What best offer for internet in Germany?

[sermarco]

Good Morning,
at first thank you for the attencion and sorry for my english.
I travel often in Germany and i would like to know what kind of prepaid card is cheaper for use as an internet connection (email and quick information) with a local operator or an international.
I know that same local operetor requires a german address and of course i haven't.
I have already a travelsim but is not so cheap for internet.
Thank's for an answare.
Marco

[inquisitor]

Have a look at Germany - Prepaid Wireless Internet Access and all the threads on Germany in the European section of this board. Without knowing any details on the your usage behaviour, it's hard to recommend any provider.

Not being a resident is not a problem in Germany at all. Those providers, who require registration will accept just any German address, as they don't prove it at all.

[f300]

FONIC is probably the best offer with 2.50 EUR/day UNLIMITED. They will throttle you down to 64k (I think) after 1GB but still it's really really good.

Although you can buy it mostly everywhere you still need to activate it and I think this require direct debit (=german account) to activate (online or over the phone, can't activate in store).

If you already have access to some other card, prepaid or not (German T-mobile for example) there are some options you can activate and get some acceptable rates (some cents per minute, or 4.50 eur/day with t-mobile xtra I believe).

[inquisitor]

Fonic does not require a German bank account any more, but you'll need to activate it online or by phone and provide some German address.
Another attractive option is Tchibo with their 500-MB-pack for € 10 or flatrate for € 20, which are both valid for 30 days after activation.
So it depends on how long you're going to stay in Germany and how much data volume you will generate.

[sermarco]

Sorry if i have wrong the section of the forum.
Thank's for the answares my use is for a small volume of data only to read/send mail and to see same information on internet usually with pda and sametimes with pc+pda.
Fonic is very good the tarif of 2,5 euro for day or i think also the basis tarif of 0,24/mb.
You think that it could work if i go at Lidl and give the address of my hotel? After i activate it in internet and recharge at lidl when i need?
The other operetor like t-mobile need at the same way germany address, internet activation and so on?
Thank You Again
Marco

[f300]

Lidl won't do anything for you, they're just a grocery store.

[inquisitor]

Marco, you can provide the address of your hotel or any other existant German address.

You can neither activate nor recharge a Fonic SIM at Lidl. Lidl does only sell the SIM card. Registration can only be done by phone or online. Recharge vouchers are only sold at Müller (drug stores), ProMarkt and KOMET (both electronics retailers). There are reports on German forums, that regular O2 "Loop Up" vouchers, which are sold nearly everywhere (supermarktes, gasstations, kiosks), work for Fonic, too, but I can't confirm that since I haven't tried those yet.

Also be aware, that the dayflat-tariff (€ 2,50/day) and the volume-based tariff (€ 0,24/MB) can not be used simultaneously. When you buy the Fonic SIM volume-based billing will be active. If you want to switch to the dayflat-tariff, you'll need to call customer care and ask them to switch your tariff. Then you'll be charged € 2,50 for each day you access the web. If you want to go back to volume-based billing, you need to call customer care again.

[f300]

Frankly I'm still unclear about the requirement of German bank account for Fonic. They are still mentioning it on their web page and I think it was some minimum amount you needed to "load" to your card (10 EUR?) before activating. What's going on, is this +10EUR requirement gone? Can you use some prepaid card bought in a store to activate?
On the other hand if it works they give you currently 111 free minutes with land lines in Europe (from Germany of course) and with anything in US and Canada so it might end up being quite a nice deal for somebody traveling.

[sermarco]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

Marco, you can provide the address of your hotel or any other existant German address.

You can neither activate nor recharge a Fonic SIM at Lidl. Lidl does only sell the SIM card. Registration can only be done by phone or online. Recharge vouchers are only sold at Müller (drug stores), ProMarkt and KOMET (both electronics retailers). There are reports on German forums, that regular O2 "Loop Up" vouchers, which are sold nearly everywhere (supermarktes, gasstations, kiosks), work for Fonic, too, but I can't confirm that since I haven't tried those yet.

Also be aware, that the dayflat-tariff (€ 2,50/day) and the volume-based tariff (€ 0,24/MB) can not be used simultaneously. When you buy the Fonic SIM volume-based billing will be active. If you want to switch to the dayflat-tariff, you'll need to call customer care and ask them to switch your tariff. Then you'll be charged € 2,50 for each day you access the web. If you want to go back to volume-based billing, you need to call customer care again.

Thank You for all the indication now i have undestand and next week in Frankfurt i'll try to buy it, activate and use it.
Only another small question Tchibo have the tariff of 0,24/mb like fonic and i saw that have a lot of shops in the center of Frankfurt if i decided to buy it can i made activation and recharge directely at the shop or i need all time internet activation? Because if it is easier to make it i can decide to buy Tchibo even if fonic is chiper also to phone in Italy.
However thank you for all the answer to inquisitor and all the people that had patience with me.
Ciao Marco

[inquisitor]

A German bank account is only required when ordering Fonic online. If you buy it at a shop, you definitely don't need a bank account.
I just looked up again and these are the retailers, where you can get the SIM and vouchers:
Müller, dm (both drugstores), Real (supermarket), Jet (gasstations), ProMarkt and KOMET (both electronics retailers).
You should easily find one of these shops in Francoforte.

Regarding Tchibo, yes you even must register their SIM card upon purchase in the shop.