Using a T-DSL connection but without T-Online

Hi,

I am a new user here and I am renting a new apartment in Berlin as of April 15. I want to set up new Internet service and from what I read here, the general conclusion is that T/Com is ok but T/Online is not. So, I am interested in perhaps setting up a T/Com 16,000 line and then going with a separate ISP for a flat rate. I am a bit confused on how to do this and on which companies let you do this without taking over the line from T/Com. So, my questions:

1) Where would I go or who do I talk to to just set up the T/COM DSL line and how much does it cost? Can I just go to my local T-Punkt? As far as I can see, there is a 29.99/month offer for a 16,000 DSL anschluss. Is this what I want?

2) What companies would allow me to quickly set up a flat rate data account? HOw long does it take to get just an ISP account set up? I assume once I get the account, all I need is a user id/password to get going.

3) Who provides the modem? I assume it would be T/Com.

4) Most importantly, am I going to be sorry that I am adding more complexity to this system? In other words, if something does go wrong, I will have to deal with two different companies who could potentially blame each other.

Thanks in advance for any help

Hey,

banause's husband here.

I'll try to answer your questions, but let me first try to explain the options you have:

a) have the phone and DSL line with T-Com and get the DSL service (flat or otherwise) from someone else.
b) have the phone line with T-Com but the DSL Line with a reseller who also provides the DSL service.
c) have everything with some other company like NetCologne, Alice, etc.

for a) This is probably the most flexible way if you don't know whether you want to stay with DSL forever since the T-com part of the service can be terminated within a week about. There are hardly any providers left for this service though as they can make more money out of the resale business. Congster.de, Strato.de and Kamp.net have offers, I think. I'm using Congster localFlat at 5EUR/month with a 1 year contract.

for b) A lot of providers for this one. They'll usually give you a modem or router with the contract, but they can only offer that with a long term contract (usually 2 years).

for c) The providers available to you might depend on where you live. You won't be able to use "call-by-call" numbers for long distance or international calls. They usually also have long term contracts (typically with hardware).

So:


Yes, that's the line you want if you want to go the a) route. The price is 30,77 EUR due to the increase in the MwSt. and it requires you to already have an analog or ISDN phone line with T-com. I'd not go to the T-Punkt since they will try to sign up for all their other services inlcuding T-Online. Just order it online: http://www.t-com.de/Katalog_PK -> Surfen -> DSL-Angebot -> für Neueinsteiger -> (either T-DSL Anschluss or T-DSL Hardwarepakete).


Like I said, we're using Congster.de at 5EUR/month (localFlat), which actually is a no-frills subsidiary of T-Online. There aren't that many alternatives if you want to have your line with T-com directly (rather than with your ISP as a reseller).


There are some offers in the online store of T-com (T-DSL Hardwarepakete) which will get you a modem or router if you sign up for "Rechnung Online". In that case you will get your monthly phone line bill via email only. If you don't like that: No one provides a modem if you want to have your line with T-Com since the contract times are too short.


Yes. If it's a line problem (no sync, drop outs) call T-com, if it's an account problem (username/password doesn't work, line is slow) call your ISP. With the resale option (b), you would only have one company to talk to, but since they only purchase the service from T-com, they usually can't help you with line problems anyway (and their hotline might be expensive. Check that if you depend on hotlines a lot).

Hey, thanks for the detailed and truly helpful reply.

All things considered, I think I am going to go the easy route and just have the whole deal done with TCom/TOnline, at least for the first year. I just don't have the energy to try and deal with multiple companies and figure out how the whole thing is going to work. Also, if things go right (and I realize that is a key statement), they should be able to hook me up relatively quickly. I guess I am just kind of freaked out by what I have heard about TOnline especially, but of course, one doesn't hear about the people without problems. Maybe I am just trying to reassure myself!

Anyway, I really appreciate the time you took to answer and I will just keep my fingers crossed.

I know you didnt wanna hear this the first time around, but still alice is cheaper, you get the complete service incl. phone from one company, and , unliky any other provider, you can cancel the whole contract with a months notice. Yes, you also get the modem from them.

Actually, T-Com now has some nifty solutions/packages (finally). I recently switched to the "Call & Surf Comfort" package, gives you DSL 6000 as well as unlimited phone calls within Germany to landlines, all for EUR 49.95.

My "problem" is that I realy don't have much use for the telephone part because I mostly use Vonage since my telcom is mostly to and from the U.S and I use my mobile for local stuff. So, I actually end up wasting what I estimate to be about 10 Euros/month for telephone service I won't use. I could go with O2, for example, who lets you assemble a more customized package without the telephone part, but then I am back to the whole question of reseller versus T everything. Lets not go there again!

I will post something about there experience with T/Com, good or bad when the whole thing is over. Thanks again.

Alice has this same package, for the same price, but you get 16,000kbit/s internet and most importantly you don't have a contract. You can cancel with 4 weeks notice. I notice that T-Com have this package too, it costs 59 euros a month and there is a contract involved.

Conclusion: T-Com sucks, pick a cheaper and better provider.

I can't think why I would want DSL 16000. I rarely download files that large enough to even justify having DSL 6000. When I measure my line speed here, I always get above 5500, not sure how Alice performs.

Also, T-Com lets you use call-by-call pre-dial companies, afaik other providers such as Alice typically do not. Important if you use your phone other than to German landlines a lot , e.g. make calls to the US.

I've had my hassles with T-Com in the past, but currently I'm rather happy with them.

Well, everybody is different and I download ALOT of large media files so I could never imagine having a fast enough connection. Currently I am running at 2mb so, if I get anywhere near the full speed, my download time will go down by a factor of 3 meaning that an hour download becomes about 7 minutes. Thats a huge difference of course and for only about 10 euros a month more. Where I do not see it cost effective is going to VDSL because the difference between 16mb and 25 or even 50 is not nearly as great a jump, only a factor of 1.5 at 50mb for about 100 Euros/month and the only way to get that currently is to buy the whole T Home package (which I might consider doing if they had BBC World instead of just CNN.) Thats alot of money to reduce a 7 minute download to 2 minutes or so!

That leads me to another question. I see that T Home has National Geographic, Sci Fi, and The History Channel. Does anybody know if all these are the English version? I thought maybe there are German packages of those channels but I have no idea.

If you don't want 16mbps, you can get 4000kbps with Alice for 39,90 euros a month, again no contract and no setup fee's either, so its 10 euros a month cheaper again than T-Com.

You're right about the prefixed numbers though - you can't access 01066 for example, however I got around this by using www.voipcheap.com which lets me call most places virtually for free.

Or the new Voipbuster Pro which charges 3.9 cents per call to almost 50 different countries for €5 per year

for the first 300 minutes of calls to the free destinations per week, after which the normal rates apply...
usual betamax t&c in other words.

My German is not very good, but I called to set up Alice service in Amberg and I think she said that it wasn't available. Could someone verify this?? The address is lange gasse 20, amberg 92224. I will buy the first responder a beer or 3 the next time I am down in Munich.

It says its 10 euros a year on the homepage (5 euros + 5 euros credit)... I don't know if this beats voipcheap.com, I guess it depends on what you use it for.

No offense guys, but can we take the discussion on VOIP to a new thread. I am email subscribed to this topic and it is drifiting away from my original topic. Please don't take offense.

But it might be relevant. If you move to a Telekom alternative you might pay LOTS more for phone calls.

Not always, the initial connection time at least is quick for T-Com. Any other can take from two weeks to three months (from my friends' exp)

So, basically, the only plus about T-com is that it's quicker to set up, because they really do have a monopoly.(they have to release the lines to the other company, and WILL take their time...)

yes. plus the call by call for ppl calling abroad. I don't know, whether it works with other connections.

Unless you use VoIP ... but I digress...

Hello

One question : since I need dsl for just 6 months( going back home after that time ), I am searching for solutions. To make a long story short : I have a t-com landline. If i get their t-dsl 2000 anschluss, is it possible to cancel it after 6 months? I was trying to find a Mindenstensvertragslaufzeit, but failed. I'd go with congster for data traffic, but need to be sure I can cancel t-com's anschluss after 6 months' use. Anybody?

Cheers

Jane

Anyone tried www.tele2.de use them myself and find them cheap.4 months and only paid €21 including calls to Blighty

All Telekom raw DSL connections are minimum 1 month, thereafter cancellation within 6 working days. Note, however, that the phone line that this is connected on may be different. ONLY T-Net (or T-ISDN) Call-Plus connections have similar minimum contract and cancellation - others (such as Call-Time, XXL, etc) are minimum 12 months. Congster have minimum 3 month contracts, with automatic 3 month renewals, so you need to be careful to cancel with Congster in a timely manner.