Can I legally get SIM card in Germany as a tourist?
This late July I went to EU for a 10 day trip. I live in the US. When I stopped at TMobile (or was it Deutsche Telekom?) store at Hamburg to buy a local SIM card. I was told that this is impossible, as SIM cards are sold to EU residents only according to the new law passed July,1st. As I am not a resident of EU they can not sell me even a prepaid card.
Questions: is this information correct? If it is, what options do we, regular tourists, have in Germany?
I was not able to confirm that by doing an online search. So if it is not true, what could have been the motives of the sales rep to deny the sale, and how can I get back at him.
Best Answer
Yes, but it depends what do you mean for getting a SIM card...
if you are in Germany as a resident or tourist you can go to electronic stores like Saturn and find SIM card for like 5€, many Phone operators will even send you one for free per mail-post (e.g. O2), then after that you need to top on a little amount of money and there you are!
what the new law means is that you can not buy that anonymously anymore (for security reasons)
I quote the news:
Am Samstag, dem 1. Juli 2017, tritt die Registrierungspflicht für Prepaid-SIM-Karten in Deutschland in Kraft. Der Kauf einer Prepaid-SIM-Karte mit einem Pseudonym ist dann nicht mehr möglich. Kunden, die sich am morgigen Samstag eine neue Prepaid-SIM-Karte im Supermarkt oder Mobilfunk-Geschäft kaufen, müssen ihren Namen, ihre Adresse und ihr Geburtsdatum nachweisen.
the translation main idea is:
since sat. Jul 1st 2017 you can buy a SIM card, but you have to give your Name, Address and Birthday
so you still can show your id as tourist :) ...
Edit: if you still are interested in the law regulation see the Paragraf 111 des Telekommunikationsgesetzes (TKG)
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Answer 2
You can buy all the SIM cards you want, but can't activate them. You have to be registered in the German residence bureau's data base. No residency, no activation.
I went to Greece to get a SIM card.
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