Vodafone Allows First Mvno Onto Its Network

[Triband81]

I don't know how the heck I could have missed this but better later than never:

German

Schlecker startet mit Mobilfunk-Prepaidkarte

Angebot derzeit aber nur in Baden-W?rttemberg verf?gbar 03.04.2006
18:38

Mit Schlecker bietet ab sofort eine weitere Einzelhandelskette eine Mobilfunk-Prepaidkarte an. smobil, wie sich das Produkt nennt, wird derzeit allerdings nur in einigen Filialen in Baden-W?rttemberg verkauft. Nach Aussage der Hotline des Anbieters telefonieren die Kunden im Vodafone-Netz und in etwa sechs Wochen soll die Karte bundesweit verf?gbar sein.
Das smobil-Startpaket kostet 14,99 Euro und beinhaltet 10 Euro Startguthaben. Gespr?che zu anderen smobil-Kunden kosten nach Angaben auf der Homepage des Discounters 1 Cent pro Minute. Allerdings ist dieser Aktionstarif zun?chst auf 200 Minuten im Monat und bis zum 30. Juni begrenzt. Ansonsten wird innerhalb Deutschlands ein einheitlicher Minutenpreis von 25 Cent in alle Netze verlangt. Auslandsgespr?che sind mit 1,99 Euro pro Minute ziemlich teuer. Die Abrechnung aller Gespr?che erfolgt im 60/1-Sekundentakt.

SMS f?r 19 Cent

Der Versand einer SMS innerhalb Deutschlands schl?gt mit 19 Cent zu Buche, der Mitteilungsversand ins Ausland kostet 29 Cent. F?r das Verschicken einer MMS innerhalb Deutschlands werden 39 Cent berechnet, ins Ausland betr?gt der MMS-Preis 79 Cent.
smobil bietet unter der Nummer 2290100 auch eine analoge WAP-Einwahl. Diese wird mit 19 Cent pro Minute tarifiert. Die GPRS-Nutzung kostet 19 Cent pro 10-kB-Datenblock. Dazu kommt eine Geb?hr von 6 Cent pro Online-Stunde.
Aufladekarten f?r die Schlecker-Karte sind in den M?rkten zu bekommen, die auch die SIM-Karten verkaufen. Kunden, die ihr Guthaben um 19 Euro aufstocken, schreibt smobil 6 Euro zus?tzlich gut. Noch nicht bekannt ist, ob diese Aktion zeitlich befristet ist.

English:

Schlecker launches prepaid MVNO SIM offer

Offer only available in Baden-W?rttemberg for the moment
03.04.2005
18:38

Schlecker has joined the ranks of ALDI by offering a prepaid SIM card. The product is being marketed as smobil and is currently only available at Schlecker locations in Baden-W?rttemberg. According to the Schlecker s-mobil hotline, the MVNO service uses Vodafone's network and will be launched nationwide in about 6 weeks.

The smobil SIM starter kit costs ?14,99 and comes with ?10 of airtime to get people started. smobil's homepage lists calls to other smobil numbers as costing 1 cent per minute. However, this offer is limited to 200 minutes/month and lasts until June 30th. Calls to all other German networks and landlines costs 25 cents/minute. Foreign calls cost 1,99 Euros. The calls are billed at a 60/1 rate.

SMS for 19 cents

SMS sent within Germany cost 19 cents and international SMS cost 29 cents. MMS costs 39 cents for national MMS and 79 cents for international MMS. smobil offer WAP access via CSD (CSD number: 2290100) which costs 19 cents/minute. GPRS is also available. Each 10 kb block costs 19 cents and is also subject to an hourly charge of 6 cents for every online hour.

SIM starter kits and refill cards are available at all Schlecker locations. For the moment, smobil also adds 2 Euros to each 8 Euro refill and 6 Euros to each 19 Euro refill. It hasn't been determined whether this offer is a limited time offer only.

Source: http://www.teltarif.de/arch/2006/kw14/s21139.html

So to sum everything up:

SIM Starter Kit: ?14,99 (+ ?10 Euro airtime included) (?10 included airtime validity extended by 3 more months beginning with the first 10 Euro refill within the validity period, maximum validity period: 6 months)

Calls (60/1 billing):

smobil to smobil:
0,01 (Offer valid only until June 30th and limited to 200 minutes/month)

to German landlines and other wireless networks:
0,25

to all foreign networks:
1,99

SMS:

to all national wireless networks and landlines:
0,19

to foreign networks:
0,29

MMS (up to 300 kb)
to German networks:
0,39

to foreign networks:
0,79

Cost Savings (Price drops due to either 8 or 19 Euro refills)
(valid around the clock from the German smobil-network, excluding data and premium services)

Mean Prices:

Calls
(8 Euros of airtime refill with 2 Euros of free airtime): 0,20
(19 Euros of airtime refill with 6 Euros of free airtime): 0,19
(Purchase of 2x 19 Euro airtime refills with 8 Euros of free airtime): 0,15

SMS
(8 Euros of airtime with 2 Euros of free airtime): 0,152
(19 Euros of airtime with 6 Euros of free airtime): 0,144
(Purchase of 2x 19 Euro airtime refills with 8 Euros of free airtime): 0,114

WAP:

CSD (via 2290100): 19 cents/min
GPRS: 19 cents/10 kb block plus 6 cent usage fee for every online hour

Roaming (60/30 billing):

Calls to Germany/national calls while roaming abroad:
Europe Zone 1: 1,29
Europe Zone 2: 1,79
USA Canada: 1,79 (not clear from the included PDF attachment!!)
World 1: 3,29
World 2: 4,99

Calls to the rest of the world:

Europe Zone 1: 2,49
Europe Zone 2: 2,49
USA/Canada: 2,49 (not clear from the included PDF attachment!!)
World 1: 3,49
World 2: 5,49

Incoming Calls:

in Europe:
0,79

rest of the world:
1,79

Roaming countries list and zone allocation:
http://www.smobil.com/laenderliste.pdf

SMS usage abroad:

from Vodafone networks:
0,49

all other networks:
0,69

smobil services:

smobil Account Line: 12273
SMS notification for missed calls
Mailbox (no charge for calling, available only beginning June 1st): 5500
smobil Customer Service hotline: 01805/080333 (49 Cents/min from the smobil network)

Porting your number to other networks: ?24,95
Replacement SIM (including activation): ?15

Price Source:
http://www.smobil.com/preise/index.html
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All in all, I can't say that I'm impressed with this MVNO. The price structure is quite complicated (especially the 8 Euro/2 Euro and 19 Euro/6 Euro concept) and a bit unflexible. My recommendation would be to consider all other German MVNOs first. ALDI Talk is still the best deal out there.

[snaimon]

Agree ALDI is still the best IF YOU ARE JUST STARTING.

Lots of negative chatter on this offer. WHY BOTHER? Low smobile rates only apply to smobile phones (good luck unless you ADD another SIM & service for your friends and family) -- remember market is saturated. Might be some advantages to domestic (German) and foreign Voda usage/users. Other than that SMS prices as well as call prices are still high in comparison to other MVNOs.

[AdmiralAK]

Man, SMS charges are through the roof!
Greek prepaid SMS is cheaper from what I know...

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by snaimon

Agree ALDI is still the best IF YOU ARE JUST STARTING.

Lots of negative chatter on this offer. WHY BOTHER? Low smobile rates only apply to smobile phones (good luck unless you ADD another SIM & service for your friends and family) -- remember market is saturated. Might be some advantages to domestic (German) and foreign Voda usage/users. Other than that SMS prices as well as call prices are still high in comparison to other MVNOs.

The advantage of this card is the fact that it runs on the vodafone network and not on e-plus. This gives you a better network coverage outside the urban areas and the possibility to set diversions and switch off the voice mail (or set it to a useful time - the e-plus cards always pick up after a very few rings which makes it even hard to dig the phone out of the pocket before voicemail hits in)...

Advantage from the e-plus cards is that many people in germany use the "Base" tariff already which gives them free unlimited calls to e-plus and landlines...

So its always your choice what suits you best.

Chris

[Triband81]

I agree that the BASE option is definitely the reason a lot of us here are already using it. I haven't really had an issue with E-Plus anywhere in Nordrhein-Westfalen (especially here in Cologne) or down around Stuttgart. Their coverage is challenged a bit when I take the ICE from Cologne to Stuttgart via Frankfurt from time to time. The repeaters on the ICE trains don't always boost the signal as much as they should.