Roaming charges on German prepaid SIM cards

I used a Median Mobile SIM card (available from ALDI supermarkets) while in Germany. All calls/SMS I made and received were in Germany.

I don't know anything about whether that SIM card works at all outside of Germany, and if so, how charges are calculated for calls or SMS messaging.

For example, if I traveled to the Czech Republic and wanted to phone/text someone back in Berlin, will the ALDI/Median Mobile card allow me to do that? Would the call/SMS simply not go through?

If someone I know from Germany, unaware that I'm no longer there, tries to reach me, do they have a way of knowing beforehand that roaming charges will apply?

Anyone know?

Thanks.

http://www.medionmobile.de/tarif.php

Within the EU, but outside of Germany, you are charged .54€/min for outgoing calls to anywhere within the EU and 1.49€/min for calls to other countries. Outside of the EU, you are charged 1.49€/min for all outgoing calls.
Incoming calls are charged to you at .26€/min within the EU and .69€/min outside of the EU.
These are billed in 60/30 second increments.

Incoming SMSs are free.
Outgoing SMSs cost .39€.

Your callers will have no way of knowing that you are roaming, nor will it cost them extra.

Thanks a lot. So even 'incoming' calls, although not charged (i.e., to the person receiving them) when they originate in Germany, are charged if they are made from other European countries?

Huh?

Incoming calls are not charged to the recipient while the recipient is in Germany. While the recipient is outside of Germany, the recipient is charged for the incoming calls.
Incoming SMSs are free everywhere.

>Incoming calls are not charged to the recipient while the recipient is in Germany. While the recipient is outside of Germany, the recipient is charged for the incoming calls.
>Incoming SMSs are free everywhere.

>Incoming calls are charged to you at .26€/min within the EU and .69€/min outside of the EU.

OK, I guess you meant "within the EU but outside of Germany" (i.e., while I'm outside of Germany) which I didn't get on first reading.

BTW, are "Median Mobile" and "ALDI-Talk" different names for the same service?

Also, does this SIM-card have a specific way of checking your balance (remaining credit) &/or the cost of particular calls? (I haven't been able to get this information from the functions of my mobile phone, a basic Motorola model.)

Thanks again.

Yeah, Medion Mobile/Aldi Talk are the same service.

Your balance can be retrieved by entering *100# and pressing send. Your balance will then be displayed on your screen after a short pause.
Dialing 1155 (a free call) will connect you to an automated service info hotline (in German).
http://www.medionmobile.de/service.php

I use blau.de, which is another E-Plus-based prepaid service and so is similar to Medion Mobile, and every time I roam outside of Germany I get an automatic text message reminding me of the rates.

Thanks. By 'send' I assume you mean the 'call' (i.e., the 'green') button? (I can't test it at the moment as I'm in North America until September.)

yes.
assuming you have a phone that is tri or quad-band, you can even test it from NA.

One thing you may want to watch for, that I found using T-mobile. Is I got charged even if I do not answer my phone or read a sms. I was charged everytime someleft a voicemail, if my phone was on. I would also check that out, I really got hosed on that one and racked up 75 bill in one day in Amsterdam.

That's pretty clear. It's called roaming charges. If you are in a foreign country you pay for all incoming calls you pick up. Diversion to voicemail is considered a "pickup" and even worse incurs an incoming roaming charge to the phone, plus an outgoing roaming charge for the transfer to the mailbox. The only exception here is if you never switch your phone after you leave your home country - until it's logged into a foreign net, roaming charges are not applied. The moment you log in, the system considers you roaming (even if the phone is subsequently switched off) and charges apply until you next log in in your home network (i.e the phone is switched on back home). This means if you come back on a plane from abroad where your phone was on at least once, and don't switch on the phone for a week after your arrive, then roaming charges still apply for calls transferred to voicemail until you eventually switch it on at home. Reading an SMS is not relevant, receiving one is, and again roaming charges may apply (depends on your contract)

I don't have tri- or quad-, just a basic model for calling/receiving calls/SMS (incoming/outgoing).

Regarding SerenaJean's reply, what governs whether or not 'voicemail' is charged or not charged -- i.e., is that up to Medion Mobile or the mobile phone mfr. (in my case, Motorola)?

I never checked for 'voicemail' while I was using the phone and don't even know how it is sent (a/o/t SMS). Does someone send 'voicemail' from an email account rather than from their mobile phone, or is there a way to specify that a message is being sent as a 'voicemail' rather than an SMS (i.e., from the mobile phone)?

Thanks again.

voicemail from an email account? Curious.

That's up to the provider.
With Medion Mobile, you aren't charged within Germany for retrieving your messages or for calls to your phone that go to voicemail.
When you are roaming abroad, I believe you would be charged to retrieve your voicemail at the same rate as a call back to Germany. I suspect you are also charged for incoming calls that go to voicemail, but I do not know.


A voicemail is a voice message left that can be left in your personal mailbox if you don't answer the phone when someone calls.

Can't be long coming, as I see it . . . essentially the email client just has to be able to transmit 'instant messaging' to a mobile phone. I think SKYPE already does something similar.

Thanks again. Re: voicemail, that's what I would have thought (essentially an answering machine in the phone itself), but how do voicemail messages get left -- I don't remember getting any prompt to leave voicemail when I made calls. Almost always either the person answered or the phone just rang without being picked up. Once or twice I did get some kind of recorded message in German that I didn't understand, so maybe I missed a prompt to leave a voice message. Does 'voicemail' have to be specifically set up to be active on mobile phones (i.e., the owner decides whether or not to let callers leave voicemails), or is it always an option for the caller?