Congstar - discount mobile phone and DSL service - Germany

Congstar Website

Great.. Even worse service and support from Telekom, and you though they were bad before with normal full price service...

Service aside, the pricing is competitive.

Well doesnt seem cheaper than Alice. You still need a Deutsche Telekom analog or ISDN line to use Congstar. Making the overall montly cost not THAT competitive. Add in the fact that you only get a DSL 2000 for the cheapest setup (half of what you get with Alice) and the 50 yoyos startup fee and as far as I can see no free DSL modem and the thing doesnt look too attractive anymore. Plus side is that you can cancel the contract within 2 weeks and you can use call-by-call. The latter is not really anything exclusive as you are always using a T-Com landline which as all know by law HAS to allow call-by-call numbers. Seems more like just a repackaged Telekom than a discount Telekom offer.

Well,
I am kind of interested in going for their package. =).

From my understanding, they will only require you to have a normal telephone line (there is no need to have DSL and such?)

I am aware that Congstar (www.congstar.de) is actually pretty new in the industry, but I couldn't really find any reviews about them.
If I am not wrong, it is under the umbrella brand of Telekom Net, so it should be not bad, I guess?
But still, it is the best to hear the reviews from the pal here.

Any comments on the internet connection provided by company (such as, activation time, up-time, customer service, and connection speed, and etc)?

Thanks!

Topics merged by admin

Not all that new actually ... being a "discount-daughter" of Deutsche Telekom ...

Ohne Mindestlaufzeit
Der größte Vorteil von Congstar: Die Tarife haben keine Mindestlaufzeit und sind zwei Wochen zum Monatsende kündbar. Das ist kundenfreundlich, weil gerade die DSL-Preise stark in Bewegung sind und die Anbieter die günstigsten Raten meistens oft an die längste Laufzeit, nämlich 24 Monate, koppeln. Auch die Mobilfunktarife sind noch in Bewegung, obwohl der Preiskampf sich hier etwas abgekühlt hat.

In short: there is no minimum 24-month contract period and you can cancel the contract 2 weeks prior to the end of the month. Cool, eh?
PS I don't work for Congstar.

Yea, it is kind of cool, and that is exactly the reason - no min contract and fussy here&there.
But, isn't there any catch?
Hehehe...

Well, seems like too wonderful to have all good things under a package eh.

Congstar has been around for a number of years, but not in this form. It used to be called "Congster" until it was relaunched in July this year. It's simply T-Online under another name with a much simpler, cut-back offering. The backbone is the same as T-Online, therefore excellent for surfing in Germany, pretty good into Europe, but nothing special outside the continent.

And I just found out from their website that they can get the connection up pretty quickly too.
Not 100% guaranteed, but they stated 8-12 days for activation.

So long? Despicable...

I'm considering switching to Congstar for my mobile phone service. I currently pay about 25 euros a month through talkline...but that's mainly that I currently pay 36+ cents a min for calls and 19 cents for an SMS. I'm looking at Congstar's 9 cents a min plan (to any network). The reason I prefer it to fonic or simyo is that congstar offer phones at much better prices.

So far on this thread there have been no actual complaints nor praises for their service. Does anyone here use them?

(Right now I'm looking at the Nokia 5800)

Any opinions of Congstar now that it's been a couple years? Any opinions on the Nokia 5800?

I use it. Nothing to complain about at all. Network coverage is T-mobile, so very good. Roaming works no problems. Paying via your bank account needs to be set up using a one-time Überweisung so they can see your account details work, thereafter you can get credit by phoning the service number or going online and the amount is deducted from your bank account.

My other half has it as well but never managed to successfully complete the steps to be able to load credit directly from her bank account but that's just because she's too lazy and expects other people to do everything for her.

The only down side I see with Congstar is that it takes some time until you actually get the mobile phone, since they have this strange 2-step algorithm after you order the mobile phone with the pre-paid (= PAYG, pay-as-you-go) SIM card:
1) they send you the SIM card, which you have to activate online by creating a user account at: http://www.congstar.de/freischalten . There you have to give in the phone number and the PUK = Personal Unblocking Key, which is a 8-digit number. Your PUK is hidden under a scratch-off field on a piece of paper included with the SIM card. You will also have to give in your name, address and date of birth. The activation takes about 2 hours.
2) only then do they send you the mobile phone by Hermes postal service

Advantages:
- all the phones are unlocked, so you can just order any phone together with their Prepaid-Starterpaket (=PAYG with 10€ credit) and just use it with a different SIM card provider afterwards. They only put in this extra SIM card activation step in between for you to show your intention of using their network afterwards but they don't oblige you to by putting a SIM-lock on the phone.
list of PAYG phones on offer: http://prepaidhandy.congstar.de/Alle-Handys---1.html
Shipping is 5.95€ if you pay in advance, 17.90€ if you choose Nachnahme (=pay the Hermes guy on the spot when you receive the phone).
- credit is valid indefinitely (not just 12 months as with some other providers)
- they are one of the cheapest providers around, see comparison here: http://translate.google.de/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fprepaid-vergleich-online.de%2Fprepaid-tarife-vergleich.html&sl=de&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
- you can go completely low-tech about topping up the credit and just buy credit at your local supermarket or drugstore (Rewe, Real, Netto, dm, Rossmann, Müller, Aral, Shell,...). Find a place to top up here, just put in your town or postal code: http://aufladefinder.congstar.de/index.php?id=271
- your calls to your voicemail are free
- in case you don't need it, it's very easy to deactivate voicemail completely, just put in ##002# and hit the call button (=the green phone button on your phone)
- they use the T-D1 network which has good coverage everywhere in Germany (even in the more rural areas should you ever end up there)

Disadvantages:
- you can't port your old mobile number to them
- you look at about 1-2 weeks' waiting time until you actually get that mobile phone

Very happy with mine. The volume of the MP3 player would probably be a bit low for non-in-ear headphones (fine with in-ear ones though) and setting the alarm is a bit cumbersome compared to a non-touchscreen phone, but other than that I have no complaints. Reception is good, battery life is great, camera works well, the interface is fine.