Tchibo registration problem

[Schlips1]

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.

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by Schlips1

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.

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???

And: My expirience has been, that after the daily disconnection it does not reconnect automatically.

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.

[mgol]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

You're welcome!

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

So! After sending *104#, I get

Optionsmanager
2 Option buchen

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:

Ihr Auftrag wird bearbeitet. Sie erhalten in K~rze eine SMS. Vielen Dank !

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.

[inquisitor]

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.

Originally Posted by mgol

1. Where should I receive this SMS ? Should I ran my generic Mobile Partner or there is some option in MGMA ?

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.

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 ?

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.

[mgol]

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 88. 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 ???

[inquisitor]

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.

[mgol]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

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.

[inquisitor]

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.

[Schlips1]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

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.

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...

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by Schlips1

There are two things:
If you mistype the APN you get a "connection" with all outgoing traffic working.

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?

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...

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.