Incoming calls on prepaid mobile phone cards

Hi, I just got a prepaid sim card from vodafone. I just want to ask whether all incoming calls (local and long distance) and SMS are free, and they only charge for outgoing calls/sms? Thanks!

Yes. So long as you are in Germany when you receive the calls.

Incomming calls = Free
Outgoing calls vary between .19 and .49 per minute (Depending on Provider/Tariff/Time of Day)
Inbound SMS = Free
Outbound SMS = .19-.29 (Depending on Provider/Tariff)

19_29 cts...??? WTF.

Should have gone to spec savers!

Does one get charged for incoming calls on a pre-paid mobile/cell/handy in Canada?

yes

Thats what ya get when you go with a prepaid card..
Go look at all the prepaid tariffs from prepaid cards/providers not just the supercheap 3rd party, almost no-name providers..

DK...

My point was that it is cheaper elsewhere...

Regardles of PAYG or contract or Prepaid service..

You posted wrong info!

It's not wrong, when thats the prices I'm paying for my prepaid card...

The part you failed to quote is: (Depending on Provider/Tariff/Time of Day)

It is misleading though. It reads that calls will cost between .19 and .49 depending on the provider and other conditions.

What, and you have never read the contract details for phones now adays.. not exactly easy peasy..
Per minute rates can be based on time such as 0900-1800 = .39 per minute while 1800-0900 can be .29.
Prices also can vary depending if your calling a landline, another handy in your network or a handy in another network.

Bottom line, check carefully the contract,tariff and conditions of any provider before you sign-up

On another note, my family in Canada had tried calling me on my prepaid mobile, but cannot get through. Any idea why?

we had this issue with family in the US. they only had mobile phones and could not reach us on our mobiles. turns out their plan wasn't set up to make international calls.

But I'm pretty sure they had used a landline to call ...

ah, okay.

Assuming you are not roaming with your phone (i.e. you are in your home country) and it is actually switched on and available to receive calls, then this is NOT a problem of YOUR phone or service, but a restriction at their end - either prohibiting international calls, calls to international mobiles or simply not formulating the dialled number properly (they should be dialling 011 49 1xx xxx xxxxx, so if your German mobile number is 0151 1234 5678 then they dial 0114915112345678)

oh wait! they don`t have to dial the 0 before the 151 (according to ur number)?? maybe that´s why!!! then why is the zero there in the first place?? german EVERYTHING is confusing

The 0 is in there because that is how INSIDE Germany the phone numbers work... the 0 indicates that you are dialing an area code (or network code in the case of a cellphone). In calls from outside Germany the 0 is always omitted.

I had that set-up there, too in order to monitor the int'l calls and not get hit over the head when the bill came. Just get yourself calling cards (or better their pins over the internet) and you can call internationally from the US. I paid my regular minutes and about $10 for 3 hours, but I had to run around and find that bargain first...

thanks for the info! learning something new everyday...

I used OneSuite when I lived in the States. You pay $.03 a minute to call German landlines and $.23 a minute to German cellphones (I never called anyone on their cellphone though while I lived there). I had free long-distance on my plan so I called using a local access # (there wasn't one for my city, so I just used a random one as it didn't matter anyway). They also have a tollfree access number but I think the price per minute is a little higher ($.04 or something).
By minute OneSuite is not the cheapest offer, but they do not charge any other fees, no connection or maintenance fee, like many others do (so half of your calling card goes down the drain), so in the end it is the best deal I could find. I actually got $10 worth of minutes from a $10 calling card.

Here is a Wikipedia article on the "Verkehrsausscheidungsziffer" which apparently is what the first digit of an area/network code is called.

After you dialed the 0, the call is not directed by the local switch center but by the long distance switch center.
For int'l calls you dial 00, then the call is directed by the international switch center.

So that is the only use of the 0 at the beginning of a phone number, and when someone calls from outside Germany, it is not needed. By the way, you can also save phone numbers inside Germany in the +491521234567 format into your cellphone, it's what I do so when I go abroad all the numbers in the phone book still work.

Conversely, everyone in North America is dumb.

Nah, not dumb. Just used to things being logical and efficient.

I don't call being charged for incoming calls logical or efficient, how can you control your phone bill if you are not the one making the calls. Anybody can call you and it costs you money! Thats just stupid.

Is this not the same the world over?? Everywhere I've been if the area code has a zero at the start of it, it gets dropped when calling internationally

There is always the option of not answering. Further, local calls to and from landlines are free. Charging for local landline calls is just stupid especially when calling another continent is cheaper than calling within your own city!

Whats the point of having a phone that you can't answer? I'm sorry but I find it incredible that a place that is usually consumer orientated has gone for a system that is so open to abuse.

Cell phone use is still a lot cheaper over there than here. Most plans have a free evening and weekend clause which is virtually unheard of here and the minute rates are much cheaper!

Here I use my phone (landline and cell phone) for emergency use only. I'll bet the longest local phone conversation I've had in my entire time in Germany didn't exceed 5 minutes. It's too expensive and you always get the feeling of being rushed off the phone or feeling guilty because you've asked someone to call you. I have an old lady friend who asks me to call and let the phone ring 3 times and then hang up to let her know I'm on my way because she doesn't want to burden me with the excess charges of her answering the phone (it's not really a big deal to me but it makes her feel better). So tell me, who can't answer her phone?

we used to have free evenings and weekends, when mobiles first started...most networks soon stopped that and the contracts became worth a fair amount of money.

A lot of networks here (in the UK) or in Germany too now to magic number type stuff and have reduced rates at certain times of the day and a number of free minutes etc. not as good as what it used to be though! I guess they have to make their cash...

ER - but you can use 'Vorwahlen' ...you can check online which is the cheapest, if you dial that number before the number you want to call it costs almost nothing!! I used to call home (UK) from Germany all the time as well as my family in North Germany for about 0,1 cent a minute.

Just googled and found this http://www.billigvorwahlen.de/pages/anbieter.php (I used to use 01051, but there are more and they all offer different tariffs). You just use it and it comes off your phone bill like it normally would...pretty much everyone uses these.

I already made that point that it's cheaper for me to call home (Canada) from here than it is to call within Munich. Which is counterintuitive and illogical.

but you can use them too for 'in your own city' calls...

I'm pretty sure local calles with vorwahl are not cheaper than international calls with vorwahl.

I know that calls to Kempten (Germany) are at least 1 cent/minute more expensive than to Calgary.

Anyway my original point is things in general do not appear to be set up as logically as they are in North America. There are reasons for this, none of which I think have anything to do with people being dumber. For example, the city I grew up in isn't that old and was planned with the knowledge that it would keep growing. The city is split into 4 quarters (SW SE NW NE) and every addresd is either on a street (that runs north to south) or an avenue (that runs east to west). The street and avenue numbers start at the city centre and move outward, as the city expands, the numbers increase. What it means is that you always know exactly where something is even if you've never been to the city and don't have a map. It is just set up in a logical manner as are most things.

I think I used to pay 0,1 cent...but it varies. But still...1 cent a minute is hardly breaking the bank...

Neither is 5 cents or 20 cents or 50 cents but it's still entirely beside the point.

It's pretty illogical that you should have to memorise a number that keeps changing to get a discount on your phone bill.

Not Italy. If calling Italy from out of country you keep the leading "0".
Different countries developed different systems, many of which were not easily changed to adapt to direct dial access inter-country as the systems cross integrated. For this reason the ITU-T developed standard E.123, or the notation for national and international telephone numbers.

You can use VoIP to call for free anywhere in the developed world anyway, so this discussion is unnecessary. This is from your phone to another phone too.. I think too many times when people mention VoIP people think of someone sitting at their computer with headphones and calling someone else with headphones.. something like voipcheap.com is phone to phone for free..