TheMadBrewer

I've been very happy with my FONIC service over the past year. One thing to be aware of: you have to register the SIM online (so you need a wifi hotspot) and they will send a letter to the address you give. If the letter gets returned, they suspend the service. So let your hotel know so they accept the letter.

djplong

Well, that's out of the question then. I'm only in Berlin for 2 nights. Back to square one.

You'd think the idea of a tourist would allow for the idea of, maybe, using our passports for registration. I can understand the desire to register these but an address seems woefully inadequate for an "all cases" rule.

TheMadBrewer

You don't need the letter for anything -- Just use the hotel's address and warn them about it so they don't return it to the post office -- they probably wouldn't anyway.

redburgundy

I bought a simyo SIM online. It is already activated, and comes with a German phone number starting with 0157.

When I go to Germany in October, I want to use it for Internet access.

simyo has a data plan "Flat Internet" with 3 GB for 14.90 Euros for 30 days.
http://www.simyo.de/tarif/flat-internet.html
But when I go to the sign up page
https://www.simyo.de/bestellen/tarif.html
it seems to want to assign me a new phone number.

Am I in the wrong place on their web site?

seawolf

Does FONIC require a German bak account. The website seems to indicate it is required.

If I pick it up at Real I still have to activate it online? The store doesn't activate?

Ate there any places in Dusseldorf where I can just get a prepaid and have it working before leaving the store?

TheMadBrewer

Fonic didn't require a German bank account when I bought mine last October. You can buy top up vouchers were the SIM is sold or use a service like aufladen.de to buy top-ups with Paypal and the like.

I bought Fonic SIMs at the Rossmann store on Flingerstrasse in the D-dorf Altstadt. I don't think there is any way to bypass the activation and registration process. You could ask over at www.prepaidgsm.net -- some of the folks there are much more familiar with it than I am.

As far as buying and having it work leaving the store -- I've done that with Vodafone -- their Websessions product isn't too bad a deal for data (you can pay with a US credit card which saves buying top ups). My guess is you probably can do the same with any of the "majors." Discount and MVNOs seem to want to do things online (saves money I guess). There is a Phone House store on Flingerstrasse -- you could ask in there what they have that fits and can be instantly activated.

djplong

FYI - My SIM adventure turned into a disaster. Couldn't find a "FONIC" outlet. Ended up at a Reise Bank location where they sold a completely worthless (for my purposes) blauworld SIM. Fortunately I only wasted 20 Euros on two cards. I was able to call a German number after activation but got a load of recorded german when trying to call the US. A friendly traveller translated it to tell me it was saying I had no money on the card - but the store verified that I still had the original 7.50 credit (I was going to add internet and minutes once we got to the hotel). The card worked in Berlin and then went silent for the next several days (Munich, Salzberg, Nuremberg, Rothenburg, Hohenschwangau) and started occasionally waking up in Freiburg and got full bard in Koblenz and Hamburg - again worthless since it wasn't letting me dial the US.

I will not make this mistake again.

Analise

What would you do differently?

djplong

I'd stop trying to pinch pennies and go with one of the companies that can send a SIM to a US address. A little more expensive on the calls - and it seems hard to find a good combination of talk/data - but when I called my mom in Indiana while I was in Edinburgh, it made the connection like I was still at home.

I should have realized the folly of trying to "squeeze in" shopping for a SIM card between arriving at a train station and checking into our lodging. In addition, the phone stores just weren't open when we had time to look. We'd be "doing stuff" during normal work hours and if we didn't get back to our room by 7pm, well, lots of places were closed. Lesson learned.

It didn't spoil the vacation - but it will make the next one easier!

Analise

Thank you for sharing the above. I'm heading for Germany soon and while I won't have time for a carrier to send me a SIM card, I want to make this easy and am thinking about buying the SIM card at FRA as I will have some time before my train. I started a thread about this in the Germany forum and from advice given (which I appreciate), I think what will work best is to spend a little more money for the convenience of getting it at the airport. After reading about your experience, I'm even more certain I want to get the SIM card taken care of at the airport.

djplong

You might be surprised - there are firms that ship from locations in the US. Telestial ships from Boston, for example. When I ordered form them 2 years ago, I had the card in just a few days. Holidayphone.com seems to have some good offers as well.

gfunkdave

This is the case for any SIM in Western Europe (and most other places in the world besides). The digital revolution means that the days of shouting into a hissing, staticky phone are long over. Before my time, at any rate!

TwinkL

I've searched through this forum, and read many of the threads, but most of them seem to emphasize calling rates.

I'm looking for a prepaid data SIM for my unlocked iPhone 5. I will be primarily in Germany, so that is my emphasis. A card that would also work decently in the Netherlands and Switzerland would be terrific, but that is secondary.

1. Who has the best rates for data in Germany? Specifically, I need 500MB to 1GB over a two-week period.

2. Ideally, I would like to have a nano SIM sent to my US address before I go. I'm getting conflicting information about who will send to the US, and whether I can activate from here before I get to Germany.

Thank you in advance for any information you might be able to offer.

redburgundy

I'm in Germany right now, using a Simyo SIM card that I bought on eBay for about 10 euros. Simyo is a reseller of the E-plus network capacity. It's in my Samsung Galaxy 3 and working just fine. I went online to simyo.de and added some money and signed up for a flat rate data plan. This network uses the 1800 MHz band, and while many US phones cover 1700 and 1900 MHz, not all support the 1800 MHz band. Anyway, it works just fine.

Pinned

I am interested in using a SIM in Germany as well as France in my iPhone 5.

I will be in France first, if the German provider mails me a SIM am I OK to use it in France? Ortel.de provides services that say they work on Germany and France. I really only need data and SMS.