Best UMTS options for laptop computers

Anyone know the best deals currently going around for UTMS for laptops?
I'm after something thats flatrate
Had a look on t-com, vodafone, and eplus websites but my german isnt fantastic and could only find info on the Vodafone page
Any advice or tips would be appreciated!
Cheers
Haydo

Also it would be good not to have a contract or at least a contract that is no longer than 12 months

Check O2. I know that they have those UMTS PCMCIA cards (you know, the ones that are just waiting to be broken off :-))

Blau.de (reseller of E-Plus) offers UMTS access on their prepaid plans. It's €0.24 per megabyte, billed in 100KB increments.
http://www.blau.de/app?page=blau%2Ftariff%...mp;service=page

I know you are looking for a flatrate, but you may have trouble finding a flatrate that also doesn't have a contract.

They sell a UMTS PC card on their website if you need it for your laptop:
http://handyshop.blau.de/shop/zubehoer/-/N...3m18o5r8lkdo1c4

There's not a lot of competition in the data market at the moment. Most providers offer a flatrate service from around €25/month, but only on a 24 month contract, which usually throws in the hardware for free. Vodafone have a "pay-as-you-go" service called "Websessions" where you pay for what you use, but it's not cheap - €1.95 for 15 minutes, €9.95 for 2 hours or €14.95 for 24 hours. They currently have a special offer where you can use the same service in most European countries for the same €14.95 for a 24 hour session. My experience is that the service is only really of use in a 3G/HDSPA cell where you can get typical speeds of 3-5Mbit sometimes better, so you need to need to be sure that your hardware and provider support this standard, and that you are geographically located in a 3G cell when you connect to the Internet. The bigger boys, Vodafone and T-mobile currently have better 3G coverage, but it's still really only around major centres of population...

Cheers for the replies
Thinking of taking a look at Eplus, I guess it is a 24 month contract though...
Flatrate is my main priority and they seem to be the only one that offer this at a reasonable price.
http://www.eplus.de/tarife/13/13_11/13_11.asp
It does say here
"24 Monate Mindestvertragslaufzeit für Tarif,
1 Monat Mindestvertragslaufzeit für Option" - does that mean there is an option for a 1 month minimum contract??
Cheers
Haydo

E-Plus provide their data-tarif as an add-on to a phone contract. You need a 24-month phone contract of your choice and add the flat-rate data service to this at additional cost (so the total cost is the sum of both), but can remove it at a months notice (and still keep the phone contract)

make sure it supports HSDPA. Pure UMTS connections are slow (384k max), HSDPA will run up to a couple of megabits (if your contract will allow it). Not available everywhere, but it's currently being rolled out across germany...

Mat

Make sure that the card will fit your laptop! I have a UMTS/HSDPA card from Vodaphone which is a type 3 PCMCIA but my new laptop only accepts Express cards so it don't fit no more. You can get a USB to PCMCIA convertors but there are different types for different cards. The one I ordered accepts my card but the OS doesn't see it. This is because the adapter is for a non-HSDPA card.

If you're looking for cheap -- get an UMTS (HSDPA) capable phone and get a contract from o2 (22 EUR for 5000 MB per month) which lasts at least 3 months. Be careful to check if your phone is supported by their software.

Does anyone know if E-Plus support HSDPA??
If I just went with their standard UMTS option what kind of speeds am I likely to get? And what does that mean in terms of downloading etc.
Cheers

They do, but only in limited locations - their coverage is currently about the worst of them all

Is there anyway to find out?
I'm in Dresden

Vodafone have now reduced their prices to €4.95 for 24 hours (special offer until April 30, thereafter €7.95, €2.95 for one hour and €1,95 for 30 minutes. All with a limit of 50Mbytes per session

YL6 (written while on a moving train on the German/Swiss border, while simultaneously cruising the internet on a 7Mbit connection)

web’n’walk L flatrate at € 34.95/month ... available from April 7th, 2008

I have been using vodafone UMTS service for the last 10 months & never had any problem with it.You can easly do vidoe streaming as well.I have "Fair Flat option"(One month unlimited & subsequent month 5 GB limit and so on) & I pay €38 which includes all taxes & UMTS card price.I have now started using vodafone DSL & my UMTS contract is free/available .If you plan to go with Vodafone, you can take over my contract anytime...this way you will save approx €80(UMTS card installements)

My husband and I used our O2 UMTS service directly through our mobile phone. You have a USB cable that plugs into your phone and into your computer and you can connect. You have to subscribe to the service which is 20 euro a month. If you already have an O2 Mobile phone then this is probably your best option. You have to leave it on for 1 month, and then cancel it to disconnect. We weren't sure how long we would be in Germany initially and we went into the 02 Shop at Hauptbahnhoff and they were nice and gave us a 1 year contract instead of 2 years. So far 02 has been the best experience in Germany we've had customer service wise.

Came across this ad for Mobile Internet Flatrate while browsing through Teltarif.de. Not sure if the offer is good, but the minimum contract period is only 4 months. They resell vodafone service.

http://www.moobicent.de/?utm_source=Teltar...dium=Partner-MC

checked out UMTS with Eplus at their Test unit local store here ( they do upto max 384 kbps). It was a bit too slow for me ( and all I did was type in my old Uni website which is not all that loaded). The sales guy though told me that by the end of the year they intend to have 3 Mbps...you might wanna check on the date...

O2 also has another 'pay as you go plan', with a notice period of 6 weeks after the first three months of usage...but it has a 5 GB limit...http://www.o2online.de/nw/active/laptop/tarife/unterwegs/index.html

both plans are like 25 Euros pro month

O2 have generally poor coverage outside of the city, and have only minimal general HSDPA (high speed) availability. Vodafone have far superior coverage and in many city areas 7Mbit services. Travelling from Switzerland to Munich last week I was able to cross different cells and different services (including roaming) barely noting any service interruption...

Hi

I moved to Nurnberg few weeks ago and I am looking for a flatrate mobile internet solution.
As I see, Eplus has a quite good offer, real unlimited internet flatrate for 25 EUR/month.
But they said "VOIP is not allowed with our internet flatrate ".
Does anybody has some experiences with using VOIP apps (Skype, Voipbuster etc) with Eplus mobile internet? I guess they will not work because of the VOIP restriction.

Other thing: Sales guys at Vodafone and Eplus shops said if I made a two-years contract, but I will leave Germany e.g. in 10 months, then I need to show them the official documents that prove that I leave the country and in this case I can break the contract without paying any penalty. It would be a perfect solution for me so I wanted to know more details on this option so I sent my questions to each company's customer care by email. But they answered there is no such a thing, I have to pay the monthly fees even if I leave Germany. So I am a bit confused now whose version is correct, the sales guy's or customer care's? Have you ever heard about such an option?

Thank you for the answers in advance, and sorry for my english, I am not a native english-speaker. But my german is even worse, so I try to find some help on this english-speaking forum .
Janos

I can tell you from experience that VoIP does not work over either the E-Plus or Vodafone UMTS options.
If you search elsewhere in the forum you will see that in theory, leaving the country is legally considered exceptional grounds for breaking a contract such as this, but there should be no evidence that you planned it that way at the outset. You might be liable to pay for or return some or all of any equipment they gave or sold you cheaply as part of the sign-up deal. Many companies fight against your legal "right" (Vodafone is a good example, don't know about E-Plus) so it might depend on how hard you fight back from your new home as to whether you are successful with the termination.

Don't always believe the sales people. There only interested in getting you to sign a contract
and will tell you anything. The problems come when you want to break the contract as YL6 pointed out.

Hello,

1. Can a non-resident who has come to Germany for a few months stay obtain the prepaid SIM card with a flat rate data plan or a rate plan with a decent amount of included data traffic? I undertand non-residents won't get credit, so I'm interested in a prepaid service.

The goal is to have an affordable internet rate plan for about 20-30 EUR with a few gigabytes of included traffic for a fixed price and to be ABLE to use VoIP (SIP or Skype) services.

2. Is UMTS or HSDPA service coverage available in Sürth area of Köln? Which provider is best there?

3. If the answers are positive, could you please specify the addresses and phones of some sales points / dealers in Sürth?

I was going to answer all your technical questions, then realised I'd only be repeating myself. Have you tried using the search function?

From what I have found my goal appears to be unachievable. All the flat rate offers I saw underlined that the VoIP functionality is disabled and e.g. O2 does not have HSDPA coverage in Sürth, only UMTS.

I was actually searching for something like this one: http://cgi.ebay.de/Yesss-PrePaid-Mobiles-I...1QQcmdZViewItem but it seems that there are no such offers in Germany.

I'd be glad if someone tells me I'm wrong.

Much though I love to catch people out, I can't. You're right.

I am using vodafone UMTS service for the last one year..its works fine with skype and any other voip service...Never had any problems

But YorkshireLad6 tells us that VOIP doesn't work on Vodaphone. Perhaps you use per-megabyte rate plan which has no such restrictions, ASIM? How is your rate plan called and can a non-resident apply for it?

I'm actually searching for ANY kind of a fixed-rate (prepaid amount of traffic) wireless internet access which is accessible near Unter Buschweg in Sürth area and which is available to non-residents, be it a cellular or a wi-fi service. If someone could help me with the corresponding information I'd be very grateful.

I said that (from experience) VoIP does not work as Vodafone block the ports used for traditional NAT traversal. I didn't say Skype does not work. Skype is not VoIP in the traditional sense. From my limited knowledge of Skype, it *might* work.

Vodafone has three different packages for UMTS Web service which can be found @ http://www.vodafone.de/privat/tarife-flatr...html#ID120346.I am using their fair flat option which gives me unlimited usage for one month & 5GB limited usage in the subsequent month.I am currently using 3 different viop services(Viop Cheap,Braintel & Voiphunt) apart from MSN & Skype & they work perfectly fine!!.So there is no restriction at all on any(I assume) voip service.I am not using my UMTS service from this month any more as I am now using Vodafone DSL service(as I needed a fixed line phone as well).So if you are interested ,you can take over my contract.Btw ,if you are not a resident,are you on visit visa?

I have E-Plus unlimited UMTS and Skype works absolutely fine. I typically get 280-290kbit/s. Works well for me (I have run Webex sessions and Skype simultaneously without any problem).

Thanks a lot guys, ASIM, I'll PM you right now.

E-plus is good but with one main problem i.e. speed...Its very slow when compared to vodafone 7,2 Mbit/s UMTS connection!!!

I guess 7,2 mbit/s is HSDPA, since UMTS is only limited to 384 kbit/s, AFAIR...

There is a new offer at The Phone House, 2 years contract, in Vodafone network, no costs for connection, notebook at 1 euro (an ugly one but it does the job) and is 35 euro/month, true flatrate.
skype and YM are working for pc-to-pc calls. pc-to-phone I haven't tried yet.

SkypeOut ...

@miwild,

I think the issues is whether these mobile internet services are blocking voice-over-ip services, such as Skype. This has been a concern. Also VPN.

I have T-mobile web-n-walk in Vienna, and I can Skype (pc-to-phone) no problem, but I can't VPN for some reason. (and it's only 25EUR for 10GB...gonna be painful coming back to Munich!)