VDSL 'Entertain' packages from Deutsche Telekom - Germany

I am new to this forum. I have been living in Germany the past few years totally without TV using only my computer as my entertainment center. I came across T-Coms offer of Entertainment Comfort and as is with most German offers it was filled with 'fine print' which was hard for me to grasp. Having found this forum I will now post my questions and hope some wise people will give answers to them.

To preface: I have DSL 1000 @ 14,95 per month. I also pay 13,75 for basic analog phone (required by T-Com) for a total of 28,39 per month. If I were to upgrade this Entertainment Comfort plan would I be looking at a total bill of $49,95 per month or $49,95 on TOP of the 28,39 currently being charged?
I assume the necessary router and or any other electronics would be an extra charge? I read most of this thread and seems it is a rental of this equipment rather than a purchase? What kind of total monthly charge could I experience?

I have no cable connection in this old apartment of ours and to get some sort of TV over the computer would be ideal for us. We do have an older non HD TV (used to for DVD watching) and I had thought of purchasing a cable that would allow me to run from my S-Video in the computer to the audio/video connections on the TV if that sounds viable.

My computer is an older model laptop (purchase 2003) running Windows XP HD SP3, 120gb Harddrive, 2.4 ghz prcessor and 1gb RAM. Would my system handle this if I decide to upgrade?

I have not contacted T-Com but would like to be armed with info and facts before I do. Please make suggestions, comments or criticisms.

I can't see any Entertain packages for $49.95/month
The "Entertain Comfort" package normally costs €49.95/month but is currently available for €44.95/month
This does NOT include VDSL - it's a standard ADSL2 (16Mbit) connection.

But to answer your questions - this is the total package price, it's not in addition to what you already pay. It also includes all calls to German landlines. For €3.94/month in addition you can add flatrate calls to landlines in all European countries and USA (and US cellphones too)

You will need a modem (if you are only connecting one device) or modem/router if you want to connect multiple devices or build a wireless network. Telekom now sell or rent these devices. Modem/routers start from €1.95/month but the monthly price decreases after the first year. You can also buy one yourself, either direct from Telekom or privately. Expect to pay from €100 upwards for a decent one. Telekom also offer a multimedia receiver (to attach to your TV) for €4.95/month

Personally I don't think 16Mbit internet is that good for TV viewing - better to go for one of the faster VDSL options if they are available on your line. VDSL-25 adds €10/month and VDSL-50 €15/month

I can't see your laptop having problems with these speeds.

You get a €20 bonus (account credit) if you apply for the upgrade over the internet. Remember, you are tied to the new service for a minimum of 24 months.

I have been told that they would switch my line from DSL16000 to VDSL25 and I am still waiting this very day...after 3.5 months nothing has happened. I have been charged twice for the hardware, 3 months of entertain have been charged without ever being able to use the Mediareceiver that is gathering dust in my living room.
I have been refunded after several phone calls and a fax and hope to get refunded for July as well. The tarif was changed promptly to Entertain, but the line is still DSL16000.
I have been using DT for 10 years with excellent service and internet performance. This has been the worst experience ever, but I am reading on the german forums that DT has MASSIVE problems on their IP broadcasting and thousands of customers with problems.
If I were you I would either wait next year for any "switch" to a faster line (enjoy what you have with DT so far), or look somewhere else.
I wonder why there has been no class-action suit against DT yet.
I am considering (and have also written DT in my last fax to them a week ago) to send a Kündigung with Sonderfrist from Entertain since I have never received the service, which clearly they are not able to deliver. I will also ask them to take back the hardware, the Media Receiver and new W721V Modem, at their expenses which I paid 100€, but that for 3 months I have never really managed to use.
Wish me luck - I need it a lot!
BTW: I live in downtown Munich not in some remote part of Germany where one could expect they would have issues setting up fast lines or a "service" like Entertain...

I received today the bill for August from DT and they refunded me the complete month of July 2009 (excluding, and understandably so, the calls I made). I only wanted 10€ back for the VDSL25 I still don't have since May 4th.
They charged me again 10€ for this month for the VDSL25 that is not yet active.
I sent a fax end of July asking for at least a date on when the change could happen, I still didn't get a written reply or a call of sorts.
So I called DT, the Entertain Hotline, and explained that 10€ have been charged although nothing happened yet, and I have been told candidly - like as if I was asking for something weird, that because the whole month of July was refunded I should appreciate the effort of DT ("we already refunded enough"...). I pointed out that refund or not, is still 3.5 months that I still don't get what has been promised.

Two points:
1) I didn't ask for a full month refund for July - they did it on their own
2) I still don't have the service they offered me (I wasn't looking to have it - they called me in April and I, alas!, accepted to make the change).

In the end - though I got a refund and they are showing that they know that it is not OK, I am still left waiting, with no clue on when I will finally get VDSL25 and I use, hopefully without any problems, the Media Receiver worth 50€ that is gathering dust in my living room since May...

At least, and this is the bare minimum, I have never had an interruption of the DSL16 line. At least.

Because German law doesn't allow class-action suits.

In reading Pakitt from Munich's comments about not having the service which was being paid for over the past 3 months I am curious... why would one wait that LONG to make a complaint? And why contact them via fax? I would have gone directly to a T-Com office and had one of the sales people make all the inquiries needed to get that issue cleared up promptly. The longer one waits the more difficult it is to clear it up.

I have had the DSL 1000 for the past 5 years and it is now getting slower and slower (bandwidth meter shows a speed of under 600k most times) Perhaps it is time for me to go and see the T-COM people?

By the way, is there any other alternative to DT for DSL? I thought all other companies that offer DSL service used DT's lines?

Going to a sales office is a waste of time. A Telekom salesman may make all the right noises in front of you but at the end of the day he's there to sell, and as his earnings are largely based on commission he has little interest in doing anything else so is unlikely to put a lot of effort into pursuing a problem. It's a German thing.....

VDSL25 has landed!

I ordered it on the web on 11th June and it was "switched on" on 13th August. Aside from the fact that they couldn't handle the overwhelming demand and total lack of sensible communication, it was fine.

I received a new splitter and wired that in myself (not too complex) and after some expert advice from a knowledgeable TT'er I realised that I also needed a new DSL modem, since my FritzBox would not handle the VDSL signalling. I bought on eBay a Speedport 300HS (about 38€) and on the 13th I got the call from the man from T-Kom to verify I had a suitable modem – 300HS was deemed ok - and sure enough, the green light came on for VDSL on the Speedport. I reset the Fritz as a "router attached to a DSL modem" and entered the T-Home Surf login details and...

Nothing.

Fiddled around forever trying to get a Speedport 700V (was using it as a wireless repeater) to replace the Fritzbox. For some reason, I could not get connect to it. In desperate frustration, after 1.5 hours, I just plugged the Fritzbox back into the 300HS and...

Everything worked!!!

Download is up to 23mb/s and upload is up to 3.6mb/s (according to www.speedtest.net)

In the FritzBox setup, I deselected “support for T-Home IPTV”. This appears to be critical and it would not work until I reselected it again.

So far, so good.

speed.io is my favourite speedmeter ...

Oh and all for...

Ihre Auswahl Monatlich Einmalig

Ihr Paket

Call & Surf Comfort VDSL Universal 48,95 € 0,00 €
Option VDSL 25 0,00 0,00
20 Euro Gutschrift für Ihre Online-Bestellung: 20,00 € Gutschrift

So no rip-off "Entertain Paket" to worry about anymore.

I'd be curious to see how consistent those speeds are with big downloads for example. The Fritzbox really isn't built to route data faster than 20Mb/s and would probably be useless with a VDSL-50 connection. This is why AVM are taking so long to come up with a VDSL-capable box (now due later in the year) - they are having to re-design the system, both hard- and software from scratch.

Following the earlier hiccup Telekom is once again officially offering unbundled VDSL services in their Call&Comfort VDSL packages which include flatrate landline telephony in Germany, flatrate internet and 25Mbit DSL from €44.95/month (50MBit costs €5 more) Optionally €3.94 more for flatrate calls to Europe, USA and Australia. No more need to have the expensive Entertain/TV package.

1&1 are also the first Telekom competitor to offer similar packages (around €5/month less) based on VDSL technology (which they actually sublet from Deutsche Telekom)

I've just received a letter from DT informing me that Sky has abruptly cancelled their contract with them. Therefore, they will no longer be offering any Sky channels. Is Sky trying to piss people off and lose customers on purpose?
So DT have revamped and I'm trying to figure out if I should go for their new deal or not. To make up for the movie channel loss, they are offering 150 movies per month through Videoload for €15/mo. Perhaps someone can help me out there: can you watch movies in OV through Videoload? Has someone actually done this?
Thanks.

This is part of an ongoing spat between Sky and Telekom. Telekom use to subcontract to Sky to produce Bundesliga football programming for the IPTV platform. Earlier this year they moved this production to a another company, Constantin Medien losing Sky revenue of around €25million/year and essentially making Telekom a competitor to them for football services. They aggravated the decision with anti-Sky advertising, since withdrawn. As a result Sky cancelled their agreement with Telekom to retransmit Sky channels over their internet service. Earlier this month Telekom announced a range of agreements with other providers to replace the premium services previously taken from Sky, going it alone and head-to-head in the premium TV market with Sky. As Telekom extend their broadband IPTV services and Premiere/Sky satellite based services have never been a popular choice in Germany, Telekom feel they have a viable and easier alternative.

[quote name='YorkshireLad6' date='10.Sep.2009, 5:32pm' timestamp='1252596773' post='1762968']
Following the earlier hiccup Telekom is once again officially offering unbundled VDSL services in their Call&Comfort VDSL packages which include flatrate landline telephony in Germany, flatrate internet and 25Mbit DSL from €44.95/month (50MBit costs €5 more) Optionally €3.94 more for flatrate calls to Europe, USA and Australia. No more need to have the expensive Entertain/TV package.

That might be true but they can't deliver. We've been waiting since early September. Router has arrived but no technician, phone calls are dealt with by call centres who give different information each day, letters go unanswered. We are, however, being billed for services that have not been installed....and Telekom service cars scoot up and down our street two or three times a week but cannot drop in to set us up since no one told them to! Logistics????