DSL now less than €4 per month

Tele2 announced a €3.95/month DSL tarif for city dwellers today, the first below the €4 barrier. €7.95 outside of town. Speeds up to 6Mbit, but like most other cheapies as they enjoy DSL reseller status you are forced to move your DSL connection to them - same prices as Telekom. One possible advantage (as far as I can see, reading the small print) they have a one-year minimum contract, but thereafter you can cancel with 2 calender months notice. Most others renew for a another 12 month minimum after the end of the year...

YL6

How do they make any money?

Thats not our problem...

I know it is our problem until they all go belly up. How do Germany's prices now compare to the rest of the world (apart from the fact that some US cities are soon to offer here hi speed access)?

I dont know!

If it goes belly up, then its a way out of the contract.

Nothing to worry about really.

The bulk of their money is made by DSL-reselling. They buy DSL connections from Telekom at knock-down prices and sell them to the customer at a decent mark-up. A 6Mbit line costs the consumer €24.99/month, they are buying this service from Telekom for around €15...

The real problem in a cuit-throat market such as this is likely to be customer service. If your line goes down, it may take time to fix, as you call the provider, the provider calls Telekom, and naturally as they are more remote from the customer Telekom move even slower than usual...

YL6

Or they cut you off if you download to much.. But being a flat rate "download as much as you want service", how can they leagly put a cap on your download volume, and not even tell you what that limit is...

True enough, thus 1&1 expensive DSL help line.

Ever decreasing prices. Tiscali are now offering flatrate for €3.90 a month in and around Munich. Sign up before 06.12.05 and get 3 months for free. Of all the cheapies, Tiscali have always been my favoured provider. Currently they are the cheapest.

YL6

So, being a non internet all-knowing type, am I correct in my understanding that "flat rate" is a set price for as much downloading (never of movies, TV shows or applications mind you...I'm a good lad) as I want??

Well to be fair, they do ask you (and offer a 100 euro bonus), and you have to agree before they cut you off. Presumably if you dont agree they would still be bound by the contract.

Of course 1&1 being so friggen useless, they have still to cut me off and give me my 100 euros despite me telling them its ok.

As soon as its done I will give tiscali a look.

Yes thats what it means.

@KZA
Thats what you would think.. But try downloading 150GB a month for 2-3 months and see how fast your provider gives you the axe... 1und1 are famous for doing this...

Oh, so they've changed then? I had a Tiscali connection, and my connection speed was cut to less than a 56k modem would give me. They continually span us bullshit about server upgrades for 2 weeks before admitting that they had indeed cut the bandwidth becuse I was using alot. Asked me to sign something (which I would have done) but that was after they had cut the bandwidth. Jokers.

Ahh shit so Tiscali do it too then? Oh well, back to T-Online, cept I will have to settle for 3Mbps since they are more expensive.

I'v never had a word of complaint from T-online about my usage in the few years that I've used them.

If this was Tiscali, I'd be interested to see more information (maybe by PM?). I have close contact to a many of these providers and am aware of many of the tricks they pull (and can confirm the 1und1 stance), but I am not aware of Tiscali using this ruse. In fact, on the contrary, they have denied (to me, at a high level) any activities to restrict excessive use. They do have a B2B service which is better, and more efficient, and only recently did they start a 6Mbit B2C service, and they do often have backbone problems which can restrict their service, but to actively throttle back a connection on a per user basis is unknown to me. I'd be happy if you can prove me otherwise...

YL6

Yeah my only beef with t-online is that they are more expensive, well last time I looked anyway, but things change pretty quickly.

It was a while ago, so I doubt I'd still have any paperwork from them. At any rate, I would have no "incriminating" evidence as such - everything was said over the phone only. I think it was 2003 or so.
I certainly ain't telling porkies though. The bandwidth was massively cut, yarns were spun about that old reliable IT bulshit chestnut "server upgrades", and it was in general, a right old palava.

T-Online are also noticably quicker to German hosted IP-addresses, and measurably slower to international (especially US) locations, because of their backbone structure and routing priorities..

A little off topic but what if you, the subscriber, goes bankrupt but you have this one-year contract to adhere to. Wouldn't it be to the advantage of the provider if subscriber claims financial difficulty, unable to afford an expensive line, and wishing to terminate a one-year contract (and go to a cheaper provider. HEHE!). I can understand why companies want to do a one-year contract but surely there's a way to get out of a contract if you're unhappy with it (could be that you found it's the most expensive one, you found another cheaper provider, poor service etc.) In fact, I hv problems with T-online, contacted them, no response, got all the way up to the manager, he called, then no response so I really want to terminate the DSL line now!

Tell'em your moving out of Germany in the next xxx weeks do to your job also being moved, and you won't be returning... They may require
a copy of your Abmeldung, let me know your details and I can hook you up with a great looking fake that you can send to them.. Prob. solved..

And then they call you 3 months later (they have your number in anycase) and ask for Mr Faabulous. You just shopped yourself. Of course you can change your number too, and maybe your address, but is it really worth it?
There's nothing stopping you having two providers on the same line until you can correctly terminate your contract with the one you want rid of... You could even rent the one you don't like to someone else at a knock-down price to recover some of the costs...

If you have ISDN you can change your # fairly easily seeing as they give you 3 MSN's and up to 10 for free.. Im sure you can have both providers at the same time, but whats the point, if you still have to pay for one you don't use.. (Money wasted)... And lets not forget, that if you do rent out the bad provider to somebody, then YOU are still responsible should that person start dowloading kiddie porn or spreading spam/viruses as your name is still tied to the "Rented" account..

As for the address part.. Well just don't reply to anything they send...

Good stuff guys!! But my DSL & telephone line are from Deutsche Telekom. If I say I'm leaving, I've to cut the telephone line too. Thinking out loud, I could take another tel line provider. Actually, DT tel line is not cheap neither. It's getting very complicated. SIGH! What other reasons can be accepted to get out of the one year contract?? (Actually, I offered T-online that I downgrade to a student package i.e. they will still have me one customer rather than losing me if I file for bankruptcy. OK. A bit absurb but if someone is short of money, this can happen, no? Or I could actually stop paying the bill. I was told that services will be stopped AFTER bill is not paid for 6 months. By then, I might really be out of the country. What can they do? Trace me down for 100 Euro?)

If "under €4/month" for flatrate internet provision doesn't float your boat, how about "free"? GMX now offers free flatrate access up to 6Mbit access in many city areas (Outside of city areas the cost is €6.99/month). All you pay is the monthly line cost (€24.99 for 6MBit) as before. Signup/connection costs are free for the 6Mbit service, or €29.95 one-time for the slower services. Minimum contract is 2 years. Anyone signing up should be careful - the service includes "free" Norton Internet Security Online for the first 6 months, thereafter it costs €4.99/month. This service can be cancelled during the first 6 months so the follow-on charges do not apply...

1&1 and GMX are the same gig = United Internet. So 1&1 will follow suit?

1&1 follows a completely different business model, so unlikely...

Right time to get the net hooked back up. I dont need the fastest i.e. 6 Gbps as I use it mostly for p2p and cant maximise my download with a limited upload anyway. Something around the 3Gbps.

Is Tiscali still the recommended choice? (I signed the 100 euro termination contract with 1&1 last year so I am not allowed back on any of those affiliated providers, so I guess that just leaves Tiscali and Telekom anyway right? Hmm I dont think I ever got my 100 euros from 1&1..)

There's no such thing as 3Mbit anymore - only 1, 2 or 6Mbit, although if you have line restrictions (distance from exchange, local capacity) it might be you only get 3Mbit or less even if you apply for 6Mbit. Tiscali seems consistently good, but sits at the top of the price range. If you are in the city and commit to a 2-year contract, then Freenet offers flatrate for free for 12 months, thereafter €4.90/month and throw in a free Fritzbox 7050 modem/modem/wireless unit...

Now it seems free not just for you big city folk???

Still with minimum 2 year contract, but a good deal nonetheless. Free hardware too. Offer currently runs until end of June only (but anyone who signs up before then get's the free rate for the length of the contract...)

YL6