Pre-paid cell phones / German mobile telephones

My handy contract is about to end, so I'll have to buy something new. I figured that I don't need a new contract, instead I'll go for prepaid.

I've seen that you can buy a prepaid card without a phone for 40 euro's, but I'd like to have a new phone with it, so my question is if anyone has seen any good deals on prepaid phones.

Second thing, is it possible to move over the number from my old contract to a prepaid sim without too much hassle and too much costs...?

question 1) you can get a Nokia 3510i (color screen) for about €67 in media markt AFAIK. The nokia 3310 is about €40.

O2 rules on taking your number with you.
Which network are you with now Sparty?
Katrina

I am on O2 at the moment, so I can't take the number with me if I stay with O2...

pablo, is that 40€ for sim card and ahandy?

Ok, forget about the number portability...I just found out that my contract ends in 10 days, so I am too late for that.

67 euro's for a 3510i looks like a good deal!

I'm looking for a cheap handy and SIM card (for visitors)... anyone got one for sale?

I'm in the same boat as Shaggy above. Anybody know if you can use a T-Mobile SIM card with an American T-Mobile phone? I'd imagine the SIM-locks are the same but I'm unsure.

@DW - No you can't.. You'd have to get it unlocked (that is presuming its actually locked)... would have to be a tri-band phone too..

@ tench, it is Tri-Band. Do they really have diff locks based on country of sale?

Yes. SIM-locks are often based on the country code and network code (MCC and MNC).

Aye, Mr Spudbury is correct...

Each network in each country has a unique code identifier.. If the phone is locked then only SIMs programmed for a single network will be accepted, regardless of the network brand.. Its one or nothing...

There are a few websites though where you can get the unlocking code for your handset for about $5 if you supply them with the IMEI code... If it's an expensive one I'd probably do this rather than taking it to some dodgy shop near HBF and getting it zapped...

But it must be added, not all phones are locked. I've done this a few times, swapping SIM cards between phones bought in different countries, and sometimes it works, others not !

I can unlock Nokia phones, leemme know if I can be of service. (and it's not the unlock button and then * )

Dar... I've got a Sony Ericsson T610 that needs unlocking. A search yields that they aren't easy to do.

I can't find pablo's deals on the Mediamarkt website. Mediamarkt's cheapest seems to be 69E for a Siemens A55. Vodafone looks to be a better deal at 59E for a Nokia 3410.

I saw the deal at the mediamarkt near Leuchtenbergring last weekend. Not sure what network. I think it was the 3410 that was reduced to €40 (that's the horrible blue/green one right ?).

Sparty, if you dont mind using a second hand one how about ebay?

Thanks for the tip, but the prices of second hand mobiles is not far off from new ones. Maybe there's a simlock on the prepaid ones, but for an extra 10 euro's you can get a data cable to get the simlock off.

Somebody was asking about this a few weeks ago.

Seems the cheapest deal out there is a Nokia 3410 with the Vodafone Call-Ya pre-paid setup for 39,95 E's from Conrad. I'll be picking up one today.

Question though: how far will 15 Euro Startguthaben get you?

I want one, wheres/what conrads?

Conrad

There's a Conrad across from the Olympia Einkauf Zentrum. It's like Radio Shack only bigger. But I guess that's no help for you unless you're from North America.

Conrad im Tal is city center (sandwiched b/t SF coffee company, mueller, fielman, and coffee fellows). spent a lot of time there these last week!

Also available via eBAY from several suppliers for €37.95 (shipping included)

Thanks elfenstar,
its on my way home so i can pop in.

i tried looking at the site, but there was a problem with the cookies. Ta guys

When i tried to get a sim card in T_Mobile place in nurperlach sud they wanted my passport. do u need id to buy a mobile over here? or is it just for their records?

Chewy - you'll probably need your passport. Even buying a pre-paid card phone I needed to produce ID.

Conrad

sorry. try this link. should work. If you look under "Mobilfunk" you will find the offer that they have talking about. Also in red at the top you can search for a branch under "Filiale"

Yep, you need ID even for a pre-paid phone I'm afraid - probably proof of address too.

I will be moving to Munich later this week from Prague. One of the first things I need to do is buy a sim card for Germany so that I can use my mobile.

In Czech Reb. I just buy pre-paid credit thru one of the local companies. There is no contract or limits - you simply pay for the time you use. I know this exist in Germany, but in most of the post I have looked thru here on Toytown, everyone seems to talk only about contacts. I know that in the long term, this is probably better.

What I am looking for is advice on which compnay to go with for now. T=mobile, Vodafone and O2 are the only ones I am familiar with. I will not really use the phone much for out going calls, mostly only for sms's and the occasional incoming calls. (not sure if outgoing, incoming is diff in Germany, here you only pay for outgoing, not incoming - is this the same???)

What can you recommend for short term pre-paid plans and do they work the same there as they do in Czech Rep (keeping in mind that in a few months, if I find a job, I will end up signing up for a contract) ?

Thanks so much,
Babs

Thread merged by admin.

A mate just pointed out the new Tchibo Mobile offers. Don't know specifics or if they just sell just the cards but it looks cheap enough to check out.

welcome and good luck

Thanks, will check that out. Also, I realized while trying to find info on T-mobile, Vodafone, O2 that they have no info on their sites in English. I find this odd, as in Czech, all the major international companies have sites in Engish. This is saying a lot as they tend to be VERY far behind the times in everything, especially opening up to Western media. I would have thought that Germany, being West, not East Europe, would have this in English. Am I just not looking in the right places or do they only have German websites for the phone companies?

The market for English language consumers is small compared to the effort to translate websites, especially those which change regularly. You might find some information hidden away, otherwise call a helpline or visit a shop - most salesmen speak English (despite what they may claim!).

Most Handy contracts run for 12, or (more often) 24 months. If you can't commit to this then pre-paid is the only way to go, unless you take over someone elses contract who may be leaving or wants to cancel (you somteimes find these offered on EBay). You pay a small fee for the card (with Tchibo €20) then load the card with credit which is consumed by calls. Unfortunately, while it's easy to cost-control, this is the most expensive way to use a mobile around here. Note you also need to register the card/phone number before you can use it, unlike many countries where you pick up a card and can phone from the outset.

YL6

I need a handy... and often the prepaid packages offer the cheapest handys. I have searched and haven't found any of those old 40€ offers. Are those days over. Help!

PS. It is for an new Aldi's card.

You didn't look far - 3 posts above yours is this Tchibo link - €39.95

That is two years ago... I will take a look though.. TCM handys???

I bought a couple last year (nokias) with 20€ Startguthaben for around 45€???

This looks good? Any comments?

if you already have the card, try going to the Second Handy place by the Hauptbahnhof.

Did that once and the battery lasted a month (and I lost the quittung)...my fault...

This is what is am looking for...

EDIt: sold out-

i have a vodafone prepaid sim card
i plan in the next few weeks to buy a contract phone
any ideas or suggestions as to who i should go with?
vodafone? eplus?etc

A perfectly ok re-branded Motorola C651 phone which normally retails at around €175, therefore with €100 saving and €10 phone credit a fair deal...
YL6

Why?

because people are telling me its much cheaper
i get 15euro of phone credit and it allows me to send like 40 text messages and the credit is gone
its just a joke
in ireland texts areonly 5cent or from the same network to the same are free
i though in germany they would have even more competitive offers but doesnt seem so

It depends on your usage profile. SMSs cost the same price in both prepaid and postpaid contracts - typically 15-19cents per message. Some contracts might offer a fixed number of SMSs included, but remember you are paying a monthly fixed rate for this beforehand. With prepaid calls costing from 15cents/minute, unless you make a lot of calls, postpaid contracts don't necessarilly work out cheaper, and usually have a 24 month minimum term. With costs currently dropping, the last thing you want is to be locked in for two years... As a communications medium SMS only benefits the providers, imagine how much you can say in a minute of a duplex call compared to a single simplex SMS message.

YL6

YL6'S point makes sense for my situation...

That's why the new Aldi's card is a fair deal. What I don't understand is why the Aldi's card in Austira cost only 9 cents a minute (and here 15)??

Aldi simply re-sell the services of another provider, having done some commision deal with them. In Germany they are in bed with E-Plus, in Austria with a new "upstart" discount provider called "Yesss". With 6 mobile providers already in such a small country the prices there are more agressive - read "lower". There are however competing advantages with the German Aldi offer - such as 5cents/minute to other Aldi users and 60/1 charging (Yesss is 60/30).

YL6