be covered in the flat rate plan?

The number for Berlin is given on the Poivy website as 03031190303.

eplus and O2 including all providers on their networks have blocked or strictly limited calls to Betamax' access numbers for a year now. I don't know if T-Mobile and Vodafone proceed in a similar way, but Fonic offers cheap rates for direct calling from your mobile: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/euro...-visitors.html

From Vodafone and T-Mobile it still works to call these numbers. But from the terms of service all providers could theoretically block the access numbers any day as o2 and eplus already did.

Chris

You can try to do it yourself

at sipgate.de you can get a free did voip number.
Then using pbxes.com or simualr system you could setup a callforward system.

You call your own number, give a pincode and you will get a dialtone to dial the number you want.

Onlt problem with pbxes is that freecalls still don't seem to work because of some ip problems. That said you can still use your mobile to make cheap calls outside germany this way.

If you have a regular number i doubt that it will ever get blocked but a carries. I did this when I was in the USa last year. Used my did number there to call the number and than call europe for low voicetrading/betamax rates.

sipgate.de only assigns local DID numbers if your identity and address has been proved. Otherwise you get only 01803 numbers, which are not covered by flatrates, but cost at least € 0,50/min from mobiles.
However if you have a friend in Germany, who can prove his address and so could get a local DID, you could also easily setup a callthrough system with a very advanced but anyway simple to set up VoIP-router called "Fritz Box Fon", which is sold from € 20-30 at eBay (at least used ones).

Actually, I have my own Asterisk system, and know of the local resident restrictions for geographical DIDs in Germany which is why I didn't consider sipgate.de. Good to know that the non-geographical VOIP numbers are expensive to call, so I don't use that.

When I as in Berlin in February I used Ortel (Ortel Mobile - Connecting the world), which uses the eplus network and accepts eplus top-up cards. The SIM card is hard to find, but is sold in all eplus company stores. Calling the US is a 15 cent startup charge per call, then 9 cents per minute.

I can see blocking betamax access numbers on the flat rate plan. However, blocking them for customers who are paying by the minute is pure greed. That practice would be illegal in the US, despite our light regulation.

What is it in their terms of service that gives them the theoretical right? Do they just reserve the right to block any number they choose for any reason they choose?

At present I use a congstar flatrate contract (9,99€/month (T-Mobile)) without any problems to call dialnow (Betamax) access numbers.

blau.de (E-Plus) is also working.

The official announcement from the providers say that there is a "high network load" to certain number ranges and they block these numbers "to ensure a good quality of service" for all customers....

Chris

Sounds like utter nonsense.