Mobile Phone
A mobile phone is your hotline to friends and family while you study in Germany. Worried parents, friends in Germany and at home want to reach you, but how? Because there are so many student deals on mobile phones in Germany, there are a few things you have to pay attention to! First of all, it’s a good idea to sign up with a German phone company so that your telephone costs are not too expensive.
We generally recommend signing up for a prepaid rate with no fixed contracts, as most rates are only available with a two-year contract. “O2” is one such provider which offers prepaid rates to students. This package allows you to take advantage of a flat rate for phoning and texting. You can also select a smart phone option with Internet capability if you use an iPhone, for example. There are many other providers which offer a wide range of services at varying prices. To compare mobile telephone providers in Germany, click here. [German]
Please note that most providers require users to have a German bank account and a fixed address in Germany!
Internet@home
Researching online, Skyping, Facebook, online banking – you can take care of all this with the university’s WLAN, an installed VPN Client and your login data. There are several ways to access the Internet from home. Most flat shares (WGs) have WLAN capability, the cost of which is shared among the flatmates. Therefore, when you are looking for a flat, always ask if they have WLAN. Of course, you can always sign up for a new connection. However, it might take a while until it’s installed and you will need a good deal of patience to find your way through the jungle of Internet providers.
Another alternative is purchasing a UMTS stick in Germany. There is a wide range of UMTS sticks on the market which you can buy without a fixed-term contract and which also include a flat rate for surfing the web. These providers usually offer concession rates to students.
To compare offers, visit this external website.
For all phone and Internet contracts, you must have a fixed address in Germany and a current account at a bank in Germany.