Going from prepaid to a contract in Germany :)

[ShoresGuy]

Well, times are certainly looking rosy for wireless users in Germany. There have been a lot of changes since January 2005. A number of MVNOs have been established which provide cheap, around-the-clock prices for people who are seeking an alternative to the established prepaid offers from the likes of T-Mobile (Xtra), Vodafone (CallYa), E-Plus (Free & Easy) and O2 (Loop).

E-Plus is the most active network at the moment with the most MVNOs
reselling their services on E-Plus. E-Plus is Germany's 3rd largest network and has around 10 million subscribers behind T-Mobile's 29.3 million and Vodafone's 29.2 million subscribers. The most interesting change in the MVNO field came late last year when a new contract-based option (you can choose between a 12 or 24 month contract) called BASE was established.

The contract costs €25/month and is marketed as a so-called "Handy (German word for cell phone) Flatrate". The process for getting a contract is pretty much the same as in the US or Canada. You go to any E-Plus corporate store or to www.base.de, give them your German national ID card (needed for almost anything having to do with contracts since in Germany you have to register with the German Resident Agency in each city where your primary residence is located), decide on the 12 or 24 month (standard in Germany - 12 month contracts are the exception and only offered by BASE at this time) contract, provide them with your German bank info (all monthly payments in Germany are done via the so-called Lastschriftverfahren meaning that you provide them with your German bank account #, bank sort code and personal authorization that allows them to withdraw the monthly amount from your Girokonto/checking account) and sign the paperwork.

You get your SIM card in person at the store or by mail if you do it via their website. The last step is to wait for the E-Plus dealer system (an app called AktivPlus, T-Mobile uses another program) to request a credit check with the SCHUFA (German equivalent to Equifax or TransUnion) databases to see if you have any outstanding issues with creditors or a negative credit rating. This takes anywhere between 10 minutes and an hour if there is a backlog. Normally almost all of the credit checks come back ok and are automatically approved for the contract activation. If there is a problem or a database discrepancy, then the AktivPlus system forwards the credit check request to a CS rep who looks into the matter personally. In my case, the activation went without a hitch and I got my BASE SIM card before leaving the store.

Porting an existing number to another provider is no big deal these days in Germany. You must cancel your exisiting contract 4 months before the contract ends and then you must wait at least a month after the contract has ended to request a PAC (Port Authorization Code) from your former provider. In the meantime, you can sign the new contract and then have your old number transferred over to the new provider/contract once the PAC request has been forwarded to them. I have to wait at least a week before my existing prepaid E-Plus number is ported over to BASE since E-Plus wants to prevent a lot of high usage customers from switching to BASE. A direct port isn't possible so I have to use two numbers while the port is in progress.

The port is completed once you receive an SMS from the new network. Prepaid numbers can also be ported to other networks and their prepaid offers. In that case you may have to pay a €25 service fee, BASE is also cheap since like the other MVNOs they keep their costs down by offering only a small or no handset selection and by using another provider's physical wireless infrastructure (including towers/exchanges/switches).

€25/month for 12 or 24 months + the one time €25 contract activation fee (waived at certain times when BASE has a special deal going on)

- Unlimited calls to German landlines 24/7/365
- Unlimited M2M calling to BASE/E-Plus/simyo (prepaid MVNO on E-Plus) subscribers 24/7/365
- €0.25 (Euros)/min 24/7/365 to T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2 numbers
- €0.20 (Euros)/SMS to all German wireless and landline numbers
- Free VM
- MMS, GPRS and UMTS data use available (UMTS data means you have to pay another €25/month and also buy a €199 UMTS data card from BASE, they don't offer UMTS voice services at this time, I don't plan on getting this since it's geared more for business users)

Coveragewise, BASE gets the same reception as any other MVNO on E-Plus since the same network is being used. If anyone wants to read and compare the prepaid offers available in Germany, you can look here:

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/operators/germany.html (Prepaid offers only)

BASE (in German only):
http://www.base.de/101_preisliste.jsp

If anyone here on WA has any questions or if you want more details on how this deal works, feel free to ask below. I'll also be happy to answer any questions relating to any other German or European roaming options.

[walkguru]

Wirelessly posted (Walkguru's: Nokia6682/2.0 (3.01.1) SymbianOS/8.0 Series60/2.6 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

Good luck, sounds like a good deal.

[Andy]

It is a great deal- if I still lived over there, I'd be on it too.

[ShoresGuy]

No doubt ....I'm still waiting for my number port request to be completed so I can use just the BASE SIM card.

[Gamer03]

Cool. I agree with walkguru and Andy. That does sound like a good deal.

Have you been able to port your number over yet? How is the coverage? (like I need to ask )

[ShoresGuy]

The port is supposed to be complete today but could take until the end of the week. Coverage is the same as before since BASE is also an E-Plus offer like my previous Free & Easy Weekend prepaid plan.

[coalminer]

Originally Posted by ShoresGuy Well, times are certainly looking rosy for wireless users in Germany. There have been a lot of changes since January 2005. A number of MVNOs have been established which provide cheap, around-the-clock prices for people who are seeking an alternative to the established prepaid offers from the likes of T-Mobile (Xtra), Vodafone (CallYa), E-Plus (Free & Easy) and O2 (Loop). E-Plus is the most active network at the moment with the most MVNOs reselling their services on E-Plus. E-Plus is Germany's 3rd largest network and has around 10 million subscribers behind T-Mobile's 29.3 million and Vodafone's 29.2 million subscribers. The most interesting change in the MVNO field came late last year when a new contract-based option (you can choose between a 12 or 24 month contract) called BASE was established. The contract costs €25/month and is marketed as a so-called "Handy (German word for cell phone) Flatrate". The process for getting a contract is pretty much the same as in the US or Canada. You go to any E-Plus corporate store or to www.base.de, give them your German national ID card (needed for almost anything having to do with contracts since in Germany you have to register with the German Resident Agency in each city where your primary residence is located), decide on the 12 or 24 month (standard in Germany - 12 month contracts are the exception and only offered by BASE at this time) contract, provide them with your German bank info (all monthly payments in Germany are done via the so-called Lastschriftverfahren meaning that you provide them with your German bank account #, bank sort code and personal authorization that allows them to withdraw the monthly amount from your Girokonto/checking account) and sign the paperwork. You get your SIM card in person at the store or by mail if you do it via their website. The last step is to wait for the E-Plus dealer system (an app called AktivPlus, T-Mobile uses another program) to request a credit check with the SCHUFA (German equivalent to Equifax or TransUnion) databases to see if you have any outstanding issues with creditors or a negative credit rating. This takes anywhere between 10 minutes and an hour if there is a backlog. Normally almost all of the credit checks come back ok and are automatically approved for the contract activation. If there is a problem or a database discrepancy, then the AktivPlus system forwards the credit check request to a CS rep who looks into the matter personally. In my case, the activation went without a hitch and I got my BASE SIM card before leaving the store. Porting an existing number to another provider is no big deal these days in Germany. You must cancel your exisiting contract 4 months before the contract ends and then you must wait at least a month after the contract has ended to request a PAC (Port Authorization Code) from your former provider. In the meantime, you can sign the new contract and then have your old number transferred over to the new provider/contract once the PAC request has been forwarded to them. I have to wait at least a week before my existing prepaid E-Plus number is ported over to BASE since E-Plus wants to prevent a lot of high usage customers from switching to BASE. A direct port isn't possible so I have to use two numbers while the port is in progress. The port is completed once you receive an SMS from the new network. Prepaid numbers can also be ported to other networks and their prepaid offers. In that case you may have to pay a €25 service fee, BASE is also cheap since like the other MVNOs they keep their costs down by offering only a small or no handset selection and by using another provider's physical wireless infrastructure (including towers/exchanges/switches). €25/month for 12 or 24 months + the one time €25 contract activation fee (waived at certain times when BASE has a special deal going on) - Unlimited calls to German landlines 24/7/365 - Unlimited M2M calling to BASE/E-Plus/simyo (prepaid MVNO on E-Plus) subscribers 24/7/365 - €0.25 (Euros)/min 24/7/365 to T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2 numbers - €0.20 (Euros)/SMS to all German wireless and landline numbers - Free VM - MMS, GPRS and UMTS data use available (UMTS data means you have to pay another €25/month and also buy a €199 UMTS data card from BASE, they don't offer UMTS voice services at this time, I don't plan on getting this since it's geared more for business users) Coveragewise, BASE gets the same reception as any other MVNO on E-Plus since the same network is being used. If anyone wants to read and compare the prepaid offers available in Germany, you can look here: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/operators/germany.html (Prepaid offers only) BASE (in German only): http://www.base.de/101_preisliste.jsp If anyone here on WA has any questions or if you want more details on how this deal works, feel free to ask below. I'll also be happy to answer any questions relating to any other German or European roaming options.

Just out of curiosity, how much does it cost to call your cell from a landline?

[Andy]

Originally Posted by coalminer Just out of curiosity, how much does it cost to call your cell from a landline?

I think it's in the 20 Euro cent range over there.