E-plus prepaid, some help for the German challenged
 

I just bought a prepaid SIM from E-plus in Berlin with a rate of 0.14c/min for voice calls within all networks in Germany and 0.06c for national SMS. I paid E19.95 for the card which included 10 euros of initial credit. I have managed to activate the SIM and use the phone successfully. Due to language barriers I could not get the following 2 questions answered at the E-plus store. Can someone on the forum help me?
1. Are all incoming calls free if I am on the E-plus network anywhere in Germany? Or is this restricted to the Berlin area?
2. How do I check my SIM balance?

Hopefully they don't offer so many different prepaid plans that I have to be even more specific about the plan I purchased :confused:
thanks

Can't help you on the rate plan question, because they do appear to have multiple plans, but I'll keep looking.

As for the call credit:

Abfrage Ihres Guthabens
Die Höhe Ihres Prepaid-Guthaben erfahren Sie jederzeit zum Nulltarif bei der Service Line 1155.

In other words - call 1155 to hear your Guthaben :D

Actually, I'm pretty sure ALL incoming calls will be free. Stupid me to forget that the EU is not as backwards as the US on mobile calls. In Europe, incoming calls are always free on mobile networks. Which also explains why I couldn't find a section on incoming call costs on E-Plus :D

You are awesome. Thanks for the help. I managed to understand at the store that incoming calls are free except when roaming. I was not able to understand whether roaming meant being outside of Germany or just outside of a smaller local region. But I guess you won't be able to help me there since I don't even know the German name of the prepaid plan that I have :(

Amen on how much better mobile reception and plans are in Europe when compared to the US.

Basically "roaming" is when you're not able to get (GSM) access to your home network (E-Plus in your case). For most purposes, when you cross a national boarder (France, Denmark, ...) you'll then be considered to be roaming.

Actually, since the EU got heavy with the phone companies over the past few years, the cost of roaming has come down. It's reasonable to expect to pay a fixed fee (say up to 80c) and a low per minute cost (say 15c/min) to receive a call while roaming in another EU country. Outside the EU, expect to get hit hard.

Aidan

To check your balance, you can dial *100# (+Send/Call) - this will display your balance on the screen.

All incoming calls are free nationwide / as long as you're on the e-plus network.
You can't log on to other german networks, so the only way to roam is by going abroad (or so close to a border that the foreign carrier has a stronger signal).

OT: I'd much rather have US plans available here.. $50 a month for unlimited calls, text, 3G access? Sign me up..

Well, doesn't help if you have calls dropping in freaking Manhattan... And what the US misses is affordable laptop 3G. Love Fonic and the like: If I go out on a weekend I have high-speed 3G all day for 2.50 Euro - best price ever.

I really don't need that access when I'm in the office. So the USD 50 smarphone(!) tariffe ist not helping me much.

aidanc, raph and scottc, thanks for helping me out. Saved me a lot of time.