Lidl

[Prepaidtraveller]

It appears lidl has a offer similar or Better to tchibo on the same network, has anyone had any experience with them?

I'm mainly interested in their data options for a holiday...

LIDL MOBILE - 9 ct/Min. in alle deutschen Netze und ins Festnetz von ganz Europa, USA und Kanada

[inquisitor]

Lidl is not only based on the same network and billing platform like Fonic, but Lidl SIMs are actually realized through Fonic as you may see from the small print on the backside of the SIM's retail package. In my opinion Lidl is the best option for travellers in Germany and also highly attractive to residents.
The difference between Lidl and Fonic are the lower data rates of Lidl and the fact that you can recharge Lidl SIMs only at Lidl supermarkets, while Fonic recharge vouchers are available at several other retailers. Further Lidl's smallest recharge voucher amounts to € 15 while the smallest Fonic voucher has a value for € 20.
I've written an article about Lidl on the PWIA-wiki: LIDL mobile - Prepaid Wireless Internet Access

Due to their anniversary Lidl currently sell their SIM cards for only € 5 (instead of € 10) including € 10 of initial credit and I've picked up a spare one, which I hereby offer to the PrePaidGSM community. It's still sealed and not activated. Besides the original price of € 5 I would just charge the shipping fees of € 3.50 for insured international shipping + € 0.75 PayPal fees and I would appreciate if you provided my Lidl number upon activation, so the buyer and I do each get € 5 from their referral program.

[Motel75]

Another big benefit of Lidl vs. Fonic is that Lidl currently offers 25 euro credit if you port your number to it, offsetting the 25-30 fees most prepaid providers charge to release your number. This is obviously not a big deal for visitors, though.

[kuba.g]

According to the German wiki you can actually even recharge Lidl cards with Fonic top-up codes, so that's no disadvantage at all

[Lucy]

I used Fonic phone sim from Lidl this summer. The third year in a row.

It is excellent and the cheapest around.

The number never expires. The minutes never expire.

As I recall it cost only about 5 Euros to buy (3 years ago), including that value in minutes (at 9 Euro cents a minute for calls in Germany, to Europe and even to the US). I still haven't used all the minutes so each year I just pop the sim in the phone and it's ready to go.

By the way, I learned about Fonic on this site. So thank you.

[inquisitor]

Lidl stopped selling Fonic SIM cards. Since last year they have been selling "Lidl mobile" SIM cards, which in fact are rebranded Fonic SIMs but with lower data tariffs. So with a Lidl SIM you get the same service from the same company (Fonic GmbH) but cheaper.
Btw Fonic SIMs now cost € 10 with the same amount of initial credit. Lidl SIMs will cost absolutely the same after their promotional offer of € 5 (with € 10 of credit) ends on September 10th.

[Motel75]

Originally Posted by Amrando

Do you have any links for Lidl service & product availability?

Lidl Mobile - Lidl Deutschland - lidl.de

[inquisitor]

Yes, Lidl mobile runs on the O2 network and SIMs are sold only at Lidl supermarkets. Officially you can only recharge with Lidl recharge vouchers sold at their supermarkets, but actually you can also use Fonic vouchers, which are sold at many retailers and gasstations, as well.

Additional information can be found at:
http://prepaid-wireless-internet-acc...id=6-aQmLmrozk (English, mostly written by me)
LIDL MOBILE ? Prepaid-wiki (German)

Allthough I've sold my spare Lidl SIM to VladS I could still pick up another one tomorrow since I will buy two more for Vlad anyway, and send it including insured shipping to Canada and PayPal fees to you for € 9.25. The only benefit I would have is € 5 of bonus credit if you provided my number upon activation.
Note that the promotional price of € 5 including € 10 of initial credit (+ €5 bonus credit if you fill in another Lidl customer's number upon activation) ends on September 10th. Afterwards SIM cards will cost € 10 again.
So if you take my offer you'll save only € 0.75, but you would have an active SIM card upon arrival (no need to search a Lidl supermarket and to wait up to 24h for activation) + an active data option if desired (may also take up to 24h for activation) and you would know your number before departure, so you could tell it to whoever may want to reach you and also record it to your voice mailbox.

[sternem]

inquisitor, thanks for the excellent information you've been providing in the forum and the pages you've written. Definitely helps visitors to DE !

Originally Posted by inquisitor

Have you considered buying a Lidl mobile SIM? Lidl mobile is a tariff offered in Lidl supermarkets (which btw are coming to Canada in 2012) but realized by Fonic and identical to Fonic in service and tariffs except for the cheaper data rates. They have a monthly flatrate (with bandwidth throttling after 5GB) for just € 14.99/month. In contrast Fonic throttle bandwidth if you exceed 500MB per day (for the rest of the day) or 5GB per month (for the rest of the month), whichever applies earlier.

This sounds like exactly what I need. I'll be in Berlin starting Oct 9 for 1.5 weeks and then Praha for another half week. Would LIDL support data into CZ at this rate or would there be an additional data usage roaming fee in Praha?

Another question. In comparing Fonic with Lidl, you mention that Fonic throttles after 500MB. The page you created for Lidl in English also mentions the same throttling. In fact it looks like the only different between the data betwen Fonic and Lidl is the monthly tariff of € 25 for Fonic versus € 14.99 for Lidl. Can you help clarify?

Originally Posted by inquisitor

send it including insured shipping to Canada and PayPal fees to you for € 9.25.
.... Note that the promotional price of € 5 including € 10 of initial credit (+ €5 bonus credit if you fill in another Lidl customer's number upon activation) ends on September 10th.

I would be interested if you could this for me. Hopefully we can make arrangements before the 10th . I want to have the € 14.99 data option, but I think I would need to activate this myself because my trip will last until October 21 in Praha. Is this correct?

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by sternem

Would LIDL support data into CZ at this rate or would there be an additional data usage roaming fee in Praha?

If you have the "Handy-Internet-Flatrate" activated for data roaming within the EU the "EU Internet-Tages-Pack" will apply, which gives you 10MB for € 3 per calendar day. After consuming those 10MB internet access will be interrupted for the rest of the day. Alternatively (without the "Handy-Internet-Flatrate") you would pay some prohibitive € 5/MB.
Be aware that data roaming is quite expensive in Europe - there are other providers on the inferior eplus-network (simyo and blau) who offer EU-roaming data packs of 50MB for € 5, but that's still not a bargain.

Another question. In comparing Fonic with Lidl, you mention that Fonic throttles after 500MB. The page you created for Lidl in English also mentions the same throttling. In fact it looks like the only different between the data betwen Fonic and Lidl is the monthly tariff of € 25 for Fonic versus € 14.99 for Lidl. Can you help clarify?

There are a couple of differences:

• Fonic charge € 2.50/day on the dayflat-tariff, while Lidl charge just € 1.99/day so Lidl is cheaper, but Fonic have a price-cap of € 25/month for the day-flat tariff.
• But then Lidl offer a monthly flatrate with throttling after 5GB for € 14.99/month which again is cheaper than the € 25-price cap of Fonic's dayflat. Further Fonic throttles speed on the dayflat-tariff if you exceed 500MB/day or 5GB/month (whichever applies first), while Lidl don't have a volume cap on a daily basis but only on monthly basis (5GB).
• If you compare those monthly flatrates throttled already after exceeding 500MB ("Handy-Internet-Flatrate"), Lidl is ~€ 1 cheaper than Fonic (€ 8.99 vs. 9.95)

So Fonic is a kind of more flexible because their dayflat turns into a monthly flatrate after the tenth day of usage within a month, but on the other hand Lidl's 5GB-monthly flatrate costs the same like six days of dayflat-usage with Fonic.
In my eyes Lidl is the better choice unless you need more than 500MB/month (so the "Handy-Internet-Flatrate" won't suffice) and you can't even roughly foresee how many days you will need internet access.
However there's one unique selling point in favour of Fonic and that's the fact they have microSIMs by default (can be broken out from their regular SIMs) while Lidl don't.

I would be interested if you could this for me. Hopefully we can make arrangements before the 10th . I want to have the € 14.99 data option, but I think I would need to activate this myself because my trip will last until October 21 in Praha. Is this correct?

I have picked up the last four SIMs from my local Lidl market today (of which two are already enroute to VladS) and I could send you one on Monday, but the bonus credit from the referral programm may take up to three weeks to be accredited. So when you receive the SIM it probably won't have enough credit (initial credit is €10) for the 5GB-flatrate, which costs € 14.99. So you could either subscribe to the 500MB-flatrate or recharge € 15 (which is the smallest top-up amount) to order the 5GB-flatrate. Another option would be that I activate the SIM before shipping (with your personal details), so you would receive those € 5 in September and would have enough credit (€15) to order the 5GB-flatrate.