Is it safe to buy-and-forget prepaid SIM card with internet tariff in Germany?
When you're geocaching, or using mobile maps for navigation, or simply you're internet addict :) you're likely to buy a prepaid SIM card for internet in your smartphone when you're in foreign country.
In Germany internet flat-rate costs usually 10 Euro, so it's not high price to pay even if you're only a few days. The problem is, that for example by T-Mobile to buy prepaid card you must give your personal data with address. Additionally, deactivation of flat rate costs 6 or 7 Euro.
So I'm wondering if there can be some problems if someone buy prepaid card with tariff for 10 Euro monthly and will simply throw away that card when returning home, without paying for flat rate deactivation. Telekom has his personal data from personal ID card or passport, so is there a basis for charging for internet tariff that was not deactivated? It's quite a risk for travellers who don't analyse the specific laws of each country in such details...
Best Answer
I've never heard of any pre-paid provider charging a "deactivation" fee, and I can't find any reference to T-Mobile having such as charge.
However even if they do, no carrier is going to come after you over a single-digit euro charge. You can safely just throw away the SIM (or keep it until your next trip to Germany - T-mobile SIMs are good for at least 12 months) with no risk.
The requirement to collect identification when activating a SIM is something set by the German government, and not something T-mobile does specifically. In my experience, they do not care if the information you give is correct or not - as far as my German SIM provider is concerned I live at a coffee shop across the street from a hotel I once stayed at!
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Do prepaid SIM cards expire if not used?
No, you don't need to do anything. Your SIM will expire after 90 days of inactivity, so if you've any top-up credit remaining, use it or you'll lose it! Additionally, you will also need to top-up your account at least once every 365 days.Which SIM card is best for internet in Germany?
According to the latest in-depth study across the entire country done by Connect magazine, Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) is the best mobile network provider in Germany in terms of internet and phone reception. Vodafone comes in second and Telef\xf3nica (O2) as last.What happens when prepaid SIM expires?
When you activate a prepaid subscriber identity module, or "SIM," card for a phone, the call, text and Internet credit you purchase expires after a certain period of time, as specified by the mobile carrier. The SIM card itself never expires, as the SIM serves only to allow the handset to identify the cellular network.How long do prepaid SIM cards last?
Most of them offer prepaid credit that can be kept for as long as a local SIM card remains active, i.e. 10 days, 2 weeks or 1 month after the last top-up or active use.Best SIM Card in Germany [Mobile Options Explained]
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Answer 2
Before 2017-07-01
Sellers are required by law to record your name+address+birthday when you buy a SIM card. But they are not required to verify that it's your real data.
When you have to register the card in the shop (probably the case for T-Mobile), you'd typically have to show your ID. But when online activation is required, you don't have to enter your real data.
So, look for such a SIM card with online activation. You typically find them in discounters (near the tillpoint), fuelling stations, or at newsdealers (often at train stations). The dm drugstores (also often at bigger train stations, but in almost every city, too) also sell prepaid SIM cards (Fonic).
See also in Wikipedia: Liste der Mobilfunk-Discounter in Deutschland
New rules starting on 2017-07-01
Sellers will be required to verify the buyer’s identity by checking suitable identity documents (e.g., ID cards or passports).
Answer 3
I don't know about T-Mobile, but I can tell you about Aldi-talk, which have very good prepaid data flatrates, and I guess that most of the prepaid have the same rules.
- When you buy data flatrate for a month, you can deactivate it without any fees, and when you need it you can activate it again.
- If you don't have enough money for the flatrate in your card, your flatrate will not be activated automatically for the next month
So it's not problem at all to buy a card, to use it for a month or two and then to throw it away. You can activate an Aldi-Talk SIM-card online, where you have to give an adress in Germany. But nobody controls that and you don't have to give your ID-Card.
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Images: Andrea Piacquadio, Anete Lusina, Anete Lusina, Karolina Grabowska