Temporary European service??

[kyoo]

I subscribe to T-Mobile USA's service.. but I'll be travelling for a week in late September in and around Bavaria for Oktoberfest. We'll have a car and we want to drive around. It would be an ideal time for my N95's GPS to be fully functional w/ internet connectivity, etc.

But I am not too thrilled about paying the crazy "roaming" fees that a USA phone user must pay over in Europe. So.. I'm interested in what my options are..

Are there pre-paid sims that include internet connectivity?
I've heard I can get pre-paid sims somewhere, but I doubt they come with any sort of reasonable internet data plan.

Can I purchase a temporary (8 day) service from a provider over there?

Does someone want to "add a phone" to their plan for a week? ;) I'll pay ya back! ;)

What other options do I have that I'm not thinking of? If this is a FAQ somewhere, please point me to it. I've looked in the past and came up empty handed.

I have no real interest in keeping my USA phone # while I'm there.. I just want to use mgmaps, and POP email, make regional calls to book hotels, etc.

[gadgetman]

Simply buy a T-mobile SIM.

Assuming you're flying to Munich, there's a great phone shop in Terminal 2 - near the exit for the concourse/Terminal 1.

Enjoy Munich, or Munchen as it's called locally. Bayern 3 is a good radio station, and I know a little German if you need any phrases.

[n8flight]

Errrr.... buying a t-mobile sim would be the most expensive way. They would charge you 19 euro-cents per 10 kb and extra 9 euro cent per day. Thats nearly 20 € per MB !

Cheapest prepaid card for data is simyo. It costs 24 euro-cents per MB. But ordering a card is only online possible. Don´t know if they send a card to the US - i reckon they won´t. Maybe you know somebody in germany who is able to manage that for you.

https://www.simyo.de/de/informieren/..._internet.html
(all in german)

[n8flight]

found another provider for the same price 24 euro cent per mb.

Its called blau.de and is well known in germany. And it is possible to buy a sim card in a lot of supermarkets and gas stations all over germany.

blau.de - der Mobilfunk-Discounter

[gadgetman]

Originally Posted by n8flight

Errrr.... buying a t-mobile sim would be the most expensive way. They would charge you 19 euro-cents per 10 kb and extra 9 euro cent per day. Thats nearly 20 € per MB !

Cheapest prepaid card for data is simyo. It costs 24 euro-cents per MB. But ordering a card is only online possible. Don´t know if they send a card to the US - i reckon they won´t. Maybe you know somebody in germany who is able to manage that for you.

https://www.simyo.de/de/informieren/..._internet.html
(all in german)

Gruss Got n8flight!

I was refering to calls for the T-mobile PAYG sim. For Data, when I was in Munich on several occasions I found free wi-fi spots in bars and hotel etc. Where I did pay for access, T-mobile users could login using their t-zone account details and get billed back to their account for a prefered fee.

[kyoo]

I do have family over in 85375 Neufahrn bei Freising, Germany.. (close to the munich airport).

I could have it shipped to them, I suppose.

Problem is, my German language expertise is more along the lines of "survival" level. I find those two websites very difficult to translate their true meaning.

I ran the blau.de site through google's translator, and it makes a lot more sense.. it sounds like they ship out UMTS sims.. Since the N95 is a UMTS phone, I'll assume I'll be at the highest speeds (higher than the USA!).

It keeps translating it to UMTS Sim "maps".. confusing me.
"Orders over Internet (blau.de - der Mobilfunk-Discounter) are only delivered with the new UMTS SIM maps."

I get a little lost on the Options page when trying to purchase one.. google translate doesn't work through the first form. I guess I'll have to spend more time translating.

You'd think one of these low cost carriers would have an english version of their website.

From what I can tell, it's about 20 euro to start off.. but what happens when i use up my pre-paid credit? will it auto debit more? How do I reload it on the fly while I'm traveling?

Thanks!

[n8flight]

Hi gadgetman,

yes thats also possible. I use also wifi hotspots when i´m abroad. Its the best way for getting mails or surf the net. But i thought kyoo wants to use internet location-independent - especially for navigation in the car. So he will need an mobile data plan for 3G/GPRS. And thats extremly expensive with T-Mobile Prepaid.

[timo_w2s]

Funny that, as T-Mobile in the UK is one of the cheapest for data, even on pay-as-you-go/pre-paid (at £1 for 40MB/day).

[n8flight]

In germany vodafone and T-Mobile have the highest prices for calling and data on the market. The low end are providers on the E-net like E-Plus, Base, simyo, blau and some other.

Especially on prepaid cards the prices for data were nearly the same at all providers (20 €/MB). A few weeks ago some providers lowered these prices significantly to 0,24 cent per MB.

I think sooner or later vodafone and T-Mobile will do the same. That is traditional in germany, voda and t-mobile are doing everything to hold the prices at the highgest level. Price changes are always originated by other (cheaper) providers and voda and t-mobile will play along only if its not preventible. Even then they would present a price which is 1,5 times or 2 times higher than the lowest price (they are "premium providers" which have to have high prices).