Munich SIM card tip

[///My5UV]

I never found a machine or place at the airport to pick one up, so I went to the T-Mobile store off M'platz. Waited 5 minutes for one of the 10 people in the store to help me and then spent 10 minutes filling out paperwork for a 10 euro xtra pre-paid card. Later I had to make one call to the US and found their rates suck and I burned the entire balance on the one 4 minute call. Then I found that there's no way to recharge the thing with a US credit card. They only take some european credit cards or an electronic transfer from a european bank... not even from the Frankfurt branch of BoA.

Then I noticed that the local supermarket chain (Tengelmann) carries prepaid cards from Blau and their rates to the US and Canada are barely higher than to local numbers... and you don't have to fill out any BS in the store, just later online and free wifi seems to be in every coffee shop I've seen in Munich. Of course all the online stuff is in German, but that's what Google Chrome auto-translate is for!

Finishing a great euro delivery trip tomorrow!

[ImStig]

I went to the same T-mobile store as well! They made you fill in your passport ID to buy a SIM card... What's more frustrating is that the instruction on that SIM were all in German, so that was hard to figure out how to use that sim card.

Thanks for the tips though! That's definitely really useful for other EDers.

[Merlosso]

Was that SIM good only for calls or did you have pre-paid data as well? I don't need minutes while I'm over there, I just need data. Did either place offer pre-paid data plans?

[ImStig]

Just voice for me. I have a Kindle 3 3G, which has free international web access off the experimental broswer

Originally Posted by Merlosso

Was that SIM good only for calls or did you have pre-paid data as well? I don't need minutes while I'm over there, I just need data. Did either place offer pre-paid data plans?

[SamS]

Originally Posted by Merlosso

I don't need minutes while I'm over there, I just need data. Did either place offer pre-paid data plans?

Me too. Just a data connection/WiFi signal is all I'll need to place calls when I go to Germany in Oct. I understand WiFi is all paid, and not that cheap. So any tips are appreciated.

[kscarrol]

Not sure how it is in the fatherland but in the UK they will give you a phone if you buy a 20 pound top up card. I use Virgin Mobile, top it up every time I'm in the UK, no monthly plan and you can buy minutes at many stores including Boots, a big drugstore chain. Got a Nokia phone free, not the latest/greatest style but small and functional. International rates are reasonable as well. Given the level of competition in Europe for cellphones I would be surprised if you couldn't do something similar in Germany.

[///My5UV]

Originally Posted by Merlosso

Was that SIM good only for calls or did you have pre-paid data as well? I don't need minutes while I'm over there, I just need data. Did either place offer pre-paid data plans?

According to blau.de, 24c/min for data, or you can add a flat-cost month of data up to a chosen cap for a few euro. Maybe it was just the neighborhood we were in but I found "free" wifi all over the place (coffee shops, bars, the place we stayed).